Southern Bancorp On The Cutting Edge

Arkadelphia-based Southern Bancorp lands a high-profile examination of its operations and services in the latest issue of American Banker magazine.

The story takes a look at how Southern is setting the curve for how banks can use technology, especially to help low-income customers who don’t have a big cushion in their bank accounts.

To better compete, the bank [Southern Bancorp] built a new core-processing system and responsive design environment that automatically adjusts to devices of all sizes, with help from a company it helped create, Smiley Technologies.

The platform “gives us lots more control over the types of products and services we provide, so we can provide faster processes and deal with changes in the regulatory landscape faster than a lot of the regulated institutions that have large legacy core-system providers,” said Dominik Mjartan, Southern’s senior vice president. The software took ten years to build and provides one view to all applications and data.

Most transactions are processed in real time or close to real time, such that ATM deposits, card purchases and mobile money transfers are reflected in the customer’s balance immediately. This is critical for customers who do not have the luxury of waiting three days for their check to clear, Mjartan said.

There are also other underbanked features that Southern Bancorp has deployed, including the “Shake and Bank” feature. Read more on the story at this link.