Economic uncertainty means FIs should pivot and deliver targeted consumer and SMB needs

Here’s the next installment in our periodic Q&A series highlighting women leaders in the fintech and banking space. We feature the innovation, fortitude and experience it takes to thrive in this fast-changing industry. And our interviews explore business opportunities on the horizon for financial services providers and their technology partners, as well as the unique qualities that these leaders bring to their roles.

As Candescent’s Vice President of Customer Engagement, Erin Wynn considers it her duty to collaborate within her department and outside its confines as well. She believes that even industry rivals can find healthy cooperation when it comes to jointly elevating a banking public to become smarter, safer consumers with access to banking fundamentals and a positive experience in financial services.

Plus, a seamless customer experience is delivered when Candescent leaders understand more fully how their offering—now the combination of what was once four separate companies— functions start to finish, she says. After all, the cloud-native platform, which connects to banks and credit unions for account onboarding, sales management, treasury services, marketing campaign help, security layers, and more, can deliver all in one to FIs what Wynn argues is “a largely piecemeal” menu of services from the competition.

Was there a motivation, market shortcoming or challenge in financial services that drove you toward your fintech solution or role?

By bringing our four previously separate business lines (NCR Voyix Digital Banking, Account Opening-Terafina, D3, and Digital Branch Services-CSP) into a single entity under Candescent, we are able to facilitate truly seamless, connected experiences across digital banking, branch services and account opening, filling a critical gap in the market and driving growth through elevated engagement.

Specific to my current role of customer engagement, I am helping to close a gap around peer collaboration; our banks and credit unions want to interact and brainstorm with one another, working together to solve common problems and learn from each other. While we’ve always facilitated engagement through events like our annual client conference and smaller regional meetings, we wanted to make this collaboration even more frequent and widespread. That is why we host client groups that meet frequently on specific topics, everything from extensibility, business banking, money movement and more. These informal roundtables enable our clients to join the topics and conversations of interest to them, learning from and sharing with others.

The financial services space, at least in the U.S., and Canada as well, is challenged with economic, trade, legal and higher education uncertainty, alongside a shifting regulatory framework. What feels optimistic or where do you find clarity? Perhaps your operational risk management strategies are designed just for times like these? Perhaps you sense opportunity for digital solutions?

Despite lingering uncertainty, there is much to be optimistic about in financial services. For example, as many have started feeling the strain in their wallets amid market volatility, banks and credit unions are offering tools and resources to help customers improve their financial health. For instance, more have started leveraging AI to gain timely, relevant insights into consumers’ spending patterns and then offering personalized recommendations. This support shouldn’t be limited to consumers, but small businesses and gig workers as well. As a record number of people participate in the gig economy, banks and credit unions are finding new, tailored ways to serve these solo entrepreneurs and help them improve cash flow and gain efficiencies.

I’m also highly optimistic about how banks and credit unions are becoming increasingly flexible. It’s more important than ever before for institutions to be able to identify changes earlier and pivot more quickly to better meet consumer and business needs. That might include an extensible platform that integrates seamlessly with third-party fintechs, giving institutions the freedom to select the tools and services that best fit their evolving needs and strategies. This approach provides more ownership and control over their digital experience, leading to their success.

How do you think others describe your leadership style? Or if it’s more important to you, how do you describe yourself?

My colleagues describe my leadership style as approachable and collaborative; it’s important to me that I lead by example. I would never ask someone to do something that I wouldn’t or haven’t done myself first. As a collaborative leader, I’ve made it a priority to form strong relationships with other teams and departments. This has made it easy to go to colleagues whenever I need help or to brainstorm, and they frequently do the same to me. Having a cohesive, connected team makes our products and services stronger and more effective.

Providing opportunities to others is also important to me as a leader. Finding out where team members want to grow and gain experience and then exposing them to those areas allows them to develop new skills and gain confidence. I try to make sure everyone I interact with feels respected and valued, from interns to executives.

What can the financial services industry do to make sure we are shaping future leaders, women especially, for our space?

As a newly independent company, we have the unique and exciting opportunity to build our culture from the ground up. This includes creating spaces where future leaders, especially women, can succeed. We’re drawing inspiration from our former parent company while also incorporating new processes and ideas that will empower employees to professionally develop and grow.

I think women, in particular, sometimes struggle to speak up for what they want, so it’s critical for us to create workplaces where everyone’s voices are heard and opinions valued. I also believe in the power of continuous professional development to empower future leaders. This doesn’t just mean obvious or technical skills but softer skills as well, such as communication and management skills. By boosting people up, allowing voices to be heard and offering continuous professional development resources, we can more effectively position future leaders for success.

Read more from our series:

Cultivating micro-engagements can be key to banking CX

Taking banking loyalty programs from afterthought to strategic advantage

AI’s key role in uncovering hidden value in document and data automation

Parlay Finance’s Alex McLeod on smartly expanding capital access for small businesses