Key Takeaways From the New Jersey Bankers 118th Annual Conference

Attorney Scott Best and director of business development Chris Kimes recently attended the New Jersey Bankers Association 118^th Annual Conference in Naples, Florida. The event provides educational and informational sessions related to issues affecting national, regional, and community banks in New Jersey. They’re now sharing their key takeaways from this informative event!

 

A topic that was mentioned in many conversations that we had throughout the conference was delinquency rates and whether we have seen an increase in volume, specifically with regard to commercial accounts and commercial real estate loans. While many of the banks we talked with had not yet experienced a significant increase, given the generally more conservative lending nature of regional and community banks, several believed the delinquency wave would continue and even smaller lenders would be impacted.  

One of the keynote speakers at the conference was Rob Nichols, President & CEO of the American Bankers Association who provided an update on the challenges facing the banking industry. He addressed the current regulatory environment being one of death by 1,000 cuts indicating that the small bills and rule changes regarding capitalizations rules, liquidity requirements, the war on fees and CFPB small business lending rules, among others have a significant cumulative impact on the business and functionality of banks. Meanwhile, legislation that the banking industry supports remains locked in dysfunctional legislative gridlock in Washington, DC. 

It has been a topic of conversations at many of the conferences Weltman has attended over the past year - AI and its’ impact continues to be a hot area of discussion. Many banks are now tackling the question of how can they best use AI? With the increase in non-bank market share from the various fintech lenders and other non-bank entities, the ability of AI to provide a personalized customized customer experience is beneficial to banks who are seeking to capture a younger client base. 
 

One additional area where AI has been found to be beneficial related to delinquent accounts and compliance is with regard to the early detection and stopping fraud through deep fakes or other illegitimate means. Some studies have indicated AI is able to detect these occurrences earlier and easier than has been done in the past. That early detection would hopefully spare a bank from issuing a loan that was bound to default from inception.

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Our team is constantly monitoring changes to the industry. If you would like to learn more about Weltman’s commercial or consumer collections solutions, connect with Scott or Chris at any time.