Ben Plotkin Featured Speaker at January Meeting
Business Process Management Presented at Mini-Session
Ben
Plotkin, Executive Vice President and Vice Chairman of Stifel Nicolaus Weisel
presented New Jersey Banking in 2013:
Challenges and Opportunities at the Chapter’s January Dinner Meeting. The
event was held on Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at the Stony Hill Inn in
Hackensack, NJ. Mr. Plotkin is an experienced and well respected banking
industry analyst and has been a featured speaker at industry meetings on the
regional and national levels including a number of previous Chapter meetings.
Ben
presented an overview of the current overall trends and economic factors in the
banking industry as well as those affecting New Jersey institutions. He provided
a brief history of the U.S. banking system and focused on the historic financial
crises affecting the industry from 1985 to the present.
Ben
defined the following factors as the most significant faced by banks today:
·
Financial and valuation challenges;
·
Customer and demographics challenges;
·
Distribution channels challenges;
·
Overcapacity challenges;
·
Business Model challenges;
·
Regulatory challenges;
He then
compared recent trends in the banking industry for institutions headquartered in
New Jersey with institutions nationwide. Ben pointed out that super regional
banks entering the New Jersey market over the past ten years have dramatically
changed the banking landscape for community banks. The number of New Jersey
banks in the top 25 banks in the nation has been reduced by nearly 50%. He noted
that the migration has largely been toward money center banks, reducing the
market share for community banks.
Ben
concisely summarized recent industry operating and valuation trends for New
Jersey Banks. He discussed the future for merger and acquisition and capital
offering trends including the strategic alternatives available for banks. Ben
concluded his presentation by offering his “Prescription for the Banking
Industry.” He emphasized the need to maintain sufficient capital to withstand
the “evolutionary period”, adopt a variable expense formula and be involved in
“consolidation”.
The
afternoon Mini-Session featured an insightful and contemporary presentation
entitled Business Process Management and
Process Automation. The session was provided by David Rubin, National
Director-Management Consulting, from the management firm of CohnReznick in
Roseland.
David
discussed how the typical bank’s workflow process can become a “Maze of Process
Inefficiency” and noted how the “Power of Process Improvement” can result in
increased service levels, greater efficiency, increased customer loyalty and
improved margins. He noted how new technology is changing the customer’s
perspective and expectations. Banks must utilize effective business process
management to leverage technology to improve inefficiency, reduce cost and
minimize risk.
Topics and Speakers
New Jersey Banking in 2013:
Challenges and Opportunities
Business Process Mamangement and Process Automation