Wayne Bank

Keeping it High Touch and High Tech

Wayne Bank is a community-focused financial institution headquartered in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, with a rich history dating back to 1871. With assets totaling approximately $2.3 billion, the bank operates 29 branches across northeastern Pennsylvania, offering a wide range of personal and business banking services tailored to meet the needs of its local communities.

The Beginning 

When Wayne Bank partnered with KlariVis in 2022, it was facing challenges felt by financial institutions across the country: outdated (and mostly absent) data management practices, a lack of wholistic reporting systems, and, culturally, a hesitancy to change the way data was viewed and used.

The bank needed a way to organize and leverage its data so employees could act on and truly understand the information they had in their possession.

“We had executives looking at ledger paper with a ruler in their hand,” Jim Donnelly, president and CEO of $2.3 billion institution, says. “There are now employees at the bank who have never used ledger paper in their life. It wasn’t a matter of if we were going to evolve, it was how.”

The reliance on manual analysis of its Fiserv core reporting was burning through both valuable time and money. Executives could spend up to one week out of the month preparing reports for their board; fifteen hours of data entry to view one branch’s profitability; and found themselves having to access multiple systems in an attempt to get a holistic view of how their institution was performing.

Employees were struggling to keep themselves up to date – how were they supposed to proactively serve their customers?

The Solution 

KlariVis’s banking analytics solution provided Wayne Bank a way to quickly review and, when needed, methodically dive into near real-time performance metrics and growth trends across its different markets, branches, products, and even officers.

“Each report is better quality than the last,” Donnelly states. “Within forty-eight hours, it felt like we had moved from operating like we were in the 1990s into the modern age. Our staff immediately felt the impact of having significant time back in their day to focus on higher value activities.”

Through KlariVis, Wayne Bank was empowered to leverage the data it always had, but was lost in translation, to make strategic decisions to enhance efficiency, identify growth opportunities in lending, and remain competitive in its market. There is now a centralized and comprehensive view of the bank’s performance across branches, replacing a previously disjointed process that hindered them from quickly recognizing and acting on opportunities.

Individual spreadsheets that were prepared and given to the board, all in different fonts, styles, and formatting, have been replaced by KlariVis’ board reporting package, an automated and standardized packet of reporting visuals that delivers a 360˚view of the institution.

The Results 

Wayne Bank leveraged KlariVis to gain deeper insights into its loan data, helping employees better understand which efforts were driving more deals and where adjustments were needed. This enhanced visibility aided the bank in doubling production in its consumer loan portfolio without compromising on quality — achieving growth without adding additional staff.

Additionally, the bank was able to identify a specific category of indirect lending that had a disproportionate number of losses compared to others. Now free from manual entry and formatting, the consumer lending team used their recaptured time strategizing and removing the identified risk. These improvements are shown within KlariVis’s board reports, signaling across the institution its improved position.

In its commercial arm, the bank is seeing higher quality credit pass through. KlariVis is being used to look at portfolio growth, number of deposits affiliated with clients, average risk rating, and more. Now, there is less variation in the bank’s CECL forecasting and less is being reserved against the books.

The bank is also expecting to replace manual profitability reports that its finance team produces each month with KlariVis’s profitability insights.

Overcoming the Fear of Change 

Moreso than other industries, many in the banking space have been reluctant to adopt certain technologies that would enhance their operations. Whether it be because of fear of being replaced, becoming irrelevant, or even the unknown, disrupting an institution’s data culture can be challenging.

Even with the known benefits of increased transparency and insights, Wayne Bank was not exempt from this reality.

Many senior commercial lenders at the bank were accustomed to managing their weekly and monthly customer schedules with established manual processes and were wary of adopting a new approach. With KlariVis automating data compilation and analysis, the bank supported the transition by introducing peer-to-peer training, where “power users” actively support their colleagues and share saved KlariVis reports, promoting a collaborative experience across teams.

“KlariVis isn’t designed to fit one type of banker,” Kim Snyder, CEO and founder of KlariVis adds, “it provides clear insights for every position and department. Bankers who are primarily concerned with their own portfolios don’t have to be overwhelmed with branch performance or executive reports. The platform is configured for the individual banker, not the other way around.”

More than Numbers 

KlariVis’ impact on Wayne Bank goes further than the hours saved or deals made. Donnelly, who oversees the twenty-nine branch locations and performance of each, uses KlariVis to promote a data-driven approach to employee motivation, accountability, and culture. He starts his day by reviewing KlariVis, searching for opportunities to “find a reason to say good job” and celebrate his employees’ successes.

Bankers do their best work for customers when they feel empowered and valued, not when they’re tied to the computer entering data or piecing together reports. Because KlariVis is available to all employees, not just executive leadership, regional and branch-based bankers have the opportunity to really drill into their own operations and performances. The uncovered data has relieved them of many manual tasks, giving them time back in the day to focus on efficiencies and profitability.

“KlariVis helped us highlight one specific branch that was outperforming the others, and we had that branch manager travel to other locations to share what they were doing,” Donnelly says. “[KlariVis] turned out to be an invaluable driver of our culture. We never would have recognized that manager and shared his methodology, which had rippling effects across the institution, without [KlariVis].”

The bank has since implemented an incentive program based on growth in low-cost deposits, using the data-driven insights from KlariVis to identify and reward high-performing branches. Like many others, Wayne Bank had a number of “unsung heroes” who would not have boasted about their successes, but their hard work is now able to be clearly recognized through the KlariVis platform.

Looking Ahead

The bank continues to expand its use of KlariVis, with plans to further integrate the platform into the finance department’s operations. Additionally, they are working on encouraging broader adoption among commercial lenders and plan to utilize the new feature of sharing saved reports to streamline onboarding and training.

Wayne Bank’s partnership with KlariVis marks a significant milestone in its journey toward modernization and efficiency. The bank has enhanced its operational performance and is also fostering a culture of continuous improvement and accountability. With KlariVis as a trusted partner, Wayne Bank is not just adapting to change — it’s leading the way.