Having a clear, accurate understanding of overall profitability is essential when making strategic business decisions in any industry. It can be particularly difficult for the financial industry to gain this insight, as a 2018 survey from Temenous and Accenture found that profitability was the biggest challenge facing banks today.
One reason this can be challenging is because there are many different areas across which a bank or credit union can evaluate profitability, including individual accounts, customers, relationships, products, officers, and branches. When and how you measure profitability for each of these will depend on your organization’s business priorities.
There are few questions to ask yourself when determining profitability on a macro level, and for specific segments of your business.