In challenging times for banks and other commercial lenders, it’s more important than ever for fintech providers to understand how their clients’ requirements are evolving. So, at FIS, we always make it our business to ask.

Our recent educational and networking event, Emerald, gave us an excellent opportunity to do just that. And as clients from all over the world gathered to share their hopes, fears and insights, some common concerns soon emerged.

Unsurprisingly, the recent instability of the U.S. regional banking market cast a distinct shadow over proceedings, with systemic risks still top of mind for many lenders.

But as clients continue to grapple with big macroeconomic challenges, they’re also under pressure to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their own business processes.

From our user group meetings at Emerald, the following four needs stood out to me as operational priorities for today’s commercial banks and lenders:

1.     Sharper analytics

Lenders need better and more timely access to their data and the ability to rapidly customize reports and analyze results in more intuitive and visual ways.

In fast-changing markets, predictive analytics are also increasingly key to effective lending decisions and loan management.

2.     Best practice processes

Customization is creating complexity for users of commercial loan servicing solutions, especially when it comes to upgrading the software.

Defining and sticking to standardized business processes and configuration for loan transactions will make upgrades and testing easier to manage and help reduce running costs.

3.     Integrated systems

Commercial lending software needs to interact with many other systems in the banking ecosystem, from the general ledger to reporting solutions.

Open, accessible and – once again – standardized APIs allow loan origination and servicing systems to exchange critical data in a more timely way with different parts of the bank. At FIS, we’re also building a real-time accounting engine to further accelerate data delivery.

4.     Opportunities to use generative AI

Since the explosive advent of ChatGPT in late 2022, there’s been a lot of interest from commercial lenders in how they can deploy generative AI tools to increase the efficiency of their business.

The technology is still in its infancy but evolving fast, so there’s a pressing need to understand both its applicability to lending and any risks involved in its use.

The role of fintech vendors

For technology providers like FIS, commercial lenders’ challenges are ours to solve. Collaboration is key and so is constant communication – an open dialogue that helps us not only meet clients’ needs but also anticipate them.

We can’t find solutions if we don’t know about the problems. But as our Emerald sessions showed, all we have to do is ask.