Is Your Bank Ready for Hurricane Season?

NOAA records for the period 1851 to 2010 indicate that Florida is the state most frequently struck by hurricanes. As we approach the beginning of the 2013 Atlantic Hurricane season, it is imperative that you have an up-to-date hurricane emergency action plan in place to safeguard your facilities and business operations.

Since banks are keystones of community commerce, adequate preparation in advance of a hurricane is vital to assuring a prompt recovery and restoration of local customer service after the storm passes.

One of the most important elements of a successful hurricane emergency action plan is the development and implementation of a formal business continuity plan. To learn more about what BancServ Endorsed Partner Zurich recommends your bank do beginning 48 hours before the storm hits and what to do immediately following, please click HERE.

Verafin Offering Significant Discounts for FBA Members

Cyber criminals are more organized, sophisticated, and malicious than ever before. The cost of online fraud to your institution and to your customers is enormous, making it more important than ever to proactively fight back against online criminals, before the damage spreads.

Verafin, Florida Bankers Association’s endorsed fraud detection and BSA/AML compliance solution provider, offers the industry’s most powerful online fraud detection analytics as part of its FRAML (FRaud detection + AML) software solution. From the detection of out-of-the-ordinary customer behavior to real time suspicious online transaction activity alerts that help you prevent fraud loss, with Verafin you stay a step ahead of cyber criminals.

From now until the end of August, FBA members who purchase Verafin’s FRAML or Fraud solution have the chance to save on the first year’s subscription price:

– Save 25%, if you purchase before June 28th

– Save 15%, if you purchase after June 28th but before July 31st

– Save 10%, if you purchase after July 31st but before August 30th

This is your chance to get the power of North America’s leading fraud detection and BSA/AML compliance solution at significant savings!

Call 1-866-781-8433 or email framl@verafin.com to start the discussion about how Verafin can help your institution prevent fraud losses and improve your BSA/AML compliance processes

Financial institutions are steadily gaining new deposits as consumers continue to flee risky investments. With increased liquidity in the industry, financial institutions are actively looking for ways to maximize the performance of their new loan marketing programs to help improve their loan-to-deposit ratios.

Register for this webinar to:

• Learn about current trends in new loan marketing and review research
• Discover 10 initiatives that can help improve the growth of your loan portfolio
• Look inside the structure of a successful loan program

Presenters:

Susan Wolfe, Vice President of Financial Services, Mintel Comperemedia
Stephen Nikitas, Senior Strategist, Harland Clarke Marketing Services
Karen Benedetti, Vice President of Marketing, Service Credit Union

Event Details:
Date: Wednesday, May 9
Time: 1 p.m. EDT

Click HERE to register for this webinar.

Presented by Mintel Comperemedia® and Harland Clarke Marketing Services

Senior Housing Crime Prevention Webinar to Focus on CRA Credits and Positive P.R.

In conjunction with the ICBA, the Senior Housing Crime Prevention Foundation and the Florida Bankers Association, we are pleased to bring FBA members a 30-minute webinar geared to provide them with the information they need to get their banks CRA credit while receiving a guaranteed annual yield and no credit risk exposure.

The Senior Housing Crime Prevention has been reviewed by all federal banking regulatory agencies and has passed the rigors of multiple regulatory exams.

In addition, the program offers:

•     Bank directed security selection and CRA assessment area selection;

•     Gain CRA credit by protecting our nation’s Veterans or elderly nursing home population;

•     No overhead commitments or administrative burden; and

•     Positive exposure in your communities adding immeasurably to your banks solid reputation

What regulators are saying:

“The FDIC has been a strong supporter of the Foundation. It has been my experience that financial institutions are responsible community leaders, they are crucial to the well being of our neighborhoods and this kind of program really is as good of an example as any of what can be done when the financial industry focuses attention on neighborhood problems.”  – Martin Gruenberg, Acting Chairman of the FDIC

“The OCC has a long history of supporting the mission of the Foundation, to provide crime prevention services to low and moderate income seniors in nursing home facilities and has continued to demonstrate the support for the program by providing positive CRA consideration for the loans and investments banks make in the Foundation. I think that one of the greatest assets of the Foundation is that it is set up to allow a bank different options to loan or invest funds in the organization. The type and amount of CRA consideration depends on the option the bank chooses, through either a community development loan or a qualified CRA investment.” – Grovetta Gardineer, Deputy Comptroller for Compliance Policy, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

The webinar will be held on Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 3:00 PM EST. To register, please click HERE.

E-Mail Marketing Best Practices Webinar

According to the Direct Marketing Association, e-mail marketing ranks as the most productive marketing medium with a return on investment of $41 for each $1 spent.

Please join us on Tuesday, April 17 at 10 am ET as John Joseph, VP Operations and Client Engagement for industry leading email firm SubscriberMail, a unit of Harland Clarke, leads an engaging discussion about:

• Best practices for FI e-mail marketing
• E-mail metrics and benchmarks
• Strategies to increase customer engagement

For those who are unable to attend on April 17, we will conduct a second email webinar on Tuesday, May 8 at 3 pm ET.

To register for the April 17 webinar, please click HERE.

To register for the May 8 webinar, please click HERE.

April is Financial Literacy Month — Perfect Time to Partner With EverFi

How is your bank leveraging Financial Literacy Month to highlight the work you’re doing in the local community? EverFi, Inc., the nation’s leading education technology company, is embarking on a bus tour across the nation, recognizing banks from coast to coast for their commitment to innovative financial literacy education.

The tour features media events in local schools and visits from governors, senators, and other policy leaders, all designed to help banks garner positive media attention for the work they are doing in local communities to educate students at scale.

VIEW SAMPLE NEWS COVERAGE – FIRST UNITED BANK (video)

Banks who sign on to utilize the EverFi™ Financial Literacy platform by April 30 will be included in this national marketing campaign and will receive a full media kit to help you maximize buzz in YOUR local community.

About EverFi™ Financial Literacy

EverFi provides an opportunity for banks to enhance their existing financial education initiatives and deliver the latest technology to local high schools through a private-labeled program that teaches, assesses and certifies high school students in hundreds of topics in personal finance. The program is currently used by more than 3,000 high schools in all 50 states and maps to national and most state requirements for financial literacy. A valuable

Contact Bret Rock at (850) 224-2265 or brock@floridabankers.com to learn more about bringing this cutting-edge learning platform to your community.

Using Data Analytics to Accelerate Account Holder Acquisition

Meeting your financial institution’s revenue goals by attracting and acquiring new account holders can be a complex and expensive process. Successful account holder acquisition is not only about attracting new account holders – it is also about attracting the right account holders to generate revenue for your institution. Account holder analytics can help financial institutions meet this challenge.

Join Srividya Sridharan, senior analyst at Forrester Research® and Sandeep Kharidhi, vice president of analytics at Harland Clarke Marketing Services, as they discuss how to use analytics to increase the performance of your financial institution’s acquisition programs. Register now to learn:

• Practical methods for identifying which consumers will be profitable for your institution and which will not be profitable
• How analytics can drive account holder acquisition campaign results
• The limitations of the traditional approach to acquisition-based analytics

This webinar will be held on Wednesday, April 4, 2012 at 1:00 PM EDT. To register, please click HERE.

Building Stronger Account Relationships With Onboarding

A regional bank with more than 130 branches in two Western states began offering consumers the ability to open accounts online. However, the bank encountered challenges in terms of creating a centralized, automated mechanism for communicating with these new online customers in a reliable, efficient and relevant fashion.

The bank asked Harland Clarke for a solution to help decrease overall new account attrition. At the same time, this solution needed to improve existing communication with new online customers, as well as facilitate the procurement of necessary print documentation, such as a signature card, for internet-based accounts. The ultimate goal was to better understand and meet each new customer’s banking needs.

Harland Clarke recommended implementation of its onboarding solution, an ongoing integrated process that builds long-term relationships by engaging new account holders and growing them into profitable and loyal account holders. Our onboarding solution allows for a multidimensional strategy that connects financial institutions with their account holders through multiple channels, delivering the right message at the right time.

Harland Clarke targeted both internet- and branch-based customers with deposit-related accounts such as checking, money market and savings. The next step was to devise a communication strategy based on the accounts each customer opened. The goals were to thank customers for their business, educate them about using their new accounts and suggest complementary products.

The onboarding program launched with three separate direct mail communications. A welcome packet thanking new customers was mailed within seven days of account opening and included a signature card for online customers. This package was followed by two more mailings — one after 30 days and another at 60-days. The content of each was highly relevant and engaging, and was tied directly to the type of account the customer opened.

The welcome letter came with a tear-off side coupon that offered products to complement the account. At 30 days and again at 60 days, a letter arrived in a standard business-sized envelope with a tear-off coupon offering services to further engage the customer.

Harland Clarke’s onboarding program produced a statistically significant account retention lift of 6.7 percent and household retention lift of 2.5 percent compared with a control group, as well as an average of 95 percent account retention for new customers. In addition, the program generated considerable increases in incremental balances and delivered a statistically significant balance retention lift of 6.4 percent.

Learn more about Harland Clarke’s onboarding solution, and download our free white paper, 10 Strategies for an Award-winning Onboarding Process, at http://harlandclarke.com/solutions/marketing/financial-services-solutions/onboarding.

Mortgage Solutions Webinars Upcoming

BancServ Co-Endorsed Partner ICBA Mortgage Solutions invite you to attend an upcoming webinar to learn how the ICBA Mortgage Solutions Program (ICBAMS) can help your bank remain compliant. During this complimentary webinar, community bank mortgage lenders will discover how they can better manage mortgage lending fraud and compliance and credit risk; improve operations efficiency, grow market share and increase fee income with the programs and services the ICBAMS program provides.

Webinar Highlights:

• ICBA Mortgage Solutions Program Structure & Key Features

• Community Bank Benefits

• Origination/Funding Options

• Lending Fulfillment Support Channels

• Program Preferred Investors and Compliance Services

• Program Pricing

• ICBAMS Technology

• Mortgage Marketing Support

Who Should Attend?

The program is appropriate for presidents and CEOs, senior lenders, and business development and mortgage officers.

Webinar Presenters

Elizabeth Deal, EVP ICBA Mortgage Solutions

Diane Keane, Southeast Regional Account Manager, ICBA Mortgage Solutions

How to Register

Click on either date below (whichever fits your schedule, both webinars will cover the same content):

Wed, Mar 28, 2012 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM MDT

Wed, Apr 11, 2012 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM MDT

Contact

Diane Keane at 727-289-9112

Harland Clarke Launches New Standard in Check Packaging

Harland Clarke has officially announced the introduction of CheckFolio™, the company’s new check packaging system that will replace its traditional checkbox.

CheckFolio’s unique design aligns multiple checkbooks neatly in a slim, compact folio — enabling consumers to more conveniently receive, store and access personal checks. This innovation is the result of several years of extensive research and development. The consumer testing and client feedback was nationwide in scope and included focus groups, online video surveys, surveys on check use and storage, as well as security and identity protection research. Harland Clarke further validated the consumer research with financial institutions.

“As we talked to consumers, we learned that they wanted more than what the standard checkbox offered,” said Gwen Cuffie, vice president of product solutions and marketing for Harland Clarke. “So we took an ‘outside-the-box’ approach and developed a new system that delivers a better account holder experience.” Through its research, Harland Clarke determined that 94 percent of respondents preferred CheckFolio to the traditional box and other check packaging systems currently in the marketplace.[1]

CheckFolio addresses three key needs consumers expressed about check packaging:

1)    Organization: All CheckFolio components are packaged together neatly, ready to place in a drawer, filing cabinet or on a bookshelf for easy access and storage.

2)    Security: CheckFolio is delivered in a slim, tamper-evident wrap, plus its unique design makes for discreet and flexible in-home storage options, allowing checks to be “hidden” in the home.

3)    Environmental Efficiency: The compact and efficient design of CheckFolio uses less material, creates less waste
and is recyclable.

Harland Clarke has begun the transition of its check packaging to CheckFolio and will continue throughout 2012. To view CheckFolio and learn more information about it, visit checkfolio.com.

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[1] ^{Harland Clarke CheckFolio research, 2011.}