Financial Services

While countless companies specialize in financing equipment acquisitions for customers, there is a growing trend for manufacturers to provide such financial services themselves. Of all manufacturers who offer a captive financing option to their customers, 67% expect equipment financing will increase as a percentage of their manufacturer sales. There are numerous reasons for the growth […]

This is the time of year when banks think about what strategies and investments to pursue in the coming year. And while retail and commercial banking is a complex, global industry driven by a combination of local-market macroeconomics, regulatory regimes, competitive forces, and customer behavior, the digital transformation strategies banks pursued for many years were […]

J.D. Power announced that three wealth management firms, Charles Schwab, Wells Fargo, and Edward Jones, received high customer satisfaction scores on their mobile apps relative to the rest of the brokerage industry. The success seems to come from each firm designing its app to fit the specific needs of its customer base – Charles Schwab’s […]

For all those who think traditional banks will not be able to compete with fintech companies, a federal judge’s ruling in October and the pulling of fintech start-up Robinhood’s bank charter application, which would have allowed it to become a federally insured bank and eliminated the need to partner with other banks, show that it’s […]

According to InvestmentNews, internal UBS studies show clients with assets between $2 million and $5 million behave more like clients in the lower segment than like high net worth clients. They use more online services rather than client advisers and don’t make use of sophisticated products and service offerings. Starting early next year, clients in […]

My last blog highlighted security audits and penetration testing. This final blog of the series discusses security data aggregation and artificial intelligence (AI) implementations in financial services. Should a breach occur, gathering log data from all critical security, network, and endpoint devices is key to a forensic investigation to determine how the firm’s defenses were […]

Previously, I discussed the cybercrimes of phishing and the signs it’s happening. This blog will highlight security audits and penetration testing. Given the ever-changing landscape of cybersecurity threats, coupled with the dynamic nature of new hardware and software deployments, it is imperative to perform security audits and penetration testing on a regular and frequent basis. […]

Previously, I analyzed fraud detection and content management methods, with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI). In my final post of this blog series, I explain the opportunities artificial intelligence provides to retirement services transformations. For many 401(k) plans, passing ADP/ACP testing can be a very difficult and challenging endeavor, and there can be severe […]

Charles Schwab is set to buy TD Ameritrade for $26 billion, which could create a firm with some $5 trillion in client assets, according to a report from Fox Business. The move comes amid pressure on revenues caused by October’s race to zero commissions. No-commission trades are pressuring brokerage firms’ revenues and further emphasize the […]

This blog is part of a series exploring Agile methodologies. Read the last post in the series here. This post will explore Agile estimation and the different estimation techniques. Estimation is more the “art” than the “science” of program management so polish the crystal ball and let’s get started. Agile estimation is fundamentally different from […]

My last blog discussed the benefits of data encryption and application programming. This blog dives into the cybercrimes of phishing and the signs it’s happening. Phishing is a cybercrime in which a target or targets are contacted by email, telephone, or text message by someone posing as a legitimate institution to lure individuals into providing […]

My last blog looked at call center optimization and how artificial intelligence (AI) provides an in-depth look into financial advice. In this blog, I analyze fraud detection and content management methods, with the assistance of AI. Fraud Detection In the online and digital world of financial services, fraud has increased and become harder to detect. […]