Florida Banking May 2022

major waste to sign on a vendor if it won’t work with the systems you use or plan to use in the future. 3. Vendor due diligence. Being efficient means choosing a stable vendor that regularly performs as expected. It also requires having a fintech partner that complements your institution’s strategy and risk appetite. Some financial institutions are open to start-ups while others only want vendors that are tried and true. Vendor due diligence makes it possible to understand the risks of working with a specific fintech partner and monitor their ongoing performance. This includes financial condition, experience, business approach, internal controls, resiliency, and compliance, among others. Your financial institution needs the resources to conduct adequate vendor management and due diligence. Vendor management can be a heavy lift, which is why it’s one of the areas that can benefit from gains in operational efficiency when automated with the help of a fintech. Deploying a fintech solution for vendor management can set the stage for expanding your FI’s vendor portfolio and building greater institutional efficiency. It’s also helpful when evaluating and managing fintech partners to provide digital banking products to consumers and small businesses. While fintech solutions that dazzle consumers may get the headlines, it’s the fintech journeymen — the seemingly invisible partners who help improve efficiency — that will wow the board, investors and customers. From risk, compliance and vendor management to business continuity and cybersecurity, take the time to investigate

the efficiencies available to your FI through fintech partnerships. The cost of ignoring these opportunities may be higher than you think. Michael Berman is the founder and CEO of Ncontracts, a leading provider of risk management solutions. His extensive background in legal and regulatory matters has afforded him unique insights into solving operational risk management challenges and drives Ncontracts’ mission to efficiently and effectively manage operational risk. During his legal career, Berman was involved in numerous regulatory, compliance and contract management challenges and assisted in the development of information systems to better manage these efforts. Prior to founding Ncontracts, he was general counsel for Goldleaf Financial Solutions, Tecniflex, Inc. and Imagic Corporation. Berman is a well-regarded speaker at financial institution conferences on risk management. He received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and holds a juris doctorate from the University of Tennessee. Ncontracts provides comprehensive vendor, compliance, risk management, and lending compliance solutions to a rapidly expanding customer base of more than 4,000 financial institutions in the United States. It helps financial institutions achieve their compliance and risk management goals with a powerful combination of user-friendly, cloud-based software and expert services. Its solution suite encompasses the complete lifecycle of risk, including vendor management, enterprise risk management, business continuity, compliance, audit and findings management, and cybersecurity. The company was named to the Inc. magazine’s 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in America for the third consecutive year.

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