Lead Bank has continued to lead, think ahead, and advance the long-term interests of customers and communities with its prolific, 90-year history combined with its experience in the fintech space. The community bank’s mission is to foster financial innovation at a greater scale and to be at the heart of the success of our communities.
For any company, the safety, security, and privacy of consumers’ information and personal details is undoubtedly a priority. With the acceleration of digital tools, the production of data and the value it holds for offenders continue to grow exponentially every year.
Therefore, it is crucial for Information Security to constantly innovate and keep pace with product and service trends in the financial services space. Lead Bank has a multifaceted approach to security that begins right at the design phase of product development.
This allows its security professionals to stay ahead of the game, implement strategies that are both consumer and partner-friendly, and provide a safe transaction environment.
“Our experience and toolsets will enable us to guide our partners’ approach to information security and offer consumers a safer environment to transact and maintain their trust.”, says Michael Beattie, Chief Technology Officer, Lead Bank.
In the financial services industry, the process of imagining new products to truly help consumers is met with challenges of heavy regulatory and compliance burdens, which affects the speed at which consumer demand is met.
Lead Bank guides its fintech partnerships to successfully launch a product or service offering, with its firm and thorough understanding of applicable regulations, excellent infrastructure, and experience.
From evaluating a product itself and how it can be offered to the operational and reporting requirements that are attached to a specific service, the bank deploys its in-house compliance experts to navigate the waters and ease the burden of its fintech partners.
Lead Bank’s solutions are aimed at enhancing the lives of its clients without creating any hurdles, irrespective of whether they are fintech solutions, personal banking clients, or commercial clients.
With its nimble assets, Lead Bank’s solutions can fit into most business models, even complex verticals such as consumer lending and cannabis, therefore improving the overall value proposition to the client, creating better access to financial services by reducing barriers to entry and maintaining rigorous compliance standards.
“Our compliance expertise and experience can be leveraged to navigate the complex regulatory waters, ultimately reducing manual efforts and reducing a partner’s risk.”, says Micheal Beattie.
Over the last five years, the payment space has seen significant progress, including the expansion of Artificial Intelligence in the fintech arena, and improvements in API connectivity.
Lead Bank’s recent partnership with Finzly’s Payment Hub, allows its partners and payment clients to seamlessly offer multiple payment channels at good speeds. This undoubtedly enables maximum flexibility with an easy, automated, and secure connection point for consumers.
The bank is also finalizing plans to implement its Open Banking API framework, which will expand its capability to offer banking products and services in a more customer-friendly, innovative, and efficient manner. These services are expected to be made available by the fourth quarter of 2021.
Some major retail companies, such as Walgreens and H&R Block have expressed their desire to offer branded banking services to benefit their clients, highlighting the need for financial institutions to enable BaaS capabilities.
Lead Bank is a pioneer in this direction, helping fintech companies meet the needs of underserved consumers, and providing a more complete and seamless experience. The Bank’s open, innovative culture, combined with the ability to be agile offers an advantage over its competitors.
Not only does Lead Bank foster a ‘can do’ culture, but also executes it successfully. The bank is more of a strategic partner than a mere banking service provider and takes great pride in exemplifying its virtues, every day.