Correspondent Blog

Given the popularity of Muse, Instinct, Dots, ChatGPT, and other third-party agents, these tools have the capacity to alter deposit performance. These AI agents can continuously compare rates, fees, deposit insurance, bank safety and make strong recommendations including preparing account opening applications. Eventually, these agents will help a customer act. In this article, we examine…

At our recent Deposit Conference, Nomis Solutions taught us a handy trick leveraging their CD performance data from their machine-learned model. In this article, we are going to take a look at a case study that compares two methodologies for CD renewals and see which one outperforms. The one that outperforms comes with two tactics…

Every year, banks spend millions buying deposits they already have access to. What is often called a deposit campaign based on rate, is an unconscious reaction to a data problem that few bankers stop to think about. In this article, we provide the unlock of how banks can get deposit data and leverage it to…

Last week we highlighted our Deposit Vulnerability tool (HERE) and briefly touched on how fall is the second best time, outside of the start of the year, to market for deposits. We also talked about the tailwinds of increasing M2 money supply and lower money market fund rates. Today, we go in depth on the…

Next to the first part of the year, September and October are some of the best deposit gathering months. Businesses and households turn their attention back to fine tuning their financial house while setting up for next year. Excess cash flow get put away for a variety of capital projects next year. Because of this…

Grid-based pricing is typically used to set the applicable margin of a loan based on performance measures such as credit rating or cash flow coverage.  But the same concept can be pointed at a different target: deposit balances.  The average commercial borrower focuses more on their cost of borrowing and less on return on deposits…

If there is one underutilized bank product that can build value, it is the savings account. Most banks not only woefully neglect marketing and developing the savings account but fail to invest the energy in understanding its strategic importance. In the same vein, branch traffic is an underutilized value. In this article, we explore how…

Up until this year, when a bank wanted to forecast the response to new deposit pricing, it either had to guess off its data, use a focus group or see the reaction to a test market. These methods were either inaccurate or took time. Now, synthetic data and AI-driven agents are starting to replace traditional…

Want to make better decisions and be a better leader? Understanding system thinking is a great unlock. Last week (HERE), we discussed the importance of system thinking and described the four main types of systems (below) that bankers need to recognize before solving a challenge. In this article, we provide a framework for managing problem…

Knowing the correlation of interest rates to your bank funding cost is critical. For years, community bankers believed that their deposit base is sticky, relationship-driven, and too lightly priced to move much when interest rates change. By corollary, if your cost of funds barely budges when the Fed acts, you can hold longer-dated fixed-rate loans…

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) is a 1977 U.S. statute granting the President sweeping authority to regulate foreign commerce and impose economic sanctions. In February 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 6–3 decision that IEEPA does not authorize the executive branch to unilaterally impose import tariffs without explicit congressional approval. This…

There is an explosion of entities waiting to become banks. In the last 60 days for example, no less than six bank applications were filed (including the formidable Revolut Bank). Behind that, there are a rash of new competitors coming to include banks by Affirm, PayPal, World Liberty, Mercury, NuBank and UKG. Most will create…