Bank executives mostly concerned about cybercrime

A research released by Computer Services suggests growing concerns among bank executives around recruiting and retaining talent as well as fighting cybercrime threats.

In the survey, which collected responses from 279 executives from financial institutions across the nation, bankers ranked cybersecurity threats (26% of respondents) and recruiting/retaining employees (21% of respondents) as their top issues in 2022.

The results of this survey, with respondents representing diverse bank asset sizes, also provide new insight into how institutions plan to approach pressing issues like compliance, customer expectations and technological innovation. For instance, to enhance customer experience and expand market share, banks plan to prioritize digital tools, especially account opening (51% of respondents), customer relationship management (43% of respondents) and digital lending (36% of respondents).

“Customer expectations are raising the bar and banks must proactively respond,” said David Culbertson, CSI president and CEO. “This data, paired with bankers’ intentions to hone existing digital tools, illustrates that as the financial landscape evolves, institutions are embracing a digital-first mindset and striving for digital maturity.”

Notably, bank leaders also expect open banking to grow in significance, particularly for digital transformation.

This year’s research also reveals how bank executives perceive their own performance against the evolving financial landscape. For example, although executives on average rated their institutions a healthy 4/5 on compliance readiness, regulatory changes remain top of mind, with 14% of respondents naming it their primary concern.

Considering the new administration, renewed regulatory focus and upcoming requirements, bankers ranked data privacy (39% of respondents) and CECL (20% of respondents) as the most important regulatory issues to their institution.