Cogent Bank Pinellas County Market President Jackie McIntosh spoke at the Centre Club’s March Breakfast with an Executive discussing the rapid changes in banking and the impacts on business owners. Cogent has been serving businesses and residents of Hillsborough County since opening the Tampa banking center in 2019. The later expansion of a banking center in Pinellas County in Clearwater proved Cogent’s execution of being a financial institution based on innovation, growth and cutting-edge technology.
Jackie began her journey with small business by starting a small crabbing business as a child, hiring her brother and his friends while haggling with local fisherman on pricing for bait. This inspired her love for small business and ultimately pushed her in the direction of banking as a career with a focus on serving small businesses.
Jackie then gave the audience a brief history of banking and defined what a bank’s purpose is under three services: serves as a repository for deposits, process payments, and provides loans. She noted that payment processing is where the largest changes are happening in banking today.
In the first 162 years of banking there were around 8 major changes but in the last 9 years there have been six major technologies introduced that have changed banking in a major way such as Bitcoin, digital check clearing, chips on our credit and debit cards to name a few. Today there are almost 65,000 less banking institutions than in the 1980’s. Only 49 new banking charters have been permitted in the last ten years as opposed to the roughly 1000 permitted from 2000-2010. Less banks mean less choices.
Looking towards the future, we will soon have real time movement of money through real time payments and services such as TassatPay, which processes payments on the Blockchain rail. Many believe that TassatPay, and other Blockchain payment options will replace ACH & wiring money due to the immediate transaction speed and reduction of potential fraud. Additionally, the usage of digital banking and AI & chat bots are changing the bank experience for customers. Jackie noted that banking is shifting to banking as a service model which will provide easier access to bank resources for customers as well as a more streamlined and expedient process when, for example, applying for a loan.
