With new customer acquisition costs spiraling out of control and nimble competitors trying to pick off profitable portions of your portfolios, there’s never been a more critical time to invest in customer management.

What are the top four areas of tactical concern within consumer banking that bank executives will make significant progress addressing in 2019?

Here’s my advice for 2019 in a nutshell: With IFRS 9 impacts and €780 billion of NPL in Europe alone, stop reading about AI and start thinking about optimization.

Organisations will benefit from standing back from the BAU and determining how their analytics and technologies, which identify and support the management of distressed customers, need to change to ensure they secure that competitive advantage.

Are we making the progress we want to see — and regulators demand — on non-performing loans (NPL)?

In this uncertain environment, are retailers doing enough to manage the vast amount of “tick” consumers have amounted?

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority desperately wants to help 3+ million borrowers get out of persistent debt — but will the fixes work the way they want them to?

Last year saw collectors making plans to deal with new regulations, as were their colleagues throughout banking. It’s no surprise then that the most popular collections posts on the FICO Blog dealt with getting ready for IFRS 9 and GDPR.

In 2017, collections professionals were pulled by regulations, digital transformation, customer demands and new ways of working. Will 2018 be better?