For banks, big isn't always better
For some, size brings scale efficiencies. For others, costly complexity. Technology and regulation are the battle ground for scale in banking and it is here smaller banks are seeing opportunity.
Scale is essential to modern financial services, across financial crime, regulation and technology.
That would seem to favour large institutions, and the consolidation of the second-tier banking sector would seem to support that. But it ain't necessarily so, according to the institutions themselves.
Rather, size also brings complexity, and smaller — albeit not too small — can be better.
"We like to think we're in that sweet spot in terms of our technology proposition," Steve Laidlaw, the new CEO of People First Bank told me. The bank reached that point via the merger of People's Choice and Heritage banks.
