Author Archives: mronan

Key Takeaways from Credit Card Issuers’ 3Q21 Financials

We have come to the end of the financial reporting season for the main U.S. banks, and the following trends are showing up in four key credit card metrics:

  • Outstandings
  • Volume
  • Charge-off rates
  • New account production

Leading issuers report y/y growth in outstandings. In recent quarters, issuers have reported strong y/y declines in outstandings, due to low economy activity and high repayment rates. In the most recent quarter, however, many issuers are now reporting y/y loan growth, led by American Express (+6%) and Capital One (+4%). This growth should continue in the coming quarters as payment rates moderate (in part due to the ending of federal COVID support payments).

Strong growth in credit card volume continues. All of the leading issuers who include volume data in their quarterly financials reported y/y growth rates of at least 20%, driven by the increase in economic activity, recent account growth and the ongoing transition to electronic payments. Many issuers are reporting that spending levels are well above 2019 levels. In addition, issuers are now reporting strong growth in categories where spending plummeted in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly travel & entertainment (T&E). American Express reported a 124% y/y rise in T&E spending in 3Q21, although this was still 29% below the 3Q19 level. Discover reported that 3Q21 travel spending was 1% higher than the same period in 2019. American Express has also reported that spending growth is being driven by younger consumers: its Gen Z and Millennial customers generated y/y spending growth of 38% between 3Q19 and 3Q21, vs. a 6% decline for Baby Boomers.

Charge-off rates have fallen to historic lows but may be bottoming out. Net charge-off rates for most leading issuers are now less than 2%, due to high payment rates and bank supports for consumers in arrears during the pandemic. Some issuers – such as Capital One – reported modest quarterly increases in delinquency rates in recent months, an indication that the decline in charge-off rates should bottom out in the coming quarter.

Issuers have started to ramp up new credit card acquisition activity.Wells Fargo and Bank of America more than doubled new accounts between 3Q20 and 3Q21, as production returned to pre-pandemic levels. Moreover, issuers appear to be committed to investing marketing dollars to drive further acquisition and usage. Capital One has ramped up its marketing spend by 79% y/y in the first 9 months of 2021 and expects to continue this investment in the fourth quarter.

Traditional Banks Prepare for the New Digital Reality by Expanding Digital Functionality

Banking customers’ growing preference for digital (online and mobile) channels – as well as the huge number of digital challengers looking to gain a share of the market (read our December 2020 blog on segmentation among new entrants) – has led established retail banks to ramp up their investment in digital channels.

Growing digital banking users continues to be a prerequisite in establishing strong customer engagement. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 was the catalyst for many reluctant consumers to use digital (online and mobile) banking channels for the first time. Many of these have continued to use digital channels even through branch banking has returned.

The top three retail banks – Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo – all report steady growth in active digital users. Bank of America claimed that 70% of its Consumer Banking households now use its digital channels.

Many U.S. banks also publish metrics illustrating that customers are using digital channels to carry out an range of banking activities, such as:

  • Conducting banking transactions:
    • The digital channel accounted for 68% of Region Bank’s total customer transactions
    • Interactions using Bank of America’s Erica virtual financial assistant rose 153% y/y to 94.2 million
    • 18% of UMB Bank’s consumer deposits were made using its mobile app
  • Making person-to-person (P2P) transfers:
    • Regions reported a 75% y/y rise in Zelle transactions
  • Acquiring new products and services:
    • Truist reported that 44% of new checking accounts were opened digitally
    • The digital channel accounted for 65% of U.S. Bank’s total loan sales
    • Citizens Bank’s digital sales volume rose 61% y/y
    • Huntington Bank reported that the digital channel accounted for 12% of new business deposit account production (a significant change from 0% in 3Q20)
  • Scheduling appointments:
    • Bank of America booked 871,000 digital appointments, up 31% y/y, and reported that these appointments accounted for 31% of its total financial center traffic

Obviously, banks will want to continue to enhance their digital functionality to meet consumer needs and differentiate themselves from competitors. Here are a few tips for doing so effectively:

  • Identify the bank departments, product lines or customer segments where digital channels have significant scope for growth
  • Carry out regular assessments of customer behaviors, needs and perceptions to inform digital investments
  • Conduct ongoing competitive intelligence to understand what digital functionality is now common among many banks, distill best practices, and identify competitive gaps
  • Prepare ways to counter internal barriers (e.g., organizational inertia, legacy processes) to speedy development and rollout of new digital solutions
  • Ensure that new functionality enhances the customers’ digital experience
  • Develop closer integration between digital and human service and sales channels
  • Develop plans to leverage marketing and customer communications channels to promote new digital functionality

Banks Optimize Engagement With a Diverse Content Mix

Many banks are amping up their investment in content development. This is being driven by growing customer demand for financial advice, changing customer perceptions of financial providers and a need to differentiate from both established and new competitors.

Traditional content channels for banks include content-and-advice portals, surveys, blogs and newsletters. But it’s becoming obvious that banks looking to develop a robust and client-centric strategy are leveraging both established and emerging contact forms and channels – including videos, infographics, webinars, podcasts and of course social media platforms
– to meet customers’ changing consumption patterns.

Established Content Forms/Channels

Portals

Most leading banks provide portals that offer a combination of advice and content tailored to specific customer segments, such as:

Recently, bank-wide portals, which are then categorized into various business segments, have started to appear. Examples include U.S. Bank’s Financial IQ and Regions Bank’s Insights.

Surveys

Banks have been using customer surveys for years to both gain insights into changing perceptions and behaviors, and to highlight the bank’s thought leadership in specific areas of the market. A growing trend is for banks to carry out recurring (annual, quarterly, monthly) surveys, which are designed to generate regular press coverage and ongoing customer engagement.

Newsletters

A number of banks have recurring newsletters that they either publish online or distribute via email to opted-in subscribers. Many of these newsletters are titled “Insights”, including Regions Bank’s Wealth Insights and Commercial Insights magazines, which reflect the content and branding on the bank’s Insights portal.

Blogs

Blogs are also well established. They tend to emphasize financial education and well-being, and often have appealing names, such as MoneyFit (BBVA), do it right (Ally) and MoneyLife (MoneyLion).

Emerging Content Forms/Channels

Banks are also starting to develop and promote content on emerging content channels, such as webinars, webcasts, podcasts, videos and social media.

Webinars and Webcasts

During the pandemic, as banks were unable to host live events, webinars and webcasts became a key channel to maintain customer and prospect engagement. These channels have been most prevalent in the commercial banking space with the rollouts of new webinar series by BMO Harris (Expert Conversations), JPMorgan Chase (Treasury & Technology Trends) and M&T Bank (Managing Through Challenging Times). In consumer banking, JPMorgan Chase launched the Chase Chats webcast series.

Podcasts

In the past year, many banks also developed podcast series – including Bank of America (Treasury Insights) and Regions (Commercial Insights) – for commercial banking clients.

Videos

Banks have been using video to spotlight local small business owners, while helping to promote the bank’s local connections. Examples include Huntington Bank’s Support Local video series featuring real small business owners and Webster Bank’s similar small business video series called The Moment.

Social Media Channels

Finally, banks are using their social media channels not only to promote content that is provided through other bank channels but also to present new content, which allows the bank to extend its reach to customers and prospects who might not use the other channels.

Key Takeaways

To develop a multifaceted content strategy, consider the following:

  • Create a dedicated unit for continual content development, publication and promotion
  • Understand target market content needs and consumption patterns
  • Develop a consistent look-and-feel; create templates and guidelines to support seamless content provision
  • Develop a communications plan to promote the value of content development to internal stakeholders
  • Maintain ongoing customer engagement with recurring content (e.g., series of webinars, recurring surveys)
  • Where appropriate, use the content as a prospecting tool by listing relevant executives (with titles, emails and direct phone numbers)
  • Brand the content (e.g., give names to surveys, podcast/webinar series)
  • Identify best practices within the banking industry and from other industry sectors
  • Establish feedback channels to identify content needs and gaps