Banks Expected to Aggressively Court Small Businesses, Underserved Groups More This Year to Build Revenue Streams

BOSTON — As banks continue to look beyond their traditional markets for more revenue streams, at least one bread and butter mainstay as well as a burgeoning area for credit unions will be targeted more aggressively this year.

According to a new report from Aite Group that looks at the top 10 trends for 2007, banks are expected to allocate more of their budgets to courting the small business and underserved markets. Revenue growth for banks will require greater emphasis on the underserved customer segments, tools for more effective cross-selling and new technology deployments that will enable differentiation and new product offerings, the report said. As with credit unions, consumer protection issues will also remain a challenge throughout 2007, the report noted.