2023 Community Bank Case Study Competition Journal

THIRD PLACE: Messiah University

one-year period, from November of 2021 to November of 2022, they completed two core system conversions. The first was the result of the reverse merger between LINKBANK and Gratz National Bank. This conversion should have been simple due to both banks operating on Fiserv systems, however, LINKBANK’s version of Fiserv, DNA, is best described as archaic and inconducive to streamlined reporting. Scott Bass, LINKBANK’s technology architect, stated that the core system was the least user-friendly system that he had encountered in his 30+ years spent in the industry. Thus, mapping over information proved to be tedious. Additionally, the loan configuration of Gratz National Bank is unique in that they serve a niche market of agriculture and Amish clientele. Agriculture loans can have many quirks such as unusual amortization schedules where interest is paid monthly while principle is paid quarterly or annually. So, between the difficulties associated with LINKBANK’s inadequate version of Fiserv and Gratz National Bank’s unconventional loan portfolio, completing the conversion was a significant accomplishment. Then, in October of 2022, LINK completed another conversion. This time, the entire bank converted to Jack Henry and Associates. This conversion was no easier than the last as LINKBANK had grown to over a billion dollars in assets by this time. The bank’s size created plenty of opportunities for mistakes as the amount of data that needed to be tracked and converted was substantial. Because these systems are fine-tuned so precisely, the margin for error in a conversion is slim. For example,

Due diligence and patience fostered an environment of collaboration that allowed the teams to fix many technological problems proactively.

during a mock conversion, it was discovered that hundreds of Home Equity Lines of Credit were erroneously matured because a Jack Henry coder accidentally used a “greater than” symbol instead of a “less than” symbol when writing a line of code. Fortunately, this mistake was caught before the actual conversion occurred. Due diligence and patience fostered an environment of collaboration that allowed the teams to fix many technological problems proactively. Once the conversion was completed, no customer lost money, information, or accounts. While there were some kinks that had to be sorted out retroactively, we are told that no core conversion is perfect, and the Jack Henry conversion was an overwhelming success. Jack Henry excels in its data analytics and with this core system, LINK says that they should be able to receive state of the art reporting that will propel the bank past its peers. The customer facing products offered by Jack Henry are said to be very advanced and LINKBANK is now able to help local businesses by providing a higher quality banking experience.

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