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Performance

Evolve. Transform. Compete. Grow.

Cornerstone Advisors Performance - Image 1-1

We Set the Bar High for Dramatic Improvements

When it comes to helping banks and credit unions improve operational performance, no one hits the mark like Cornerstone. For more than two decades, our team has worked side-by-side with hundreds of banking executive to optimize their people, processes and technology to ensure they are always competitively positioned. Cornerstone’s experience, coupled with our data, enables our consultants to consistently deliver dramatic performance improvements for our clients on every engagement. And, if you opt for new banking technology, we have the experienced resources to draw upon to take you from strategy and selection to implementation and conversion.

Areas of Focus

• Cards • Merchant Services
• Branch • Mobile
• Lending • Payments
• Delivery Channels • PIN Network
• Digital • Staffing
• Marketing • And More

$2M - $4M

 

Estimated impact per $1B in assets with Cornerstone Performance solutions

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Services

Identify Opportunities to Drive Value

Cornerstone takes a holistic approach to performance improvement, ensuring alignment between an organization’s long-term goals and the unique processes, staffing, and technology within the organization. Together with our knowledge of industry best practices and the data in our benchmarking platform Performance Vault™, Cornerstone will help your bank or credit union generate near- and long-term improvements: efficiency, revenue generation and an enhanced customer experience.

Performance Program

 

Performance Program is a high-level analysis which identifies key focus areas of opportunity across staffing, revenue, expense and service measures. It is designed to be a quick ‘get you to the answer fast’ engagement so you can focus on execution to realize opportunities.

Digital Strategy Execution and Roadmap

 

Combining our consultants’ expertise with our proprietary peer benchmarking data from Performance Vault™, Cornerstone has pioneered a fast-track 30/60/90 day performance assessment plan. We can help you make rapid advances in digital technology, analytics and new marketing approaches, putting you on a fast track toward digital maturity, future readiness and increased revenue.

Mobile Strategies

 

Whether it’s developing online account opening and loan origination processes and systems, to harnessing the marketing insights from data analytics, to creating relevant and timely offers with content that resonates and drives customers and members to take action, Cornerstone can help you build a comprehensive strategy to fully realize the potential of this lucrative channel.

Return on Channel (ROC)

 

To accurately assess the impact of strategic decisions relative to channel investments, financial institutions must move away from the traditional P&L model. Cornerstone has developed Return on Channel (ROC), a proprietary financial model to provide a clear and objective view of the performance of individual delivery channels and calculate the true return on channel from both sales and retention.

Branch Evolution Strategy

 

As your most expensive delivery channel, it’s critical to understand and optimize key efficiency and profitability drivers so you can make informed decisions about your branch network. Leveraging Performance VaultTM , we will deliver clear insights into branch productivity, earnings potential, staffing and closure analysis with a detailed profit and loss overview for every location. With that intel, we will identify opportunities to reduce costs, refine staffing models, improve the customer experience and drive profitability.

High-Performing Lending Operations

 

Traditional lending is facing challenges from both external and internal forces. Fintech and non-bank lenders are changing borrower behaviors and expectations, while inefficient processes and outdated technology can erode your profitability. We are uniquely positioned to help you optimize or completely transform your commercial, consumer, and mortgage lending operations for an enhanced borrower experience, improved efficiencies and increased profitability. Using our proprietary Performance Vault™ benchmarking data, we will deliver a comprehensive assessment and thorough roadmap to drive higher performance, ROI, and revenue opportunities.

Performance Services for Marketing

Marketing & Growth Initiatives for Future-Readiness

Marketing your bank or credit union today is a far cry from the marketing strategies of even just a few years ago. The myriad of marketing technologies, combined with fierce competition from challenger banks and fintechs makes for a challenging environment.

 
Cornerstone experts can help you navigate this.  We will help you develop the right strategies, identify the right technology and a create a plan of action to position your organization for growth and success—increased engagement, the ability to offer new and innovative products, strengthened customer and member loyalty and a frictionless user experience. And, if you need the experience and leadership to implement new marketing technology, we can lead your bank or credit union from strategy to execution.

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Performance Services for Payments

Optimize Your Payments Portfolio

With payments revenue accounting for as much as 40% of an institution’s non-interest income, you need to take a proactive approach to protect and grow this revenue engine to full potential. Cornerstone can be an indispensable partner to help you optimize your payments business so you can increase revenue, reduce expenses, and minimize risk, while improving customer loyalty.

• Credit Card • Mobile Wallets
• Debit Card • P2P
• Loyalty Program • Profibility
• Market & Operations • Vendor Relationships

Credit Card Business Case

 

We assist banks and credit unions with determining the optimal approach for managing credit card portfolios. Whether you have an in-house portfolio and are looking to sell it or if you want to initiate an in-house card program, we can assist with building pro forma financials and helping you understand revenue opportunities and investment requirements.

 

• Agent bank vs. issuing
• Business and Commercial Card Opportunities
• Marketing & Operations
• Product Design
• Profitability

• Rewards Offerings

PIN Network Optimization

PIN Network interchange can be a confusing mix of options. Our payments leaders can help you navigate the complexities of PIN and optimize your interchange income including spend and interchange growth, profitability, as well as navigate vendor options, and negotiate your PIN contract.

Card Processing RFPs

Finding the optimal card processing partner is a complex balancing act spanning payments, digital, and core. No other consulting firm knows how to navigate this better than Cornerstone. Our seasoned professionals can guide you through the entire process so that you understand your options. We will manage the entire RFP process and leverage our data to identify the right partner in order to save time and achieve your goals faster.

Visa/Mastercard Branding

Cornerstone’s deep understanding of Visa and Mastercard agreements will enable you to maximize their potential to leverage incentives to promote card usage and interchange income. We are adept at helping you maximize discounts on costly card processing fees, leveraging incentives to develop and implement marketing campaigns, and working with you to build long-term strategies for success.

Merchant Services

Merchant services enable businesses to offer card processing services to their customers. Whether you outsource to a third party or offer services in-house, we can assist with improving performance and maximizing profitability. We can assess overall portfolio performance, vendor relationships, and identify opportunities for improvement, pinpoint ways to improve profitability and review key business functions such as sales and operations to identify even deeper opportunities.

$1.8 Million

 

Average potential increases in payments revenue identified over 3 years for institutions that engage Cornerstone

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Platforms & Tools

Powered by Data

Our strategic performance engagements deliver such strong outcomes for clients not only because of our consultant’s deep-bench experience, but because we deploy a wide range of our proprietary data-driven tools to identify significant opportunities for your bank or credit union. No one in the industry can offer the gritty metrics and benchmarking data as Cornerstone. Performance Vault™ is one of our unique platforms vital in delivering such dramatic results for our clients..

Performance Vault™ enables you to compare your performance with those of your peers, metric-by-metric. This insider intel covers 27 different functional areas of your financial institution, from production to your back office. Assessing your performance against a custom peer group allows us to identify the biggest areas of opportunity to focus your resources. We can then create a strategic roadmap and a detailed plan so together we can put those strategies in action.

Performance Vault - Logo - Horizontal - Black

Performance Vault™ puts peer performance metrics at your fingertips and provides you with real-time analytics and insights to help you make data-driven decisions. It features more than 1000 productivity, revenue, and efficiency benchmarks that will enable you to drive high-performance levels across your entire enterprise.

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Analytics Vault™ is the perfect cloud-based analytics platform for banks and credit unions to do just that and more. Analytics Vault™ tracks every interaction, from products and transactions to call center calls, branch visits, loan applications, and more, and then provides actionable insights for achieving a higher ROI.

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Contract Vault - Logo - Black

Contract Vault™ is our proprietary data engine of over 15,000 pricing points collected from negotiating thousands of vendor contracts. Leveraging this information, our team of negotiators provides financial services executives with an objective analysis of market pricing and how it shifts with size, volume, and contract length.

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Vendor Vault™ is our powerful, yet easy to use vendor management platform for ongoing vendor monitoring. It was specifically designed to help you stay on track and ensure you pass your exams. Vendor Vault™, provides data on hundreds of industry vendors serving the financial service market.

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Meet Your Performance Experts

Eric Black and White

Eric Weikart

Partner

As leader of Cornerstone Advisors’ Strategy and Execution Solutions Group, Eric Weikart shows banks and credit unions how to use data and best practices to maximize their performance, operating efficiency, and technology utilization. Over the years, Eric has helped countless banks and credit unions realize their true potential in non-interest expense, revenue generation, and customer experience.

Jim B&W

Jim Burson

Partner

As a leader of Cornerstone’s Strategy, Performance, Digital Transformation, Delivery Channel, Analytics, and Lending service lines, Jim Burson helps banks and credit unions craft transformation and growth strategies focused on various initiatives including strategic planning, revenue generation, digital and delivery channel transformation, customer data analytics, product design, and digital banking/origination technology selections.

Mike B&W

Mike Rempel

Senior Director

As senior director in Cornerstone’s CPV practice, Mike Rempel helps financial institutions develop competitive strategies based on data and peer comparison performance metrics. Mike has assisted numerous institutions in the execution of enterprise change initiatives. As an expert in lending technology, he also guides clients through the process of selecting new lending systems.

 

Additional Resources