More information
Steve Klinkerman
(212) 953-4444
sklinkerman@novantas.com

Michael Rice and Stephen Baird Lead Conference on Mid-Market Commercial Banking, Unveil New Research

2008-11-10

CHICAGO – Michael Rice and Stephen Baird, respectively a Managing Director and a Director in the Chicago offices of Novantas LLC, today led the agenda at the new Middle Market Commercial Banking Symposium sponsored by SourceMedia.

Rice acted as chairman of the day-long conference, and he and Baird were instrumental in crafting the overall agenda and arranging content for many of the sessions. The theme of the event was “Driving Revenues and Productivity through New Customer Insights.” SourceMedia and Novantas have agreed to stage a 2009 edition of the symposium next fall in Chicago.

Rice also presented findings from the Novantas 2008 Middle Market Customer Acquisition Survey, which included responses from a dozen banks, including four major institutions drawn from the ranks of the top 10 U.S. banking companies. Although current market turbulence has put a spotlight on credit availability, the Novantas survey showed a growing emphasis on non-credit products in mid-market customer acquisition, particularly commercial deposits and other liquidity products.

The Novantas survey confirmed that many challenges remain in improving sales of non-credit offerings, Rice said, including: 1) freeing up relationship managers to spend more time on sales; 2) updating sales coverage models; 3) improving the analytical ability to identify and prioritize prospects; and 4) better incorporating customer acquisition goals in compensation models for relationship managers.

Baird led a panel discussion on analytic deposit pricing, which included executives from Fifth Third Bancorp, KeyCorp, National City Corp. and SunTrust Banks Inc. Baird identified the major steps that leading commercial banks are using to price deposits more effectively, including making greater use of segment insights; improving market and customer analytics; centralizing pricing functions to improve control, quality and consistency of execution; and getting a handle on discounting.

Novantas is the acknowledged leader in customer science and revenue strategy in the financial services industry. The Firm specializes in investigating and interpreting customer needs, attitudes and behaviors in ways that help companies to refine marketing decisions, customer strategies, and sales and service activities.