How Platforms and Partnerships Moved a 167-Year-Old Bank Into the Digital Age

As financial services move increasingly online — even as value remains in branch experiences — FinTechs are looking for banking partners to expand their reach into traditional accounts and credit. Banks are mindful of the need to expand their tech stack and reach digitally-minded consumers.

Partnerships are key on both sides of the equation. First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO), an independent bank that traces its roots back more than 167 years, has moved firmly into the 21st century through such collaborations.

Tammy Trilli, senior vice president of FNBO’s Commercial Payments Organization, told PYMNTS that no matter the setting, and no matter the product being designed and launched, there’s an overarching principle: “Being able to introduce a third party that we can stand by — where we can show up together — to deliver the experience that our customers expect.”

That’s even if those customers don’t know what they need yet. Forging the path toward a wider embrace of faster payments, P2P transactions, credit and personalized experience depends on a shared expertise that cements end customers’ trust.

PYMNTS Intelligence has noted that fully two-thirds of banks have entered such collaborative efforts with FinTechs; three-quarters of credit unions and banks surveyed have stated that partnerships are necessary to meet customers’ expectations.

Growing Across the Centuries and Several States

To be sure, FNBO has grown through the years. Where the independent financial institution once only served Omaha and surrounding communities in Nebraska, the firm has grown its branch network to cover eight states and counts more than 6.6 million customers across the country with more than $31 billion in assets.

“Many of the businesses that we operate today have come from partnerships — so that’s at our core,” Trilli said.

In recent years, the drive toward innovation has hinged on application programming interfaces (APIs) and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but as Trilli noted, “We have to be careful that we don’t chase partnerships that simply offer the new shiny penny, unless that new shiny penny is something that the customers want.” For FNBO, she noted, there’s been particular success in supporting and bringing financial services innovation to the agricultural industry, which is a mainstay in Nebraska and neighboring states.

“There really is some innovation and some technology and some APIs out there that can change the game for pretty [much] everybody as it relates to payments,” Trilli said. The bank’s offerings include digital account access for individuals and businesses, as well as enabling FBNO credit cards to be linked to digital wallets.

Success over the long term depends on understanding the types of platforms partners have, how many releases and enhancements might be on a product roadmap and what quality assurance and risk management controls are in place, Trilli told PYMNTS.

Measuring Success

Asked by PYMNTS about the ways in which successful partnerships can be measured, Trilli said both sides must be in sync over what should be used as a benchmark to ascertain “the success of what you are trying to do in your payments journey … What are the KPIs that you are using, and what are the KPIs that they are using?”

Tongue in cheek, she added that though she might be seen by observers as being “‘Nebraska Nice’ … that does not mean that mean we’re not going to hold our partners accountable. And they need to hold us accountable as well.”

As she told PYMNTS, “We will not fast track, we will not cut corners. We operate with the highest level of integrity and absolutely have to have partners who will do the same … at the end of the day our customers are what are most important … and the overall [customer] experience is what drives the success of being a bank through the past 167 years.”