By now it’s become more apparent: The economic recession is closer than we expected. With the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, there’s uncertainty of what will happen with the finance industry from the financial institutions’ users to executives, employees, and investors.
However, the U.S. has gone through similar situations before, and if we have learned something is that as a society, we are more resilient each time. From companies that surfaced the economic crisis of 2008 to the birth of new ones, created from the opportunities of a new digital consumer market.
As a company that offers tech solutions for this industry, Advancio wants to share with you some insights regarding our current finance landscape and an interesting outlook for this type of situation where we as Americans have been before and how we’ve moved forward.
Being resilient is key for banks, vendors, customers, employees, and all the players involved to overcome, once again, a situation like this one.
The Finance Industry Has Raised Since 2008
There’s no doubt that the financial crisis of 2008 is considered the major collapse of a bank in modern U.S. history. Among the factors that triggered it, several large investment banks, including Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and Merrill Lynch, collapsed. However, the housing bubble, excessive risk-taking by banks, lax regulatory oversight, and complex financial instruments also contributed to the crisis.
From this event, important regulatory reforms were implemented to prevent a similar collapse from occurring in the future. This includes the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
As well as these measures, government intervention, increased oversight and transparency, collaboration between government and industry, and international cooperation helped to stabilize the financial system. But more importantly, these actions contributed to creating a more stable and resilient financial system since then.
We have more contemporary examples of economic disruptions as a result from the measures taken on 2008 and the Covid’s pandemic.
Actions that Helped Build Resilience in the Industry
- By raising capital levels, industry players can ensure that they have enough financial resources to absorb potential losses during an economic downturn.
- By strengthening risk management practices, banks and businesses can improve their ability to identify and manage risks. This included better risk modeling, stress testing, and increased focus on operational risk management.
- By improving liquidity, they can ensure that they have access to sufficient liquidity in times of stress. This included holding larger liquidity buffers, improving funding diversification, and enhancing their contingency funding plans.
- By enhancing regulatory oversight, government can improve the stability and resilience of the financial system.
- By implementing technology solutions, industry players can improve their risk management and compliance processes. This includes the use of advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to detect and manage risks more effectively.
We Need to Build Customer Trust Amid a Financial Collapse
Concerns about our financial well-being can be normal during challenging times. This can lead us to hesitate on financial institutions and their capacity to assure our money, investments, and involved payroll are safe. As a result, we can create more uncertainty and act just by emotion.
Overall, the finance industry may be concerned about the potential systemic risks, loss of confidence, and legal and regulatory fallout from a bank failure, and may take steps to prevent future collapses and mitigate the impact of any such events.
So, building and maintaining trust before, during, and after a financial collapse is key.
- Communicate transparently with your customers about their financial health, risk management practices, and how they are responding to the situation. This includes regular updates on the bank’s financial performance, information on loan and investment products, and guidance on managing finances during a recession.
- Provide reliable and consistent service that meets the needs of your customers. You can provide them with online and mobile banking services, offering flexible payment plans, and maintaining adequate customer service support.
- Offer personalized solutions to your customers, based on their individual needs and circumstances. This can include providing financial advice, customized loan and investment products, and support for small businesses.
- Demonstrate social responsibility by supporting your communities before, during, and after a financial collapse. This involves providing funding for local businesses, donating to charitable organizations, and supporting programs that promote financial literacy.
- Maintain high ethical standards and adhere to regulatory requirements. This can include providing fair and transparent pricing, avoiding predatory lending practices, and protecting customer data privacy.
As we continue to experience different difficult historical times, we’ve learned that having a strong reputation for being a reliable and trustworthy industry is just part of the equation. We need to constantly build the relationship with our customers, vendors, suppliers, coworkers. We need to put ourselves in their shoes and try to address their fears and goals anytime they need us.
There will be more challenging times. We have already overcome several of them and we’ll continue to do so. How are we going to do it? History has shown us that united, being resilient, and understanding each other’s needs, we can surface more than we first expect.
We at Advancio are here to support you in any way we can. If you need any assistance or have any queries, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. In closing, we remain committed to providing reliable and trustworthy tech services, even during challenging times.
