Kevin Bannerton of R&T Deposit Solutions On The Future of Money and Banking
An Interview With Jason Hartman
Take ownership of a situation. Regardless of your level of experience or title. Some of the best employees I have had distinguish themselves by not just bringing up problems or issues, but taking the ownership to also provide a potential solution.
The way we bank has changed dramatically over the last decade. It was not too long ago when you had to wait in line in a bank to deposit money. Today things are totally different. You can do your banking without ever walking into a bank. In addition, the whole concept of money has changed. In the recent past, money usually meant bills and coins. But today, the concept of money has expanded to include digital currency and NFTs. What other innovations should we expect to see in banking in the short and medium term?
To address this, we are talking to leaders in the banking, finance, and fintech worlds, to discuss the future of banking and money over the next few years. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kevin Bannerton, Executive Vice President and Head of Wealth Management at R&T Deposit Solutions.
Kevin Bannerton leads R&T Deposit Solutions’ Wealth Management division, with responsibility for the development and delivery of wealth management focused products, achieving firm targets for new sales and client retention, coordination of all marketing initiatives and the prioritization of all projects related to wealth management. In addition, Kevin is responsible for the firmwide marketing and public relations efforts and oversees the securities-based lending business line.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started in this industry?
Sure, I began my career at Merrill Lynch right after college where I was hired as a summer intern in the private client division. From there I became a Financial Advisor and ultimately changed careers, moving within the firm to the Investment Management division, focusing on cash and short-term fixed income solutions. This led to becoming an institutional product specialist, where I worked with corporations, pension funds, asset managers and other institutions to design their investment policies and implement customized fixed income investment portfolios. This business was acquired by Blackrock, where I worked for a while before moving to Deutsche Bank. At Deutsche Bank, I was Managing Director and Head of the America’s Liquidity Management business for Deutsche Bank Asset Management, where I oversaw the sales and distribution efforts for the firm’s Insured Deposit Program, Money Market Mutual Funds and cash / short-duration fixed income separate accounts. This is where I was first introduced to Total Bank Solutions, our partner in the Insured Deposit Sweep business.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
Having lived through the financial crisis of 2008 and subsequent “market events” over the years, there are a lot of individual stories that are fascinating. But the most consequential for me was my decision to join Total Bank Solutions, which shifted my career trajectory into entrepreneurship.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
This is less of a quote and more of a concept. What I would describe as “building career equity,” which is if you think of your career along the lines of a start-up, early in your career you invest in your “business” by gaining experience, knowledge and skills, this process takes effort and an investment in time that you may not see an immediate return on in the form of compensation.
As that builds, you either become more valuable to the company you work for or to another firm in need of that experience and skillset, and then there is a cross over point where the cumulative experiences payoff. Having an understanding of this gap or lag in timing between the process of building experience and compensation is important, it can help to keep things in perspective as you consider how any change in career can either add to your cumulative knowledge and experience as opposed to just gaining a different set of experiences.
Ok wonderful. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Can you tell our readers about the most interesting projects you are working on now?
Continuing with the successful integration of our recently merged companies and working as a team to achieve our top business goal, scaling the growth of our Demand Deposit Marketplace program (DDM). This is redrawing bank’s playbook on how to approach uninsured and insured deposits, build customer trust and navigate difficult markets.
How do you think this might change the world?
Considering the recent bank failures of SVB and Signature Bank, there is an increased focus on the safety of deposits and the value of FDIC insurance. Through our DDM program, clients can access up to $50 million in FDIC Insurance per tax id, providing banks with a market-based solution to offer higher levels of deposit insurance to their customers while ensuring the flexibility to retain those important relationships and access deposit funding. This is so important because a solution like ours helps to preserve confidence in small and mid-sized banks, so that customers of those banks don’t have to shift the business or send deposits to just a few large banks.
What most excites you about the banking or payments industry as it is today? Can you explain what you mean?
I think what is most interesting is the evolution of different business models within banking to support different customers segments. For example, banks that collaborate with fintechs through banking as a service or BaaS offerings bring forward combined, tailored banking services to distinct client types. Banking is often generalized, and banks are thought of as being homogenous, when in fact they can be quite different based on size, customer focus, geography, go-to-market strategy (digital / branch / hybrid) and range of services, among other factors. As the market evolves banks adapt. As a provider to many sides of financial services, it is interesting to see these evolutions and how we also need change to support them as their businesses evolve.
What most concerns you about the banking or payments industry as it is today? What would you suggest needs to be done to address that?
My concern is the potential for an overreaction to the recent bank failures that could negatively impact small and mid-sized banks. To address that, I think banks can continue to increase their efforts to educate clients about their business and financial condition, as well as expand the range of offering they make available to help clients manage risk. My hope is that any proposed regulatory changes are targeted and continue to support the local banking model that serves such a large segment of the economy.
How would you articulate how the concept of money has changed in recent times? Is it really a change? How is it still the same? Can you explain what you mean?
I think the concept of money is the same in its most basic form serving as a medium of exchange. To me the “how” is what has really changed. The various ways in which we can now “exchange” money with platforms like Venmo or Zelle. The speed in which that can happen (instantaneously) and the platforms from which money can be exchanged have all expanded. This is making the exchange of money so much more convenient.
Based on your vantage point as an insider in the finance industry, what innovations should we expect to see in banking in the short and medium term?
Adoption and increased usage of real time payments (RTP), continued improvements in workflow / digital experiences and on-demand, 24–7 access. Banking is the frontline of customer experience battles; institutions are constantly pushing to get ahead and better service their customers.
How has the pandemic changed the way banks interact and engage with their customers?
Probably the most noticeable is the adoption of video conferencing and the comfort level customers have now with that form of communication. But what we saw more broadly is an overall acceleration in the delivery of digital experiences, which cut across multiple levels of the client experience from how they research and access information online, sign up for services, initiate loan applications, sign documents, save and invest. Each of those processes have changed and, due to some of the changes implemented during the pandemic, will continue to change at an increasing rate.
In your particular experience, how has the pandemic changed the way you interact with, and engage your customers?
Similar to what I already described, but most noticeable has been how we have incorporated video conferencing into our sales and account management process, while at the same time working to increase the impact of our in-person engagement by increasing our presence at specific conferences and sponsoring other smaller events.
I’m very interested in the importance of user experience. How much of your interactions have moved to digital such as chatbots, encrypted messaging apps, phone, or video calls? How has this shift impacted the user and customer experience? What challenges do these apps present when used as a customer engagement tool?
The user interface and user experience are an integral part of our product design process. While we are a B-to-B company, there are still a lot of principles derived from consumer-oriented products that are applied to our solutions. The real key is spending the time up front to understand the person who is using the system, what business goal or function they are trying to achieve, what process they use today and how we, through our system, streamline their interaction and potentially alleviate pain points. From there, all the available tools can be considered if they help to accomplish the goal. We don’t look to take a tool like a chatbot and just add it in if it does not serve a purpose or add value. We try to avoid features or functionality that could end up just being a distraction.
If you could design the perfect communication feature or system to help your business, what would it be?
We are in the business of matching supply and demand for both deposits and lending, so having more real-time information and access to data on both sides so we can suggest a solution at the time people are researching potential options. This extends our reach and helps curate both sides of our network.
Fantastic. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The Modern Finance, Banking and Fintech industries? (Please share a story or example for each.)
- A genuine curiosity for the business. I think you must find the work interesting to be fully invested and commit the time that is needed to build the knowledge base.
- Be a self-learner. Your education never stops. I have observed the most successful employees often continually read, take classes and take advantage of training to further their professional development.
- Take ownership of a situation. Regardless of your level of experience or title. Some of the best employees I have had distinguish themselves by not just bringing up problems or issues, but taking the ownership to also provide a potential solution.
- Ask a lot of questions, most importantly “why?” Having a better understanding of why someone is looking to do something will usually open up many more potential solutions.
- Have patience. As I mentioned earlier, the concept of career equity was not something I really understood earlier in my career, but has become clearer to me with experience.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I believe in mentorship. If mentorship were more widely adopted, I think that could have an exponential impact as it could help to bridge the gap between generational workers and another perspective when it comes to professional development outside of the direct reporting lines.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
I encourage anyone interested in discussing this more to connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-bannerton-a403827/
Thank you so much for the time you spent doing this interview. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success.
About The Interviewer: Jason Hartman is the Founder and CEO of Empowered Investor. Jason has been involved in several thousand real estate transactions and has owned income properties in 11 states and 17 cities. Empowered Investor helps people achieve The American Dream of financial freedom by purchasing income property in prudent markets nationwide. Jason’s Complete Solution for Real Estate Investors™ is a comprehensive system providing real estate investors with education, research, resources and technology to deal with all areas of their income property investment needs. Through Jason’s podcasts, educational events, referrals, mentoring and software to track your investments, investors can easily locate, finance and purchase properties in these exceptional markets with confidence and peace of mind.
Starting with very little, Jason, while still in college at the age of 19, embarked on a career in real estate. While brokering properties for clients, he was investing in his own portfolio along the way. Through creativity, persistence and hard work, he earned a number of prestigious industry awards and became a young multi-millionaire. Jason purchased a California real estate brokerage firm that was later acquired by Coldwell Banker. He combined his dedication and business talents to become a successful entrepreneur, public speaker, author, and media personality. Over the years he developed his Complete Solution for Real Estate Investors™ where his innovative firm educates and assists investors in acquiring prudent investments nationwide for their portfolio. Jason’s sought after educational events, speaking engagements, and his popular “Creating Wealth Podcast” inspire and empower hundreds of thousands of people in 189 countries worldwide.
While running his successful real estate and media businesses, Jason also believes that giving back to the community plays an important role in building strong personal relationships. He established The Jason Hartman Foundation in 2005 to provide financial literacy education to young adults providing the all-important real world skills not taught in school which are the key to the financial stability and success of future generations. We’re in a global monetary crisis caused by decades of misguided policies and the cycle of financial dependence has to be broken, literacy and self-reliance are a good start. Visit JasonHartman.com for free materials and resources.
