Business Reporter: Connected commercial capabilities can help communities banks keep business relationships

CSI’s Michel Jacobs outlines how community banks can build on existing relationships with capabilities for specialized business markets.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, November 4, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In a recent sponsored article published by Business Reporter, Michel Jacobs, chief strategy officer at CSI, explored how community banks can strengthen business relationships by offering the capabilities customers need to manage their money every day.

Datos Insights research cited in the piece finds that 73% of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) would consolidate their banking with their community bank if it could meet all of their needs. Yet 71% already work directly with a fintech for at least one financial process.

Many community banks still struggle to offer commercial customers more than basic deposit accounts and loans. Businesses seeking more flexible digital banking and payment capabilities are increasingly turning to fintechs, super-regional banks, and larger institutions to fill those gaps. For community banks, meeting those needs offers an opportunity to build on their relationship advantage and support more of their customers’ daily financial activities.

“This strategy builds on what community banks already do well. The local banker knows the business, understands the community, and can structure credit around facts a distant competitor never sees. Modern commercial capability extends that advantage from the annual loan review into the daily operation of the business,” said Michel Jacobs, chief strategy officer at CSI.

A real-time ledger provides a foundation for these capabilities, establishing a single source of truth for cash and liquidity positions. Virtual account management allows businesses to organize funds by property, client, or purpose without opening multiple physical accounts. Those virtual accounts can mirror a business’s accounting structure and reflect incoming payments immediately, simplifying payment allocation, reconciliation, and reporting.

These capabilities are especially relevant for homeowners associations (HOAs), landlords and property managers, attorney and client trusts, and title companies, as well as businesses with broader cash management and liquidity needs. An HOA, for example, can use virtual accounts to allocate payments to individual residences and track who has paid.

Beyond virtual accounts, businesses can benefit from faster cross-border transfers and corporate, debit, and prepaid cards tailored to specific purposes. Digital banking tools that integrate with business applications and provide personalized cash-flow insights can further simplify daily financial management.

For community banks, aligning services with these workflows can strengthen customer retention, attract lower-cost operating deposits, generate non-interest income through treasury, payments, and card services, and reduce manual processing.

CSI announced CSI Commercial Suite in September to help community banks address these needs. The suite brings together deposit, payment, card, and treasury capabilities designed for specialized business markets and pre-integrated with CSI’s core and digital banking platforms.

To learn more, read the article or explore CSI Commercial Suite.

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About CSI

CSI is a leading provider of end-to-end financial technology solutions, helping U.S. community and regional financial institutions compete and grow. Backed by more than 60 years of industry expertise, CSI delivers a comprehensive suite of capabilities spanning core banking, digital banking, lending, payments, risk and compliance, and managed IT and cybersecurity services. CSI gives financial institutions the flexibility to deploy an open, fully integrated core platform or best-of-breed, core-agnostic solutions, enabling them to modernize on their terms. Known for its high-touch service, CSI helps financial institutions navigate disruption, strengthen account holder relationships, and drive growth in an increasingly digital-first financial landscape.

https://www.csiweb.com/

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