Spotlight On: Jeff Brouillard, South Texas Commercial Banking Market Executive, Wells Fargo

Spotlight On: Jeff Brouillard, South Texas Commercial Banking Market Executive, Wells Fargo

2023-01-13T13:02:03-05:00January 13th, 2023|Banking & Finance, San Antonio, Spotlight On|

2 min read January 2023 — Wells Fargo is an American multinational financial services company with deep roots in Texas. Invest: spoke with South Texas Commercial Banking Market Executive Jeff Brouillard about recent company highlights and opportunities for the banking industry in the San Antonio and South Texas region, how the bank leverages technology and top priorities for Wells Fargo going forward.

What are some highlights for Wells Fargo in San Antonio and South Texas as a whole in the past year?

We’ve been in the San Antonio and South Texas markets for more than 75 years. We saw strong loan growth in 2021. Demand was good and customers were looking to invest in their businesses. The back half of the year brought moderation to the business climate. Our approach has shifted the conversation to a key theme of helping clients automate, go digital and manage new ERP systems. We also have a strategic and consultative approach.

Do you predict the strategic consultative approach will continue in the long-term?
That change is here to stay. We have all sorts of solutions to bring to bear at Wells Fargo. None of that matters without first getting the right understanding of our customers and their goals. Cultivating relationships and a consultative nature have always been the cornerstone of our approach to banking. I’m a big believer that the pandemic shifted the way things are done. The potential for a recession also tends to be a catalyst for trends already in place. I expect more customers to seek out our advice and guidance on what the economy is doing, where rates are going and how they can leverage their systems and technology to increase efficiencies. Everyone’s experiencing labor issues now. They’re asking us for advice to help solve this labor challenge by streamlining operations with faster and safer money movement and payment processing. Technology is the answer.

What opportunities exist for the banking industry in San Antonio and the South Texas region?

San Antonio has a great business climate. The migration of businesses and people means banks follow, especially in a climate where banks have been flooded with deposits and need to deploy those deposits into growing economies. Texas is definitely a winner. San Antonio is benefiting from that, and it also attracts competition.

What are some differentiators as competitors continue to flood the market?

We’re very focused on relationships. We seek to get to know our customers before we do anything. We believe in local leadership and advocacy for our customers. We also provide many solutions, such as interest rate risk management, lending, facilitating cross-border payments — we’re seeing more and more of our customer base looking to leverage Mexico or other countries across the globe as a trading partner in their business. Wells Fargo has the size and scale locally to help with all of that. We’re a big believer in friendly competition. We all want what’s best for San Antonio.

 

How is Wells Fargo leveraging technology in San Antonio and South Texas?

We have a strong branch banking presence in the area with a full suite of digital solutions. The generational dynamic means fewer people want to walk into a bank. They want solutions at their fingertips. They want to be able to self-serve versus waiting for a banker to respond to an email or a phone call. We want to put customers in a position where we’re a facilitator of their business and not a necessary stop to accomplish something. We’ll continue to support all those channels. The dynamic is changing in branch traffic. The paradigm of banking is changing. The old view of a branch with a checkbook and cash is antiquated. Banking today is all about the solutions you can offer and that means technology.
Customers are looking to upgrade their business and ERP system. They want a treasury platform to plug into directly and exchange payment information in real time. We take a very strategic view of banking in that sense. We’re trying to lead that migration to digital automation through all these solutions to make it easier for our customers. As an example, we recently announced a new digital platform called Vantage for commercial and corporate banking clients.

What are your top priorities for Wells Fargo in San Antonio for the short term?

We’re helping clients navigate interest rate issues, capital rates and foreign exchange. We’re having many conversations about being in a rising rate environment. We’re clearly in a time where many business owners, if they’re younger, haven’t seen this before. We’re having conversations about what it means for their business. Our primary role as bankers is to understand our customer’s business and provide thoughtful, strategic dialogue and solutions. Capital becomes more precious the more it costs. For many businesses, it’s talking about ways they can utilize interest rate protection to manage the floating rate risk and their balance sheet. The right mix of floating rate debt to fixed rate debt depends on the business and balance sheet.
We’ll continue to support our strong customer base through whatever the economy throws our way. Many of our customers have weathered economic cycles before and now is the time for us to guide them through 2023 and a potential slowdown in activity. The San Antonio and South Texas region is a core market for Wells Fargo. Multigenerational, family-owned businesses are a key client base for us. I’m very bullish on San Antonio and the South Texas economy.

Where do you see the banking sector in the next five to 10 years?

Technology will dominate the conversation in banking. Banks that do well will do so because they’ve leveraged technology. There will be many partnerships with fintechs. Customers are asking for technological solutions and automation. We’re already seeing a generational shift with many companies transitioning to next-generation ownership. People also don’t want to repeat manual processes all day long. Many technology-minded younger owners demand robust solutions from their banking partner.
Treasury management and how to unlock working capital from business through better automation and cutting down the time it takes to receive payments are also important. They’re getting more traction now because every dollar unlocked through automation is one less borrowed. The dollar costs more now, so that’s significant. Rising rates cause a more dynamic foreign exchange rate environment. We’re having many conversations with our global customers about how to manage the currency risk in their business.
It always starts with understanding businesses, from there reaching across the set of solutions at Wells Fargo and bringing thoughtful, strategic advice to our customers.

For more information, visit:

https://www.wellsfargo.com/

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