Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

What do corporates want? KYB (Know Your Bank)

Chris Skinner Author Avatar
by
JPM ad 1980

Another day, another Financial Services Club meeting.  This time it was the turn of Colin Tyler, CEO of the Association of Corporate Treasurers.

Colin delivered a fascinating presentation around whether banks are delivering for their corporate customers’ needs.

Based upon my own notes of the evening, the answer appears to be: not really.

Most corporates want banks to show them how to sweat their assets, enhance and/or unlock shareholder value, improve their working capital and ease the supply chain.  What they tend to get is product sales focused bank relationship managers, who focus upon the bank’s needs rather than the customers.

Even more interesting is the idea that banks are asking their corporate customers to help them with the regulators.  The regulators should be focused upon the corporate needs but, rather than this being the case, the corporations are being caught in the bathwater being thrown out by the regulator in their sweeping changes to trading operations (as noted last week at the Nordic Financial Services Club).

Equally, the discussion led to a key point that banks talk about KYC – Know Your Client – but corporates are now talking about KYB – Know Your Bank.  This is because the risks associated with corporate banking have been heightened since the crisis of 2008, and corporates need to be much more aware of bank operations, activities, charging and organisational structures than ever before.

Colin needed the presentation by summarising the corporate requirements from their bank as being:

  • Fairness: more open and transparent
  • Clarity: Plain English and clear communications
  • Relevance: tailored to the needs of the business
  • Innovation: continual delivery of next generation financial management
  • Choice: recommend and provide the best
  • Keenness: proactive service
  • Respect: do your research
  • Confidentiality: keep it quiet
  • Future-proof: ensure the bank covers the long-term

There’s an acronym in there somewhere, but I’m not going to try to create it.

What I did like was the slides that Colin used at the end of his presentation that showed how bank advertising has changed over the years and compared and contrasted the US and British approach to corporate needs.

American banks focused upon the people making the difference:

JPM ad 1980

British banks focused upon being international:

RBS ad 1980

Interestingly, three decades later, the emphasis is different for a large, American bank, where the focus is efficiency (automation, process, technology, innovation):

JPM ad 2013

But pretty much the same for the British bank:

RBS ad 2013

Having said that, my favourite ad was the one from TD Bank in 1980, with special guest star Michael Caine!

TD ad 1980
 

FSClubPaymentsCategories
Chris Skinner Author Avatar

Chris M Skinner

Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...

What is the future?

Learn more

Learn more about Chris

About Chris Skinner

The Past, Present And Future Of Banking, Finance And Technology

Fintech expert Chris Skinner: countries need digital transformation to remain competitive

Join me on Linkedin

Follow Me on X!

Hire Chris Skinner for dinners, workshops and more

Learn directly from from one of the most influential people in technology, gain insights from the world's most innovative companies, and build a global network.

Chris’s latest book

Chris Skinner’s ‘Digital For Good’ Book Launch Event – CFTE

Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on FinTech 2023

Chris Skinner
Commentator, CEO of The Finanser and best-selling author at The Finanser

Thinkers360 Thought Leader

Contact Me

Global Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award

Global 100 - 2024 Winner

Chris Skinner - Financial Markets Advisor of the Year - The Finanser - UK 2023

Best Financial Markets Advisor of the Year 2023

30 Best Regtech Blogs and Websites 2023

Kids creating the future bank | TEDxAthens

Captain Cake and the Candy Crew

Captain Cake Winner of a Golden Mom’s Choice Award

TWO-TIME WINNER OF A MOM’S CHOICE GOLD AWARD!

Alex at the Financial Services

Gaping Void's Hugh MacLeod worked with the Finanser