Encore Bank Shares Growth Tips on Last Day of Fintech Summit | Arkansas Business News

The third and final day of the Little Rock Venture Center’s first VenCent Fintech Summit included a brief presentation by one of the state’s fastest growing banks: Encore Bank of Little Rock.

And DocFox of Miami, a provider of automated business account opening software, was awarded its first-ever Finny Award Wednesday night. The award recognizes financial technology companies that are “sustainable, investable and proven, while helping banks transform their processes and deliverables,” Venture Center CEO Wayne Miller said in a press release Thursday.

On Wednesday afternoon, Encore Bank of Little Rock was represented by speakers Allan Rayson, Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Innovation Officer; and Erin Simpson, executive vice president and COO. Rayson was named 2022 Digital Banker of the Year by American Banker magazine.

Founded in 1997 as Capital Bank, it had $159 million in assets and seven employees as of March 2019. But the vision was to go digital. In May 2019, the bank was renamed Encore Bank. It raised $57 million, adding 400-plus shareholders in November of that year. Today, it has approximately 1,900 shareholders.

Since the initial capital raising, the bank has raised an additional $130 million and is currently raising $150 million. It has also reached nearly $3 billion in assets.

In addition, Encore has expanded to 21 markets in nine states and employs 300 people.

“We’ve had tremendous growth for years,” Simpson said. “So I think that’s why we were invited to talk to you today, just to tell you how we did this… For us, marketing is primarily about defining who we are and who we are not. Then we all came together, it was, I would say, one of the first struggles we had in deciding which fintech partners to take on.”

Encore Bank decided to focus on commercial rather than retail customers, explained Simpson, stating that it is a “concierge-style boutique bank that offers white-glove service to our customers. We want them to have that hand- the on-hand touch. We want you to know who your banker is.”

The bank also decided to focus on using technology to eliminate manual processes not only for its employees but for its customers.

Simpson also said that acquiring the right talent has been critical to Encore’s success. She said the bank hires professionals who have been in a market for a long time and can guide Encore’s entry into that market while engaged in the technology the bank has implemented.

However, the bank’s acquisition of talent has come under fire. In November, Encore Bank agreed to pay $3.6 million to Simmons Bank to settle a lawsuit over allegations that former Simmons employees took customer and proprietary banking information when they left to work for Encore.

In addition to acquiring the right talent, Rayson said Encore Bank owes its success to knowing a lot about its customers and shareholders. “We know a lot about their journey, both personal and professional. And that informs a lot about what we do from a marketing perspective. I think it’s very, very important to understand their journey,” he said.

For example, the bank knows that many of its investors are small or medium-sized business owners, and it has hired people who understand that life, Rayson said.

His advice to summit attendees was to communicate constantly with their clients and to take on the right partners. “We wear these really nice bracelets on our wrists that say, ‘We win together.’… We win together, not just as associates, but we win with our partners,” Rayson said.

He emphasized the importance of such collaboration, and Simpson encouraged those in the audience to participate in an accelerator program if given the opportunity, because that’s how Encore has met some of its partners.