The always prescient Mark Twain reputedly noted that, “History never repeats itself, but it often rhymes.” In fact, history is punctuated by a repeating pattern of economic and technological disruption.

At the same time, today’s always-connected economy means such disruption is now instantaneous. Payrolls not transferred mean a cascade of unpaid liabilities. Bills not paid mean the loss of critical suppliers.

In this uncertain environment—and those that will follow in the future—you need a reliable partner. On a day-to-day basis, this means money is moved timely and accurately. Payroll is met. Bills are paid on time.

Evergreen National Bank is that reliable partner for our customers. As a top 40 Payments Bank, we routinely move high volumes of payments, providing continuity and consistency for our customers, allowing them to focus on their strategic priorities.

While continuity in payments during a shock like the one we’re navigating now is critically important, there are a number of other considerations when choosing a reliable banking partner. Here are a few to consider and how Atlantic Capital measures up.

FIVE CONSIDERATIONS FOR CHOOSING A RELIABLE BANKING PARTNER

1. Operational Excellence:
Does your bank have the operational horsepower and expertise to move funds electronically exactly when and how you need them? Evergreen National Bank supports over $150 billion in client funds movement per year. In fact, we move more client funds in a day than most banks will move in a month.

2. Ability to Execute and Scale:
Does your banking partner understand your business model so they can execute quickly? Evergreen National Bank has designed its platform to support the unique requirements that our clients have identified as important to their operational success. Our laser focus on payments and fintech companies allows us to better understand the risks of various business models, ensuring quick, concise implementation. This expertise also allows us to remain flexible in supporting high-growth companies which often move from idea to significant customer adoption quickly.

3. Relationships and Reputation:
Is your bank committed to building the internal and external relationships needed to support your success? Evergreen National Bank has committed a cross-functional team—Operations, Relationship Management, Risk, Compliance, and Executive—to support our payments and fintech relationships. Our team, with over 20 years of banking experience supporting venture-backed companies, is located in New York, known as “transaction alley” for its concentration in fintech.

4. Financial Soundness:
Are you confident your bank is able to withstand future economic storms? Evergreen National Bank is a publicly traded company, regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), with significant capital to weather economic headwinds. We maintain strong and cooperative relationships with our regulators.

5. Availability:
Is your banking partner always there when you need them? Evergreen National Bank is there when and where our customers need us, including after-hours and weekends. Sometimes this means being there when you need advice to grow your business. Other times it means being your first line of defense in challenging economic times when you require a quick response to fill critical or emergency needs.

At Evergreen National Bank, we are committed to being both a reliable banking partner for our customers and helping them grow through inevitable change—both planned and unplanned. For example, we are continuing to expand with BillGO, a Colorado-based bill payment provider. Through a creative, collaborative, and open-minded process, we are working together to innovate and grow during the current crisis and beyond.

“Our customers need to have confidence in our partners,” says BillGO’s Mike Blazes, President and CFO. “As a rapidly growing company, we needed a banking partner that could rapidly scale with us. The things we asked Evergreen National Bankl to do are not typical and they figured out how to do it.”

If you’re looking for a reliable banking partner to help you thrive during good times and uncertain ones, we are that bank. Contact us to find out why our high growth fintech and payments clients choose Evergreen National Bank. We look forward to speaking soon and exploring how we can help your business.

In many ways, the pandemic acted as a great accelerator. Rapid shifts in people’s personal habits drove change and innovation on a scale — and at a pace — rarely seen, including the adoption of contactless interactions.

The uncertainty of Covid-19 drove a strong preference for contactless experiences. The use of touch-free payments skyrocketed as cautious consumers sought to reduce their in-store time to an absolute minimum. And retailers and restaurants quickly pivoted to safer options such as buy online, pick up in store, curbside pickup and QR Code ordering.

With safety and security likely to remain powerful drivers of consumer behavior, we expect contactless is here to stay.

Here are three reasons why.

1. Contactless will continue to grow.

Despite lockdowns, retail closures and economic hardships, American consumers did their part to drive economic growth in 2020, albeit in a dramatically different fashion. According to Digital Commerce 360, online consumer spending jumped 44% in 2020 to $861 billion.

Even more remarkable is that over half of these transactions were touch-free. In fact, 51% of Americans are now using some form of contactless payment, including tap-to-pay credit cards and mobile wallets like Apple Pay, according to a Mastercard study.

The number is even higher globally, with 79% of consumers saying they are now using contactless payments and 74% indicating they will continue to do so post-pandemic.

Accenture is so optimistic about this shift, they listed “a strong push toward a cashless society” as its number one long-term impact of the pandemic on global payments.

Just one example of this encouraging forecast is the announcement by the soon-to-open Legoland New York Resort that, as part of its “safe to play” strategy, it will be an entirely cashless theme park. Guests in the on-site hotel will even order their towels, room service and bedtime stories by digital voice assistant.

All of this points to strong odds of continued contactless adoption, driven initially by safety concerns and sustained by the convenience it offers for everyday transactions, even when the need to socially distance eases.

2. Safety is more than data security.

Consumers have always valued security when it comes to their data and financial information, but the pandemic introduced a new dimension, physical safety. According to Kurt Shreiner, Atlantic Capital Bank’s President of Corporate Financial Services, safety and experience are now permanently intertwined.

“There is no choice today between experience and safety,” says Shreiner. “In today’s world, we can reasonably assume that safety, whether in person or online, has leaped up the ranking as to what’s most important for a positive customer experience.”

Half of U.S. consumers worry about the cleanliness of signature touchpads and 72% prefer to skip signatures altogether, according to the Mastercard survey. This is not only strong evidence that touch-free payments will continue to gain momentum. It means at least some consumers are likely to avoid point-of-sale altogether in the future, as long as they don’t have to sacrifice experience.

The temptation for many companies will be to meet this challenge by investing in new technologies, but it’s critical that digital solutions put the customer experience at the center, advises Shreiner. “The new priority is to always keep people safe and connected despite not having a face to face experience,” he says. “Don’t ever let your clients feel ‘remote’ no matter what industry you are in or how dazzling your technology might be.”

3. Hybrid experiences are the next wave of innovation.

Too frequently we assume the word innovation means technology. But much of the recent innovation in contactless was clever and creative changes to business models.

Social distancing required new thinking and ideas rather than new technology. In fact, much of the technology businesses did adopt to put safety and convenience first already existed, including ecommerce, mobile apps, QR Codes and biometrics. Even contactless payments have been in use for more than a decade, although they weren’t widely adopted in some markets, like the U.S.

Moving forward, we are likely to see creative hybrid models that combine contactless with the experience and personalization consumers value.

“True post-pandemic innovation will be finding the right balance between the speed and convenience of contactless and the richness of in-person experiences that bring the consumer the best of both worlds,” says Atlantic Capital’s Shreiner.

Just look at the Chick-Fil-A drive through experience. For them, personalizing contactless means simple things like asking your name, offering a simple thank you, getting the order right, and keeping the line moving.

For high-end grocer Whole Foods it means introducing Amazon’s One palm scanner as a payment option for customers who want to enjoy the in-store experience but skip the traditional check out process.

Are you ready to deliver on fast, accurate and safe experiences?

These simple lessons can be applied to fintech and payments just as easily as a quick serve restaurant or retailer. The average consumer doesn’t think about the technology. They care about their experience, delivered through speed, accuracy and safety.

Accenture predicts the payments industry will have a key role to play in revamping the economy. But to be successful, it must lead with new thinking and then merge it with the right technology, says Shreiner.

As consumers cautiously return to malls, restaurants and theatres, they will gravitate to those that successfully deliver on both.

Atlantic Capital is constantly working to deliver both better experiences and the right innovation to its customers. We are well positioned to help our customers navigate and thrive in this contactless-first post-pandemic economy.