Virtual SMERMs Most commercial relationship managers can ramp up their interaction with customers using all the collaboration tools available to the bank. But they can also helpclientsfigureouthowtheycanusethosetoolsthemselvestostayintouchwith their own customers. Social distancing need not exclude intensive conversations, eveniftheyarenotin-person.Forcommercialbanking,theseconversationsneedto While banks are beinformedbysector-specificinsightsonhowtosurviveCOVID-19plusa12-month recession. This type of advisory support could change the client’s relationship with thebankandsecuretrusted-advisorstatus.WhilethebestRMswilldothisnaturally, providing more thetypicalcommercialRMwillneedtrainingandtechnologysupporttoswitchtoa predominantly virtualmodel. flexible customer Accelerate Digital Sales and Service access they also Restrictionsonphysicalcontactrequirebankstoquicklycompileaninventoryofthe need to ramp up processesthatrequirein-personinteraction,andaplantomovethemonlineassoon aspossible.Cane-signatureordigitalIDprocessesbequicklydeployed?Where is thebankstillforcingalevelofin-personinteractionthatmaynotbeappropriate their cyber-security for the next few months? What transactions can be moved onto conversational platformslikeAlexaorWhatsApp? and anti-fraud Morebroadly,whatdoesyour2020digitalmigrationroadmapforsalesandservice look like, and can those initiatives be accelerated to deploy capabilities rapidly teams. without incurring undue cyber or AML/KYC risks? That being said, criminals have already mobilized to exploit weaknesses and target vulnerable customers with scams, so while banks are trying to provide more flexible customer access they alsoneedtoberampinguptheircyber-securityandanti-fraudteams.Therisksand rewardsneedtobebalanced,butwethinkthereareeffectivetoolsthatallowyouto expanddigitalaccesssafelyandquickly. 19 COVID-19: Open letter to retail and commercial banking CEOs