Nicole Lorch
First Internet Bank | President and CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
first internet bank was born from innovation to be more nimble, responsive, entrepreneurial and understanding of customer needs.
Q: What was the motivation when you founded First Internet Bank?
A: David Becker Ironically, it was my scorn for banks that started us down this path. I was working in the tech space, and our bankers at the time had no ability to value things like Software as a Service revenue. They simply didn’t understand it or were so ingrained in the world of traditional business models, that financing was always a challenge for us. Not to mention the fact that they were never open when we needed them. So, I decided we could create a bank that was more nimble, responsive, entrepreneurial and understanding of customer needs - and we did just that.
A: Nicole Lorch For 23 years, we have been following the example David set for us. Time and time again, we have gone back to that playbook. We put the customer first. We seek to understand the customer’s experience and we push ourselves to improve upon it. We ask why. We ask what if. Why do we do it this way? Can we do this differently? We were not built for maintaining the status quo.
Q: What current societal or technological changes are influencing banking most significantly?
A: DB There are so many exciting advances underway that it’s difficult to nail down just one, but I’d suggest the smartphone may be the most disruptive to traditional banks. Your phone is the branch of the future. Think about it - payments, transfers, receipts - everything is right there at your fingertips. 5G technology and the pandemic have helped accelerate this trend.
A: NL David spoke to technology, so I’ll address societal factors. Events of the last few years have brought to the forefront inequities that exist in our communities. As a bank, we must help provide opportunity. We support employee resource groups and have created a volunteer Diversity, Equity and Inclusion task force. This allows us to better extend our talent and resources to the areas we serve. Our employees are generous with their time, serving on a number of not-for-profit boards and we have made significant, focused contributions to equity-building organizations. I could go on, but we cover this in vibrant detail in our ESG report, which was published last fall.
Q: What initiatives are underway to keep First Internet Bank at the forefront of innovation?
A: NL (laughs) We like to say, leading edge, not bleeding edge. We listen and observe. We solicit customer feedback, and we learn from it. Our SBA lending team is one of the fastest growing areas of the bank; interacting with so many small business owners has given us vast insight into their unique financial needs. We’re channeling everything we have learned into creating a better banking experience for them - with a platform that is flexible enough to bolt on tools we haven’t even dreamed up yet.
A: DB We are also partnering with fintechs, where there is an incredible amount of capital-fueled innovation. That gives us a front-row seat for the ideation and creation that is taking place. We didn’t just jump into this; it’s actually something we’ve been doing all along. Banking as a Service is a term that was recently adopted by the industry to define a narrower concept in which banks leverage their network connections, like ACH and card networks, to drive those of non-bank businesses. Our challenge isn’t the technology to enable this - we’ve already built the infrastructure to support it. Our challenge is in finding the right fintech partners. There are so many start-up companies that have developed a solution for which there is no problem. It’s on us to find those partners who have identified a true issue, often because they have familiarity with the vertical or the audience, and then created a solution to fix it.
Q: What makes First Internet Bank tick?
A: DB Analysts often wrap up investor calls by asking me what questions they didn’t ask. Almost invariably, I’ll suggest they didn’t ask me about our people. There’s a misconception that software drives our business; without the right people, we’d be nowhere. And, I believe our new headquarters demonstrates that commitment to them. It was purposefully designed to encourage associate collaboration and to give them an extra reason to celebrate their workplace.
