TRUE. And absolutely essential.

“After personnel, your bank’s biggest cost is likely your core vendor contract. If it’s not working in service of your overall strategic plan, then it’s just not working.”

- Jim Adkins, Managing Partner, Artisan Advisors

In the latest episode of Artisan Unfiltered, “Core Vendor Technology and Your Strategic Plan,” our team of experts – Steve Heckard, Matt Bergman, Jim Adkins and Jeff Voss – dive deep into the complexities of negotiating the core processing vendor agreement that will drive your strategic plan.

You’ll get great advice on:

· Hidden landmines that may be lurking in your contracts

· What to look for in a vendor to know if it’s right for your bank

· What you should be doing right now to ensure a smooth renewal or conversion process Listen here and contact Steve or Matt to get a pulse on whether your current contract is setting your bank up for success.

You’ll also learn more about whether a Virtual RFP is right for your bank.

For smaller institutions, Artisan Advisors offers its vRFP – a comprehensive contract review process which is implemented virtually to minimize engagement fees and provides project management, industry knowledge and overall assistance with a competitive vendor review. We perform significant due diligence in reviewing existing contracts, invoices, bank strategies and objectives, and how the bank utilizes the services being received. We also use the vRFP to define bank requirements and collect vendor due diligence. Artisan manages the entire process, provides financial analysis of proposals, and negotiates contract terms, resulting in a contract that works for the bank and helps them achieve their strategic goals.

Get a reality check about the risk and liability associated with data security and listen now to the Artisan Unfiltered podcast, Cyber Security Risk and How to Manage It. Panelist and data security expert Chad Holstead notes that for banks of any size, “the hard part is management's ability to rally and champion a security culture.” What’s your bank’s security culture? Listen now.

The latest episode of our Artisan Unfiltered podcast series, “Making Sense of CECL,” is now available for download. It focuses on the important and timely topic Current Expected Credit Losses, or CECL. A credit loss accounting standard that was issued by Financial Accounting Standard Board in 2016 that replaced the Allowance for Loan and Lease Losses accounting standard, CECL has been a long time coming and it’s finally here. What does it mean for you? We put together a great panel of experts to help you make sense of CECL.

Kyle Manny is a partner in the financial services sector at Plant Moran in Chicago, and specializes in proactively addressing risk to protect and build shareholder value and minimize the risk of regulatory criticism. He supervises assurance, tax, and risk management engagements and provides holistic services to his clients that include community banks, specialty finance lenders, as small as 100 million in assets, and large regional and national brands.

Peter Fotopoulos, Managing Director at Artisan Advisors has served as an executive level management consultant with Artisan Advisors since 2011. His areas of expertise in client service include strategic planning, financial management, operational analysis, profit improvement, asset liability, ACL methodology and implementation, and regulatory response management.

Jeff Voss is a founder and a Managing Partner of Artisan Advisors. Since 2009, Jeff has advised and assisted C-suite level officers and their boards of directors on a variety of management, financial, operational and regulatory matters, with an emphasis on strategic planning, financial forecasting, risk management practices and capital planning.