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OceanFirst Financial plans to extend its video banking services to mobile devices. June 8, 2021

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The coronavirus pandemic has forced banks to adjust the way they interact with their customers, and many have boosted their digital platforms to better serve their clients at a distance. 

Several banks have found success in their video banking platforms. The technology, they say, allows them to serve customers in a safe and convenient way, while still providing a personal touch. 

Toms River, New Jersey-based OceanFirst Financial has been using video banking to connect with its customers for the last five years — an investment the bank says has paid off amid 15 months of social distancing and lockdowns.

"We have been on a multiyear path to make sure that we are pivoting our investment into digital and out of retail as our customers make those choices themselves," OceanFirst CEO Chris Maher said. "[Digital] is where the transactions are going, that's where our customers are going, and that's where we're making our investments."

The $11.6 billion-asset bank operates 58 retail branches in New Jersey, metropolitan Philadelphia and metropolitan New York City. In 2019, the bank had double the number of branches it has now, a testament to the magnitude of the bank’s shift to digital products, Maher said.

Customers have made 220,000 transactions over video in the past five years, Maher said. 

"We're doing thousands each month," he said. "That's a highly efficient way for us to deliver extraordinary service across a wide geography with very few branches."

The bank is extending its video banking services to mobile devices, and plans to provide full video chat capability in its call center by late this year.

The service, however, requires a significant investment in training the bank’s employees, Maher said. 

"It's not the technology that is a barrier. Having a video session is a pretty straightforward thing. It's not a big deal to add that function," Maher said. "Adding dozens of bankers at OceanFirst who know how to do video and how to connect in a professional and engaging manner, that's the barrier, and that takes years of hiring and development and recruiting to build up a cadre of people that are good in that medium. Not everybody's comfortable with that. You have to be able to look through the camera and connect with people and listen."

OceanFirst operates a specialized call center where it normally staffs its video bankers, but amid the pandemic, its video bankers have been working out of their homes, Maher said.

The bank is expanding its Toms River headquarters, building a six-story, 80,000-square-foot space that will act as the hub of its digital activities.

The bank has also grown its technology staff more than 11-fold over the past six years — from seven in 2015 to 81 now

Maher said the bank’s investment in digital and video is a necessity as it scales back its brick-and-mortar presence. 

"Our efforts to secure digital customers are more successful in markets where we have a branch. So, there's value to the brick and mortar," Maher said.

However, he said, the bank has realized it doesn’t need the same concentration of branches in particular areas that it once had.

"The branch trading area has gotten much wider, so the branches are important, but they can be spaced much farther apart," he said.

While some customers may continue to come into branches for simple transactions, such as to cash a check, Welsh said he thinks rudimentary in-branch transactions will decrease as digital adoption grows. The majority of those who choose to come into a branch will likely be seeking more tailored and personalized services from their bankers, he said.

"I think what is exciting is the fact that you can now do those transactions in a more simplified manner. It’s creating the opportunity for people to ask questions about either technology or their finances that they may not have been able to ask in the past," he said. "The fact that you don't have to run in to just cash a check is now creating the opportunity for them to have more significant conversations, and I think that's going to continue. I hope it continues."


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