Now's the Time to Build Retirement Dialogue With Your Customers

In yesterday's post, I discussed the significant deposit growth being experienced by major banks and the opportunities and risks that can be associated with an economic environment of uncertainty. An often overlooked opportunity for account acquisition and relationship growth is delivering on consumer's retirement needs.

Now is the best time to reach out to customers and prospects in your market area and position your institution as the safe and secure place to place their retirement assets. And with retirement assets approaching $20 trillion, the opportunity is significant.


According to a 2008 study conducted by BAI Research and Mercatus LLC there were five key ways to be successful in the retirement market: (1) Position your bank as the local retirement specialist, including retirement dialogue in all relationship building conversations and providing a varied and competitive product offering; (2) Provide online information and tools that allow the customer to manage their retirement planning in much the same way as is done by current 401K providers; (3) Demonstrate problem solving capabilities around helping customers diversify and provide the tools for decision making; (4) Deliver a positive branch customer experience that relates to the retirement customer from a knowledge and retirement focus perspective; (5) Provide competitive and transparent pricing which reinforces the trust a customer must feel to transfer retirement funds to your bank. A summary of the most important factors is illustrated on the attached link.

With most consumers still very leary of the equity markets and still in the process of reviewing their current 401K providers, there has never been a better time to build a proactive retirement saving strategy at your institution. Not only should this strategy be implemented in the prime contribution periods from January - April, but throughout the year as consumers continue to move funds to protect their retirement nest egg.