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Business Continuity and Banking/Insurance

Are you worried about your business surviving the COVID-19 crisis? Does your business depend on your clients continuing to pay their loans and minimize claims? If you’re in the banking and insurance industries, the current economic crisis could have even longer lasting major impacts to your industry than most. Are you prepared?

Let’s cover the big risks to banking and insurance companies, and some potential mitigation options to put in place.

Business Continuity Risks and Mitigation Plans for Banks and Insurance Companies:

  • RISK: Client cashflow, whether for loan servicing or plan payments, is severely reduced or dries up altogether.
  • Mitigation Option: Proactively reach out to your clients now to gauge how they are setup to weather the COVID-19 crisis. Proactively generate alternative payment options to maintain the client’s ability to pay and provide your business with cash flow while helping to ensure your clients will still be in business as the world returns to a new normal.
  • RISK: Clients close up shop and go bankrupt.
  • Mitigation Option: See the mitigation plan for client cashflow above. Be proactive in reaching out to your clients now to see how you can help them survive the crisis. Not only will you maintain income you would lose if the client closes, the loyalty earned through such proactive measures will reap dividends after the crisis is over when those clients you helped share with their networks what you were able to do for them.
  • RISK: Large numbers of clients start to file claims.
  • Mitigation Option: Now’s a great time to review your clients’ policies to ensure you are aware of what kinds of claims could be filed based on the pandemic issues. When you see potential risks, reach out to those clients now to see if they’re aware of the risks, and if so, what kinds of plans they have in place to address those risks.
  • RISK: Difficulties with clients’ business makes renewing of their loans/policies more complex, challenging, and cost prohibitive.
  • Mitigation Option: The more you can proactively assist clients before they have issues with their loans or insurance policies, the less work you’ll have after the COVID-19 crisis abates to keep those loans and policies in place. Helping clients keep the core profit drivers for their businesses humming during this time not only makes their lives better now, it greatly simplifies your life post-crisis when reviewing how the impacts of the pandemic will impact services you already have under contract.
  • RISK: The unique business environment due to the crisis opens up opportunities for new competitors to traditional banking and insurance markets.
  • Mitigation Option: Crisis not only brings risk, but opportunity. The severe disruption to normal business practices provides tremendous opportunity to those looking for ways to grow when the world is cautious. With the massive changes in work practices we’ve already seen in the last 3 months, by the time the peak of the crisis passes, the business world will be changed permanently in more ways than we can predict. Use this time to think about ways you can use the disruption to improve your own business, cutting out waste and streamlining the processes that deliver value to your customers. Then the opportunity for growth post crisis will be yours for the taking.

At the end of the day, the best way to keep clients operational and able to support your own business in banking and insurance turns out to be the same as the best way to get clients: keeping your clients’ interests at the forefront of your own business interests. Now, more than ever, customer service will be a deciding factor in ensuring we all are able to come out of this COVID-19 crisis stronger than before it started, and that we’re all more resilient for every day.

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