Fintech veteran David Mitchell thought he could solve the problem small-business executives face when they deal with big banks: products they offer are designed for bigger companies and don't scale down to smaller firms.
Owners Bank, a digital bank aimed at small businesses, opened in April 2023 with Mitchell as CEO. The idea was to provide digital services to help deal with onerous chores facing small companies, like invoice management, bill payment, accounting functions and U.S.-based customer service. Over the past year, Owners has begun offering account aggregation and tax tools, among other services, for small-business customers.
Cash flow issues have plagued many small businesses since the pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program loans ended.
"Owners Bank has made it our mission to support these small businesses and we've been inundated with inquiries from small-business owners seeking assistance with loans and business credit cards," Mitchell said. The digital bank hired underwriters and bankers with other forms of lending experience, pairing them with a new origination system to get more customers onboarded quickly, he said.
Mitchell also led a digital transformation project that launched in February 2023 at Owners Bank's parent, $7.5 billion-asset Liberty Bank, where he is executive vice president and chief digital officer. Liberty, based in Middletown, Connecticut, calls itself the oldest and biggest mutual bank in the U.S. Mitchell directed a modernization of its software so it could offer digital account opening, credit monitoring, bill payments, better controls for credit and debit cards and money movement to 140,000 customers.
Mitchell expects that the biggest impact on how customers bank in the near future will come from AI, as banks scramble to "deliver great technology, products and services at the speed customers expect and at scale," he said.
"As consumers increasingly accept embedded banking solutions from a wider variety of big tech and fintech, a bank's digital strategy must focus even more on delivering hyper-personalized customer experiences," he said. "To capitalize on generative AI and other leading-edge technologies like blockchain there will be increasing collaboration with fintech firms and third-party solution providers."
