EXPANSION OPPORTUNITIES

Do you have the information and technical tools you need to evaluate your business options?

The managing partners of Market ID have over three decades of experience working for banks, thrifts and credit unions ranging in size from new charters to major regional providers. This experience includes years of work in financial analysis, systems, information management, branch and acquisitions planning, marketing and market research. These skills may be used to identify market opportunities or to evaluate and prioritize alternative proposals. In most instances these opportunities require a thorough analysis of markets and member or customer households.

Following are typical opportunities identified or evaluated for Market ID clients

New markets

Evaluation of new markets requires not only a thorough understanding of each prospective market, but an understanding of the client's strategies and capabilities as well. Articulation of a strategy will rule out certain markets while our internal analysis will indicate an institution's ability to compete. For these reasons, our evaluation of new markets begins with an analysis of our client.

The market evaluation involves data collection and analysis regarding characteristics such as market size, demographics, growth, competition, employers, employment and retail support.

Under-served markets

Uncovering under served markets is appropriate for financial institutions that want to be a dominant competitor in their region. For these firms, we analyze their current market coverage including the local market penetration of each branch. These patterns are mapped to identify areas of strength and weakness. Areas of weakness are further analyzed to determine possible service areas. The potential of each market is further evaluated to determine projected deposit and loan balances.

Segment strengths & weaknesses

We use a proprietary segmentation system that categorizes every customer or member household into mutually exclusive segments based on their product use and balances. These segments initially are evaluated based on their composition and contribution to balances compared to peers.

If files are available for two dates, the households are evaluated based on retention, new customer/member development and movement among segments.

Planned service use

Surveys of delivery systems preferences are used to capture information about the anticipated use of services by your customer/member households. Households are asked about recent changes in the way they use services and their anticipated changes over the coming year. These services may include drive-up windows, ATMs, debit cards, home banking, online bill paying, audio response systems and other options.

These choices are quantified and potential users are described by their demographics, segments, product use, balances and other characteristics.

Current share of product balances

Preference surveys also are used to identify aggregate product use by households using your institution. The survey provides an understanding of the share of deposits and loans held in various balance ranges at your institution and your competitors'. In addition, the survey identifies the share of households that maintain their balances at your institution versus your competitor's. Since the survey identifies primary financial institutions, you can determine your main competitors for these balances.

Market forecasts

The most useful projections are for households, housing type and employment. The forecasts used by Market ID are from local and regional planners rather than national data vendors. Local sources are most familiar with recent trends, land availability and demand.

Forecasts provide an indication of the amount and direction of anticipated growth and these projections can be used to model the potential impact on branches.

Deposit and loan projections

Household forecasts are particularly valuable for projecting the balance impact of population growth. Accounts per household, average account balances and household penetration levels for each local neighborhood are combined with current and projected household estimates to model potential deposit and loan balances. The model can be adjusted to reflect alternative scenarios. These projections combined with an analysis of performance at other locations, also are used to estimate the potential business opportunity at new locations.