Embracing New Concepts, Strategies, and Partnerships
SOUTHINGTON, Conn. (January 3, 2023) – Friday, October 28 marked COCC’s third CEO & Senior Officer Technology Symposium, an exclusive event that welcomed CEOs and senior officers from community banks and credit unions, hosted at The Delamar Hotel in West Hartford, CT. With the acceleration of new experiences and the momentum of the digital evolution, the drastic shift in business standards, processes, and competition had the series stacked with industry-leading experts that detailed insights as new entrants launching innovative solutions. Featured guest speakers went on to discuss the growing concept and need for open banking, igniting greater transparency, flexibility, and expansion of diverse partnerships.
The success of this year’s conference set the stage for a truly collaborative environment, embracing innovative tactics to help financial institutions strategize and navigate new partnerships to be competitive in the fintech space and industry overall. Sessions were hosted by Sandbox Banking, a leader in helping community bank and credit unions build, manage, and monetize banking-as-a-service APIs; by Alloy Labs, a consortium of community and mid-sized banks that collaborate to partner with startups and identify opportunities of differentiation; and by COCC’s very own experts surrounding APIs and the facilitation core providers play in connecting to innovative fintechs.
Highlighting these standout sessions allowed for industry leaders and experts such as Ravi Balasubramanian, CEO of Sandbox Banking, to discuss the importance of building a framework for effective fintech partnerships along with how to better align new technology opportunities. Balasubramanian discussed best in class strategies when applying fintech technology to certain niche markets as well as expanding on business problems with emerging partnership solutions.
Emmett Shipman, Vice President, Alloy Labs helped further the conversation by explaining how the banking landscape continues to change as well as highlighting how past tactics may no longer be beneficial for new growth. Shipman’s presentation demonstrated how crucial it is to concentrate on product innovation, business models, and technologies that not only replace certain factors, but simultaneously and effectively help reinvent the market.
Kyle Charette, Vice President and leader of COCC’s integrations team, dove into the topic of connecting fintechs’ and banking systems’ profitability with the acceleration of new experiences. Charette went on to review and educate the audience on the significance of fintech partnerships, integrations, open banking, and the power of leveraging a mature suite of core banking APIs.
COCC’s Jill Flaherty, First Vice President of Business Development, assisted in hosting this year’s event and went on to say, “We are seeing a significant shift in general business standards across our industry in digital, payments, and the overall innovative space of finances. We specifically pulled in valuable industry leaders for this session to not only help prepare and equip our clients with the successful means to meet these new demands, but also to let them know that we are in it together, as their partner.”
COCC’s CEO Technology Symposium amplified a strong message and stressed the importance of having a collaborative partner who will always remain flexible and agile and who will continuously maintain the expertise to help expand and reimagine new possibilities for financial institutions. The banking landscape is everchanging. COCC’s goal is to ensure your financial institution has the necessary tools, training, and industry leading knowledge to always maintain a competitive edge.
