Several community banks used their quarterly earnings releases to tease out technological enhancements.
Kearny Financial in Fairfield, N.J.; Quaint Oak Bancorp in Southampton, Pa.; and Third Coast Bancshares in Humble, Texas, were among the smaller banks to talk about upgrades in their core platforms, working with fintech or moving into Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS).
The $7.7 billion-asset Kearny said in a press release that it is looking to adopt a cloud-based digital banking platform. The company also plans to expand its data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and digital marketing capabilities.
Kearny has been working with Glia, Q2 Holdings, clinc and ZSuite Technologies.
“We believe that our strategic focus on digital client engagement is the ideal complement to the exceptional service that our team provides within the communities where we maintain a physical presence,” Craig Montanaro, Kearny’s president and CEO, said in the release.
“This omnichannel approach allows us to further strengthen our existing client relationships while expanding our products and services into new markets in an efficient and cost-effective manner,” Montanaro added.
The $752 million-asset Quaint Oak said it is looking to introduce a BaaS platform to form more fintech partnerships. The company also noted that, because of rising interest rates and the chance of an economic slowdown, it could look to raise capital earlier than planned.
Finally, the $3.4 billion-asset Third Coast Bancshares said it incurred expenses in the second quarter tied to fintech and BaaS initiatives. The company didn’t provide any other details.
“By making these investments, we believe we will be in a much better position to grow deposit and fee income,” Bart Caraway, Third Coast’s chairman, president and CEO, said in a press release.