Speaker 1 (
Hi, I am Mary Ellen Egan. I'm the senior editor of Women's Program at American Banker. I'm here with Aarthi Murali, who is the Chief Customer Experience Officer at M&T Bank. Thank you, Aarthi, for agreeing to talk to us today.
Speaker 2 (
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (
Very welcome. One of the things is that you have a very interesting job for one, so let's just talk about how customers expectations have changed over the years, and then how have you been able to shift to address those?
Speaker 2 (
I think the reality is there are a lot of changes happening around us all the time, be it technology, geopolitical, social. If we think about the emergence of AI, as some people call it, didn't really emerge overnight with ChatGPT. It's been around for a while, but the application of it has blossomed in such a way that there are millions of users now and it's become a hot topic. During the pandemic, there was a hypothesis from financial institutions and many companies that branches might be something — retail in general, might be something that customers choose to shift away from and go more digital, but the reality is that was more of a need versus a want, and there is a huge difference between those two. We at M&T, at the heart of it, believe our branches are really community places where communities get together. When we think about our effort into multicultural banking and how we brought our customer's needs to have different languages, different contextual conversations with customers, which made them feel comfortable, that is how we think about taking our customer's feedback, employees feedback and in turn, being able to really realize that. What's even cool is as organizations think about staying in tune with change at a global local community and market perspective, being able to predict those customer changes and being in their communities as they see that happening. I think that's the place to win right now.
Speaker 1 (
It's interesting, we talk about the physical branch because I think the thought, and I don't know if it's true, but I think everybody thinks the younger people want digital and the older people want a branch to visit. I think one thing, when you think about banking and from any perspective, is that you want to have a relationship with your banker. We can talk about all kinds of things publicly, but very few people talk about money with other people, and so I think having that trusted advisor is really critical, don't you?
Speaker 2 (
Exactly, exactly. And that's why it's not a retail versus a digital game. It's all about how do you meet the customer, where they are at, what they need. And if we can actually anticipate and be in their lives for moments that matters for them, and we're always listening and we're always supporting, then we're just there. It's not a choice. They automatically know that in order to meet their needs, they need to talk to a financial advisor. For example, building financial knowledge, wellness acumen, is incredibly important for M&T because that's really where your journey starts, and then you begin your journey of how you want those products to be serviced, where you want to go, and building that trust and that relationship is incredibly important.
Speaker 1 (
We think it's a lifelong journey. You think, okay, I'm graduating. Well, first I've got to get loans to go to school, but I need some advice about how to manage my money while I'm in school, and then you graduate and then I'm getting married, and then I'm going to start a family and I want to buy a house. So, you think about that lifelong journey that your financial wellbeing is such an important part of, and then having somebody that you trust and that you've built a relationship with over the years has really paramount, I think, to a lot of customers.
Speaker 2 (
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (
So in the past year, your role has expanded to include employee experience, which is interesting because I've been talking about the people, which it's usually the customer experience and then the employee maybe come from HR or something different, but you have this unique blend. So how does that work and how important is it for the two to work together?
Speaker 2 (
I think there is no distinction between employees and customers in terms of thinking about their experiences. I think of it, and M&T thinks of it, as the human experience. Who are all the human beings in our environment that are engaging and interacting. That could be customers, could be employees, it could be the communities and where we're showing up and participating in. It's the markets in which where we're growing and deepening our relationships and serving those customers and communities in those markets—all of them together. When we put them together in today's world, they are not separable. They all act with each other, interact with each other through different channels. If we don't think about that totality, then we're missing a huge part of the puzzle. So, when I think about an example that I might share is our employees in the frontline, for example, they are serving in our branches.
(
They're on the phones in the call center while even taking in the back office folks who are sitting there making sure payments are processed on time—they are all servicing our customers. What would happen if their jobs are really difficult and requires them to maybe navigate 2,030 systems go through multiple steps. When we do that, we're actually making it more difficult for the customers and the employees. So to me, there really is no distinction. And any organization that can think about starting with making employee experiences wholesome and very joyful is going to up delivering great customer experiences, which is only going to strengthen the brand experience, which relates to the growth of the organization.
Speaker 1 (
Which really makes sense. You think about that, because if your employees are happy and they're interfacing with, they're the face that your customer sees. So they become the face of the bank, and if they're passionate about what they're doing and enjoying it and interacting, that makes a big difference. And if you have somebody who's really not happy and is kind of not, I mean, we've all had poor customer service and we know how that can turn you pretty quickly against a brand, even though it might be a brand you love. So that actually makes sense once you see the two are very much entwined.
Speaker 2 (
Yeah, I mean, how often have you and I called into one of our, let's say, consumer products in our lifecycle and we've asked for something and the employee says, 'Hey, I can't help you. Let me transfer over you somewhere else.' And then you're repeating your information all over to them. We have all been through that frustration. None of us want to go through that. The employees don't want to go through that and then it impacts the brand. So I think the three are inseparable, the employee, the customer, and the brand. But when we think about the human experiences, they all go hand in hand together.
Speaker 1 (
So M&T acquired People's United Bank in 2022. So how has that integration been not just on the customer side, but also on the employee side?
Speaker 2 (
That's a great question. The really key part here about this integration is the word that I would use versus maybe others use the word M&A, mergers and acquisitions. It was very thoughtful. The partnership between Peoples United and M&T was perfect to begin with because there is such a shared foundation of culture, philosophy, mindsets, beliefs and behaviors. So when these two organizations came together, there was a profound agreement and synergy that our customers are most important, serving our customers and our employees in the communities is really important. And how do we bring to bear the power of a combined organization in such a way that it best serves those communities. So the systems and tech integration that we went through was probably in line with any other partnership and integration that went through. But what I found as we got feedback from our customers and employees was resounding feedback that the empathy that they felt is the same that they feel now. The care and concern from our bankers that they felt is the same now. So it's been eye opening, and continues to reaffirm our path that having that empathy, having that deep partnership and relationship that you mentioned earlier, is foundational to our organization's growth.
Speaker 1 (
One of the things I want to talk about a little bit is you, your mentor and MTS equity one program, which is seeks to increase Black, Brown and Latinx employees and also to help with promotion and retention. So can you talk a little bit about some of the strategies that you're approaching and what you're seeing working or where you see maybe headed in the future?
Speaker 2 (
Yeah, and the great alignment there is why I personally believe, and I do, and this is a cause for me, that I'm participating in this program and have been privileged to mentor a few women through this program. That M&T, at the core of it has multiple talent development programs, several of them that are addressing diverse employees, multicultural employees, and making sure that there is a seat at the table, a voice at the table, and making sure they have a good career path for growth. I personally have a very simple formula, which is that if you are participating in a program like this, you got to be an advocate, not a sponsor, not a mentor. And this could mean different flavors for different folks, but for me, advocacy is a powerful word. That means you are championing for that person when they're not in the room.
(
You are spending time with them, actively connecting them to other peers, finding opportunities that an individual may not know to look for and may not know how to get there. One of the most common pieces of feedback I hear from the folks that I mentor here is 'I'm not qualified for that'. The initial reaction is 'I'm not qualified for that'. So, removing this mental roadblock of 'I'm going to eliminate myself out of the game before I even try', is something that's important that we all need to do and pay that forward. Rene Jones, our CEO, has preached that and practiced that all his life. So it's also inspiring to be able to look up to him and look at all the programs that are going on in m and t to continue to draw inspiration and strength to support these employees through that.
Speaker 1 (
Well, thank you. Thank you for your time today. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (
Thank you for the conversation. You're welcome.