Mark Terry on bank merger

About Mark Terry

In a 2016 presentation to the GSATC Learning Lunch, Mark Terry, then Chief Technology Officer at United Community Bank, discussed the challenges facing the banking industry. He stated that since the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, banking has faced "extensive compliance and regulatory challenges" and that the economic environment had been "detrimental to banking for eight to nine years" due to low interest rates. Terry noted that banks have had to adapt to a shift from face-to-face branch interactions to mobile and online banking, and that the industry has seen significant consolidation, with the number of U.S. banks dropping from about 15,000 in the 1980s to just over 5,200. Terry also spoke about the ongoing merger of Palmetto Bank into United Community Bank, which he said benefits shareholders, customers, and employees by combining resources and expanding product offerings. He described the integration process, including the reissuing of 35,000 debit cards and the merging of over 100,000 accounts, as requiring hundreds of people and significant effort. Terry emphasized the bank's investment in automation and workflow systems to improve efficiency, and noted a move towards outsourcing data center operations for 24/7 support. On security, he commented that third-party breaches require banks to protect customers from fraud even when breaches occur outside their own systems, and expressed concern about potential backdoors in technology, stating that "the concern is once they opened up those back doors not knowing who's down there."

Profile compiled from Mark Terry's verified public interviews and appearances. See all quotes & transcripts →