For more than a decade, banks have been trying to rebrand tellers as ‘universal bankers,’ or product advisors. But resource constraints stand in the way of faster adoption among smaller institutions.
More than a decade after banks and credit unions rebranded tellers as “universal bankers,” the model continues to evolve, with financial institutions at various stages of figuring out how to make tellers more knowledgeable and better equipped to serve customers across a wider range of products and tasks.
Financial institutions have been working to turn tellers into jacks-of-all-trades who oversee customers’ day-to-day transactions and advise on other products and services. A “utility player,” universal bankers can work with cash transactions, open accounts, recommend loan products and coach customers on mobile banking, according to a 2014 American Banker article.
The role has grown as FIs adapt to declining branch traffic and digital banking adoption. In an October 2024 Morning Consult survey for the American Bankers Association, 8% of consumers said they preferred managing their accounts at a bank branch — down from 17% in 2019.
FIs are progressing at different speeds as they navigate tech and cultural issues. Smaller institutions are working to bridge multiple systems to create a unified view of the customer, while their larger counterparts are using recommendation engines to help bankers recommend products. Over time, generative AI promises to arm universal bankers with a broader knowledge base, experts say.
Despite the hurdles, FIs are committed to the longer-term payoff from investments in universal banker capabilities.
“These institutions realize that branches are still a big growth engine for them,” says Tiffani Montez, principal analyst at eMarketer. “Many of them are starting to transform them into financial hubs, where they can focus more on building trust and serving diverse markets — and then, as a result of all of that, drive growth.”
A Slow Evolution for Small and Midsize Financial Institutions
San Jose, California-based Meriwest Credit Union has been working toward universal banking capabilities over the past decade, but the transition has been gradual.
“Tellers really need to become generalists. We want them to know a little bit about all the products,” says Chad Maze, EVP and chief operating officer, noting that the goal is for tellers to help identify products that align with customer needs. He envisions tellers helping customers onboard to certain products in the future, including loans.
Rosemont, Illinois-based Wintrust Financial is aiming to expand its teller team’s role with consultative and advisory responsibilities, with the goal of making them go-to resources for products and services like account opening and loans for both consumers and businesses. The foundation for these capabilities, according to Steve Gootee, VP and retail product manager, will be future technology upgrades that allow tellers to spend more time advising customers.
“[It takes] a lot of their tasks away that they had to do on the teller side, so it gives them more time to assist customers with other functions,” he says, speaking about what future technology improvements could help achieve. “As far as adding functionality for our tellers in one system — it’s a one-stop shop for them to assist clients across the board.”
Meriwest is also working through a technology transition to bring about a full suite of universal banker capabilities. For example, the ability for bankers to see what customers see is still being built out, says Maze.
“We’re trying to get closer and closer to a model where both sides see the same thing,” he says. “That’s still evolving. It’s coming in parts — it depends on whether the customer is using the mobile app or the online platform.”
Reconciling Multiple Systems
Experts say the goal of turning the universal banker into a one-stop shop for all things banking remains aspirational for smaller institutions. Many are still working to reconcile data across systems — so tellers can see what customers see, review accounts to recommend products, or troubleshoot problems.
“We see a lot of banks and credit unions still using legacy core-provided banker and teller platforms from decades ago that haven’t been modernized,” says Andrew Short, VP of product management at banking technology firm Candescent. “Having that ability to, in a browser format, to be able to see what the customer is seeing … is really important,” including customers’ mobile and web banking interfaces.
A recent Candescent whitepaper highlighted these hurdles, noting that working with multiple disparate systems stands in the way of productive customer engagement.
Knowledge Gaps
The universal banker model, though a great idea, has been executed with “moderate success,” according to Ashish Garg, co-founder and CEO of banking technology firm Eltropy.
“Banking by itself is very vast and expecting one person who’s a teller… to know everything about banking and to truly be able to help people who are walking into a branch and have conversations regarding each and every topic is very, very challenging,” he tells The Financial Brand. “They are very good at having simple conversations, but where the model fails is at complex conversations.”
One way to brief them up would be to arm them with a generative AI tool to help navigate difficult situations. Eltropy, which offers such a tool, said that in one case it was able to handle 70% of bankers’ questions.
“Imagine a ChatGPT-type interface where this universal banker can quickly type up a question,” he says. “[The] technology will go find the right document, summarize the answer…and pull up the particular procedure,” and outline a series of steps to follow.
Universal bankers’ capabilities can also be extended through expert referrals. Since many FIs don’t have specialists available on site, bankers can schedule customers for “video room” appointments to address more specific questions, Garg says. These often involve areas like mortgages or investments.
Philadelphia-based American Heritage Credit Union uses video member advisors to complement its in-house teller team.
“They work out of our main office in our contact center in Northeast Philadelphia, but a member can video chat in on their lunch break or at their wherever they may be to interact with a with a representative to have in-depth consultative conversations,” says Mitch Kay, senior vice president of business development, revenue and growth at American Heritage Credit Union.
Tech-driven Product Recommendations
As smaller institutions work through tech upgrades, larger banks are investing in data and recommendation tools to support universal bankers. BMO has been evolving its teller role for some time, transitioning to the “associate banker” title in 2022. An associate banker is a team member who can perform “simple sales” (such as helping customers access deposit and credit card offerings), assist with digital banking, and offer fraud prevention education, says Anthony Hudson, head of distribution for U.S. personal and business banking at BMO.
To support bankers in handling a range of functions, BMO uses a technology platform called myFinancial Compass to guide associate bankers as they assist customers across various product offerings. MyFinancial Compass collects information customers share with their associate bankers and uses an algorithm — or logic model — to assess customer input and recommend products and services.
“myFinancial Compass would be used at the point of a customer helping a customer with a particular product need,” says Hudson. “It helps to walk our associate bankers, our bankers or bank managers, through the conversation, understanding [the customer’s] personal, professional, family, hobbies, goals, and then leveraging that information to make recommendations based upon what we’ve learned.”
Building Momentum for Next-Gen Tellers
While many institutions say they’re pursuing a universal banker strategy, many face challenges implementing it — particularly around staffing and technology, says Montez.
For smaller institutions, the hurdle “comes down to a resource issue,” she says. “If you’re going to completely redesign a branch to support the model, do they have the resources to do that?”
As digital banking adoption grows and FIs reconfigure their branch strategies, teller numbers are projected to decline, putting pressure on banks to generate more return on investment from frontline staff. A projection from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the number of tellers in the U.S. is expected to decline 15% from 2023 to 2033.
The greater emphasis on ROI from branches, said Garg, could be a major accelerant for universal banker strategies.
“Financial institutions are like, ‘Listen, how do we make things work in this new world?’ They need to get more efficient,” says Garg. “It’s the economics of this that’s going to drive it.”
Source: The Financial Brand
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