ESSENTIAL, UNITED, RESILIENT: AMID COVID-19, THE WORLD GOES ON

EXECUTIVEDIRECTOR’SMESSAGE

As we were planning the 2020 MoneyTrends Conference & Expo (with a lot of help from our friends at Grafico Marketing), we had settled on three words as our conference theme: “Essential,” “United,” and “Resilient.” As it turns out, there are not three other words in the English language that better exemplify and epitomize the Financial Service Center (FSC) industry. While the COVID-19 pandemic was only still developing when we chose this theme, the relevance and applicability of these words became more and more obvious as each day passed. What started as a conference theme soon became a defining inscription.

ESSENTIAL

Throughout the pandemic, our member locations proved to be essential to the ability of consumers to access critical and basic financial services in a safe and regulated environment. Perhaps due to the prescience of regulators and policymakers from New York to California, from the outset of the crisis, FSC providers were recognized as essential by all 50 states, the U.S. Treasury, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Treasury and DHS specifically found that FSC locations were part of the essential infrastructure.

Once designated as essential, FSC operators clearly demonstrated that characteristic, remaining open and operating throughout the pandemic, often when other traditional financial institutions, such as banks and credit unions, elected to close their doors or operate on a limited basis.

As Congress passed and the President signed multiple phases of COVID relief packages, FSCs became even more critical, often providing the only available facilities for hard-hit consumers to cash checks, offload prepaid cards, pay bills, wire money, and obtain needed liquidity. More recently, the CFPB and the IRS have reached out to FiSCA to enlist our assistance in reaching Americans who are entitled to relief payments but who are not in the mainstream of the banking system.

UNITED

FiSCA has always represented a “big tent” mentality. Our members have always operated multi-line businesses, delivering a wide variety of financial products through multiple delivery mechanisms. Our members range from the largest national companies to the smallest “mom and pops.” Our affiliate member relationships have always included partners of all types, from the largest money transmitters, national and state banks, national law firms, and prepaid card companies, to the smallest vendor partners providing niche services and products. This inclusive mentality has always served us well in meeting challenges.

In the middle of this pandemic, our industry has become more united than ever. Operators have conferred with other operators to exchange information about safety procedures, staffing strategies, and other operational issues. FiSCA and its sister trade association, Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA), joined forces to address industry issues, actively advocating at both the state and the federal level to ensure that the industry’s voice was heard. And you will soon hear even more about unity in our industry. To use an overused cliché: In unity there is strength. The cliché is even more true in a crisis.

RESILIENT

Through natural disasters, legislative and regulatory changes, business competition, the dizzying growth of technology, terrorism, and other challenges, the FSC industry has persevered. With the spread of the coronavirus, many of our employees and their families were impacted by the virus, or by the closures of schools. FSC operators were required to shift their workforces in order to prevent the spread of infections. New laws allowing liberal leave, and some of the COVID relief packages designed to rescue the economy, motivated some workers to elect to stay out of the workforce. Other guidelines required operators to implement enhanced cleaning and social distancing requirements. Nevertheless, resilient FSC operators found ways to comply with the law and health requirements, and to continue to serve their customers, illustrating the resilience that has become the hallmark of the industry.

Many of our customers, facing unemployment and other disruptions caused by the shutdown of our economy, hunkered down, cutting spending, saving more, and borrowing less. Transaction volume has dropped, buoyed only occasionally by the distribution of economic impact payments. In turn, FSC operators have adjusted, undertaking measures to ensure they remained open and operating. As one member related to me, “The lights may be dim, but they are on.”

In addition to the public health crisis and other business impacts, this spring and summer, social unrest hit many communities across the country, including communities featuring FSC locations. Dozens of FSC locations were damaged or destroyed. Reflecting a resilience unmatched in many other industries, these locations will be rebuilt or relocated, and they will again service their communities, providing critical financial services.

ESSENTIAL, UNITED, AND RESILIENT

Underlying the long-standing characteristics of our industry, including the trademarks of “essential,” “united,” and “resilient,” is another inherent characteristic of FSC operators – pride. Pride in persevering through challenges to be there for communities and customers. Pride in keeping payrolls intact. Pride in providing a safe environment for employees and customers. Pride in reopening after civil unrest targeted our locations. The character of our industry cannot be overstated. In fact, the way this crisis was met is not new. Rather, it is another chapter in the long history of an industry that is dedicated to serving customers and communities. It is my hope, and it will be my goal, to ensure that after the pandemic is over, the performance of our members and our employees is not forgotten or overlooked in the rush to define the lessons of this crisis.

Thank you for your support.

Edward D’Alessio, Executive Director