Fifth Third to Expand Digital Capabilities With More Hiring
Fifth Third Bancorp FITB intends
to further expand its digital capabilities. Per a Bizjournal
report, the bank has already hired nearly 50 employees for its
digital and IT teams since the beginning of the year, and plans to
add roughly 200 more over the next few months.
The company’s chief digital officer Melissa Stevens stated that
teams that are focused on digital are expected to triple in size in
the near future. At present, Fifth Third employs more than 1,000
workers on its digital and IT teams.
It will be hiring cloud engineers, digital product owners, user
experience designers and agilists, with majority based in Greater
Cincinnati.These employees will be expanding the company’s tech
foundation, enterprise wide services and customer-facing
technology, including improvements in mobile apps. These are
expected to further enable customers to complete transactions
themselves and/or interact with bank staff with their
smartphones.
Additionally, Fifth Third’s recently completed acquisition of
Chicago-based MB Financial will aid in expanding its digital
capabilities.
Digital Offerings: Long-Term Benefit
In this digital era, Fifth Third’s initiatives to expand its
technological reach will support growth prospects, and result in
cost savings in the long term.
The company’s efforts to improve digital offerings have been
increasing since late 2015, following the appointment of Greg
Carmichael as its CEO. The company has witnessed a three year CAGR
of 10.4% (2016-2018) in its technology and communications
costs.
Driven by these efforts, nearly 50% of Fifth Third’s total consumer
deposits are now done through digital channels. Additionally, about
90% of the customer interactions and 60% of the bank’s transactions
are made digitally.
Further, over the past two years, Fifth Third has invested more
than $100 million in several Fintech companies including Dobot,
GreenSky and AvidXchange.
Stevens said, “We are building a bank that can thrive in the
digital world. We take a lot of time to look at how we’re working
inside our company and how we’re showing up for our clients and how
to best anticipate their needs and meet them where they are on the
devices they carry in their pockets.â€
Shares of Fifth Third have rallied 4.6% over the past three months,
underperforming 8.1% rise for the industry it belongs to.
Currently, Fifth Third carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy)
stocks here.
Several other banks including Bank of America BAC, JPMorgan JPM and
BB&T Corporation BBT are undertaking measures to expand digital
offerings and serve customers better.
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