Tab Bank - February 2021

Driving the Future of Open Banking IN ASSOCIATION WITH

TAB BANK

DIGITAL REPORT 2021

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Driving the Future of Open Banking WRITTEN BY

RHYS THOMAS PRODUCED BY

MICHAEL BANYARD

FEBRUARY 2021

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TAB BANK

Mike Palmer illustrates how digital transformation is powering TAB Bank to make major contributions to the financial well-being of its customers

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ransporting vital goods to consumers and connecting businesses that are sometimes thousands of miles apart,

trucking is the lifeblood of the United States.

For those who have never driven a semi-truck and trailer, the industry evokes iconic images of impressive chrome-tipped cabs, and of hardworking men and women glued from dusk till dawn to the painted lines of the nation’s highways. But the day-to-day reality is, of course, more nuanced; it is an industry brimming with unique financial complexity. How do truckers, forever on the move, receive their hard-earned paycheques? How do they access funds to fuel their trucks or acquire loans to buy their semi-trucks and trailers in the first place? And more importantly, how do they find a bank that understands them and their distinct needs?

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120

1998

Year founded

274

Number of employees

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The Future of Alternative Payments is Here.

Our mission is clear: to help non-prime consumers shop where, when, and how they want while increasing retailers’ sales. Our leading edge omni-channel solutions were developed to serve both with our lease-to-own marketplace, payment method for ecommerce, and mobile app for in-store point of sale commerce. We are proud to introduce FlexLending, in partnership with TAB Bank, which broadens our reach with consumer installment loans. When it comes to alternative payment options, we have a solution.

Financing offered is made by Transportation Alliance Bank, Inc., dba TAB Bank.

FLEXSHOPPER: FLEXIBLE PAYMENT SOLUTIONS Kelly Arduz, Vice President of Marketing, FlexShopper explores the firm’s exciting new lending product launched in partnership with TAB Bank FlexShopper offers alternative payment solutions for non-prime consumers, allowing them greater freedom to shop the branded goods they need and desire, from appliances and consumer electronics to furniture and auto tires.

Already a leader in lease-to-own, the firm is expanding its offering through a partnership with TAB Bank, and the subsequent launch of a new lending product called FlexLending.

The solution bestows a broader spectrum of US consumers with greater choice in how to finance their purchases, and helps retailers increase their sales with this core consumer base.

“We’re really excited to be able to serve more consumers and partner with new retailers as a result of this collaboration,” says Kelly Arduz, Vice President of Marketing at FlexShopper. “We’ve had significant success in the lease-to-own space and sought to broaden our verticals beyond just durable goods, which in turn enables us to serve more consumers and partner with more retailers. TAB Bank has expertise in originating consumer loans, and FlexShopper specializes in marketing non-prime payment solutions to consumers and retailers.”

FlexShopper is moving to meet market demand and adapt to best serve consumers, allowing them to shop how and where they choose. “Point of sale finance with retailers has been a growing industry,” Arduz says.

“And through our partnership with TAB, we’ve taken advantage of a significant opportunity in the Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) space that ultimately benefits all parties.”

FlexShopper’s partnership with TAB Bank is “a synergy of expertise,” Arduz says, a symbiotic relationship combining the incisive capabilities of both organisations.

“We’re coupling our abilities,” Arduz continues.

“We can now solicit additional retailers and expand into states where installment loans are preferred over lease-to-own, and a customer who previously signed a lease for tires with FlexShopper can now get their car serviced or repaired through installment loans with our new product FlexLending, thanks to our partnership with TAB.”

TAB BANK

“WHEN YOU’RE DEALING WITH PEOPLE’S MONEY AND THEIR FINANCIAL LIVES, IT’S EMOTIONAL”

Founded in 1998, TAB Bank set out to answer those questions. Known in the early days as the Transportation Alliance Bank, its suite of financial services for businesses and individuals were tailored to truckers from day one, earning it an impressive reputation and loyal customer base within the industry and beyond. That the bank remains a

— Mike Palmer, Chief Operating Officer, TAB Bank

small financial organisation by definition belies the scale of its ambition and the enormous positive impact it has on the lives of its customers.

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FEBRUARY 2021

E X E C U T I V E P R O FILE :

Michael Palmer Title: Chief Operating Officer

Company: TAB Bank

As TAB Bank’s Chief Operating Officer, Mike oversees the operational and customer support teams that assist TAB’s clients with their deposit relationships with the bank. Additionally, his teams securely process all the bank’s electronic funds transfers, apply for invoice specific payments across the factoring portfolio, and process thousands of lockbox and other checks per week.

Mike is a Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager.

Prior to his experience at TAB Bank, he spent 13 years at Wells Fargo, the last ten being spent in regulatory compliance roles focusing on international BSA/AML compliance as well as mortgage and consumer lending regulations. Mike holds a Bachelor of Science degrees in Finance and Marketing from Utah State University and a Master of Business Administration from Brigham Young University. He is a graduate from the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin –Madison where he completed courses necessary to achieve the Executive Leadership Certificate from the Wisconsin School of Business.

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TAB BANK

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Flanked on either side by model

Doing it right for a relatively niche

trucks in his office in Ogden, Utah

customer base such as truckers

– TAB Bank’s central and only loca-

means understanding the realities

tion – Chief Operating Officer Mike

of their lives and their financial situ-

Palmer strives everyday to uphold

ations. To highlight the point, Palmer

that original vision. “When you’re

points to the ‘guaranteed check’, a

dealing with people’s money and

form of one-off payment run by third

their financial lives, it’s emotional,”

parties that is generally used to pay

Palmer says. “It has a huge impact

truckers performing a single job for a

on everything that they do, how they

different company. TAB works with

live, and even how they see the world.

these third parties to ensure their

And so doing that well, doing it right,

customers can deposit these cheques

is very important to me and the peo-

directly into their TAB account – a

ple that I work with.”

seemingly small service that in fact

FEBRUARY 2021

“WE WILL DRIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH TAB BANK, AND CUSTOMERS WILL REALISE, ‘THIS IS WHERE I CAN REALLY LIVE MY FINANCIAL LIFE’” — Mike Palmer, Chief Operating Officer, TAB Bank

We Are TAB Bank CLICK TO WATCH

|

3:03

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Technology services designed for banking and lending firms ValueMomentum is at the forefront of helping Banks and Lending companies in their digitalization journey across Retail & Commercial Banking, Core System modernization, and Lending lifecycle automation/optimization.

We are supporting TAB Bank as a strategic partner in their Open Banking, BaaS, Integration (internal and partner ecosystem), DevOps, Analytics, Data, RPA, Development, Test Automation and Digital Banking initiatives.

Visit our website

04

has a major positive impact on the

bank is undergoing a dramatic digital

lives of its customers. “They haven’t

transformation to bring ‘EU-style’

got this guaranteed cheque having

mobile banking to its customers

around that they’ve got to wait to

across the US and expand its cus-

deposit at their hometown bank when

tomer base beyond transportation,

they get home,” Palmer says. “We can

an initiative that has been in the works

get money in their account. They can

for some time.

fuel their truck again and keep moving goods across America.”

“I would say we’re right at the cusp of being able to take advantage of

TAB’s deep ties to the trucking

the investments we’ve made over the

industry stretch back more than two

last several years,” says Palmer. Led

decades, but much has changed in the

by TAB’s president Curt Queyrouze,

intervening years both in trucking and

described by Palmer as a “brilliant

the wider financial landscape. Now the

banker and futurist”, the executive busi ne ssc hi ef . com

Customer financing made EASY - Approvals up to $5,000 - Good credit to NO credit - ZERO down payment required - 90-Day No Interest Promotion* - Affordable monthly payments *With up to a $40 processing fee

Visit our website All loans made by Transportation Alliance Bank, Inc. dba TAB Bank, which determines qualifications for and terms of credit, excluding AK, AZ, CA, DE, ID, KS, KY, ND, NH, NM, NV, OR, PA, UT, VA, WA, and WI. Financing in these states is administered by EasyPay Finance.

team took a step back to reassess how best to organise data, how that data can enhance the customer experience, and what underlying hardware and resource investment would be vital to realising their grand vision.

These are lessons TAB learned from the European Union, which Palmer believes picked up the data-driven baton from the US and ran it in the

“I’M VERY EXCITED ABOUT WHAT WE’RE GOING TO BE ABLE TO DELIVER TO THE MARKET HERE IN THE FIRST QUARTER” — Mike Palmer, Chief Operating Officer, TAB Bank

right direction.

“In the United States we were famous for using data to retain and 06

control our power in the marketplace – and I don’t think that we really even did a really great job of it,” he says. “Then organisations in the European Union came through and began opening this data up, and allowing people access to it within the banking system. I think what we’ve learned in the States is that there is a way to make this work and be profitable, provide a great customer experience, and make everybody better off.

“What that means is making all the information that you have directly available to customers, and giving them access to it in the way that they want. A lot of the legacy online busi ne ssc hi ef . com

TAB BANK

and mobile banking platforms in the United States are very inflexible,” Palmer says.

Using open banking has empowered TAB to fine tune and tailor its new platform, as well as partner with market leaders to expedite the process of bringing it to market.

“We’re headed to that real open platform, with functionality that even allows customers to drop and drag widgets and other useful things like that,” Palmer continues. “If I’m a 07

small business owner and I want to see all the cheques that are clearing that day, or the transactions that are going to post, I can move that to the top. Or maybe I’m a consumer, and I am always worried about my balance because I’m living paycheque to paycheque, so I want that to flash to the top of mind. That’s efficient and effective for our customers, whether they are consumers or small business, and our hope is that by introducing these new services – and more in the future – we will drive engagement with TAB Bank, and customers will realise, ‘This is where I can really live my financial life’.”

FEBRUARY 2021

08

“WE’RE HEADED TO THAT REAL OPEN PLATFORM” — Mike Palmer, Chief Operating Officer, TAB Bank

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Partners have been vital to realis-

UX specialists who work to tie all these

ing TAB’s ambitions. On the backend,

things together. I’m very excited about

partners including MuleSoft and

what we’re going to be able to deliver

ValueMomentum worked with TAB’s

to the market here in the first quarter.”

internal teams to build the robust mid-

Developing this open banking plat-

layers that bridge the gap between

form will allow TAB to partner with

customers, their information and

fintechs to provide banking services to

TAB’s suite of services. On the fron-

their customers in a way fintechs want

tend, TAB leveraged Technisys’ Cyber

to. “Providing everything from a cus-

Bank platform.

tomisable customer interface to the

“These are tremendous partners

back-end core system was a goal from

that we’ve had tremendous success

the beginning,” Palmer explains. The

with,” Palmer says. “And then we have

way everything ties together allows

some very, very talented people here

partners to decide which pieces they

at TAB Bank, from developers to UI/

need to go to market.

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TAB BANK

11

For Palmer, however, TAB Bank

and debt. He paints the picture of a

remains an organisation concerned

customer that banks with TAB Bank,

with people and making lives better.

but who took advantage of a good

Setting technology and digital trans-

car loan at a dealership in Kentucky,

formation to one side for a moment,

and whose mortgage is with a major

he says the overarching aim is to give

national lender. TAB’s new platform

customers a “more complete finan-

aims to unify all this data in order to

cial picture”, tying in all the disparate

understand each individual and begin

strands of their incomings, outgoings

offering recommendations on

FEBRUARY 2021

12

everything from insurance to mort-

is,” Mike says. “That’s really where I

gage rates or investment.

hope we are in 18 to 24 months. It’s

“We will be able to say, ‘Here are

a Herculean effort to try to get there,

some steps you can take to make your

and we’ve got a lot of work to do, but

family more secure, what your upcom-

I’m cautiously optimistic.”

ing business expenses are, make your financial picture better, and head in the right direction to get to where you want to be, wherever that busi ne ssc hi ef . com

TAB BANK 4185 HARRISON BLVD. OGDEN UT 84403 T 800-355-3063 E marketing@tabbank.com

www.tabbank.com

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