How Quontic Bank is preparing for the future

A community bank based in New York, Quontic Bank is modernizing its user experience and building unprecedented growth through its digital services.

As a CDFI, Quontic Bank is committed to serving low-income communities near its full-service branch and home mortgage office in Astoria, Queens. At the same time, Quontic has embraced innovation and become one of the first community banks to invest in digital banking.

To bring its digital offering to the next level, Quontic’s leaders decided to invest in a new online account opening platform with the goal of growing core deposits. The solution went above and beyond Quontic’s expectations, increasing the bank’s net conversion rate by 150 percent. Today, Quontic continues to lead the way with a digital brand that empowers customers of all backgrounds with accessible and easy-to-use financial products.

Quontic pursues digital transformation

In 2018, Quontic was at a crossroads. With a balance sheet of 70 percent liabilities and 40 million in customer deposits, Quontic needed to increase core deposits according to an agreement with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Rather than build additional branches or sell the bank, Quontic chose to pursue digital transformation.

Quontic’s goal was to use technology to scale its deposit operations quickly and raise $200 million in online deposits with minimal overhead. This transformation required some trial and error. Quontic uses FIS’ HORIZON core banking system, and decided to implement the vendor’s account opening platform as a starting point. However, this product had only a 20 percent conversion rate, requiring Quontic to increase its marketing spending and offer a high interest rate. At the same time, too many accounts were fraudulent or required manual intervention. It became clear that Quontic would need a new solution to become a truly digital-first bank.

Choosing a digital partner

When choosing a new partner for its digital transformation project, Quontic looked at six potential vendors. Stakeholders were quickly drawn to MANTL’s online account opening platform, which offers automated fraud prevention tools combined with data-based best practices. In addition, the company appreciated that MANTL would spearhead the integration with its FIS core.

After taking just 30 days to choose MANTL, Quontic Bank went live with the account opening platform on April 14, 2020. For Quontic, the key factors included:

• Ease. Quontic serves a diverse array of customers from low-income families to small business owners and gig-economy workers. The MANTL account opening platform is designed to reduce friction points with a non-documentation method that doesn’t require the submission of an ID. In addition, MANTL offers a mobile application that can help Quontic serve low-income customers who may have a phone but not a computer, as well as young, smartphone-first demographics and on-the-go entrepreneurs. Now, a customer can open a new account in just 24 clicks or less than three minutes.
• Fraud Prevention. MANTL’s digital account opening process offers an advantage over the typical in-person process, as it draws from over 30 sources of data for real-time verification, instead of just a few forms of physical identification.
• Accessibility. More than ever, remote banking offers the convenience and accessibility that customers need. For Quontic, this extends to in-person account opening in the branch, where customers can access MANTL’s online account opening platform at a kiosk for greater ease-of-use.
• Efficiency. MANTL’s software is designed to require minimal manual intervention. Quontic has been able to streamline internal operations by automating 97 percent of application decisions. With a staff of just two or three people, Quontic can process hundreds of millions annually in online deposits. This, combined with the improved conversion rates, has reduced Quontic’s cost of deposits by 90 percent.
• Geographic Reach. While the bank continues to bring financial empowerment to New York customers, the digital platform has allowed Quontic to grow customer relationships in all 50 states.

Looking toward the future

Quontic is a community bank with a successful digital-first strategy. MANTL’s digital account opening software has made it possible to attract more checking relationships, which comprise 83 percent of new accounts with an average initial deposit of more than $45,000. Quontic has also been able to reduce marketing spend and lower its interest rate, as customers now actively seek out the bank online and are more likely to finish the application process.

At the same time, Quontic has raised $5 million in online deposits per month. The bank’s balance sheet is realigned, and 99 percent of its liabilities are core deposits. Quontic’s partnership with MANTL has allowed the bank to build a customer-first digital experience while solidifying its financial footing through digital growth.

Thanks to its digital transformation, Quontic can better serve local communities in a real way. The bank started the #BetheDrawbridge fund to support small businesses, with both the Quontic and MANTL teams working long hours over just three days to integrate this project with the platform. With MANTL as a partner, Quontic Bank is looking forward to a creative, successful future.

To learn more, download our case study.