Small Banks Grapple with Vendor Contracts

In the last 5 years HarborOne Bancorp has converted from a credit union to a mutual bank, became 45 percent stock owned and made 3 acquisitions; these transactions brought with them a host of complicated vendor contracts that could be anywhere from 140 to 160 pages each; CIO Brad Goedken who came from larger banks made it his mission to dig deep into the vendor contracts and try to negotiate more favorable terms for the bank; vendor contracts can be as long as 10 years and essentially trap a smaller bank into bad technology at a time when there are more tech options than ever before; what Goedken has learned over the years is there is a lot of room to negotiate and finding better terms is a mission that will help put the bank on more solid footing for future plans. Source.

  • Todd Anderson

    Todd is the host of PitchIt: the fintech startups podcast, a weekly interview show featuring emerging fintech founders and leading venture capitalists. He is responsible for leading the content team which covers fintech through daily & weekly email newsletters, editorial, virtual events, and in-person conferences. He has been covering fintech, banking, and venture capital for more than 15 years, including speaking regularly at industry events.