Recap: Relationship Banking is Built on Reliable Data

For years, banks have talked about deepening relationships. But without trustworthy data, those relationships rarely deepen. They dissolve. That reality set the tone at the Denver Deposit Strategy Summit: Winning the Wallet of Business Customers, where more than 20 banking leaders gathered to share practical ways to attract, deepen, and retain business deposits.

Anchored by presentations from Barlow Research, IBISWorld, and RelPro, the summit explored how data backed insight is transforming bankers into trusted advisors. While the goal of growing deposits hasn’t changed, the way to achieve it has. The summit’s central theme: bankers must merge human expertise with trustworthy, verified data to win lasting relationships and grow wallet share.

Barlow Research: Targeted relationships, not a race to the bottom

Barlow Research opened the program with findings from its latest customer sentiment study—a sobering reminder of the concentrated nature of deposits. According to their data, 19% of customers hold 80% of deposits, underscoring the importance of a targeted approach.

The takeaway: not all deposit growth strategies are created equal. Competing solely on rate may draw temporary balances, but sustaining primary relationships demands quality, relevance, and trust.

Barlow’s research also exposed an opportunity gap for bankers to position themselves as true Centers of Influence (COI). Despite the business community’s need for financial guidance, only 15% of business customers actively seek advice from their bankers. This suggests a largely untapped potential for bankers who can demonstrate expertise and proactively offer insights rather than products.

Action item: Banks should map their top deposit holders, identify key relationship gaps, and design engagement strategies that align with the client’s business cycles, not just rate promotions.

IBISWorld: The power of industry insight

Next, IBISWorld illustrated what happens when bankers successfully demonstrate industry knowledge. As a trusted partner to IBISWorld, Barlow’s data shows that Net Promoter Scores (NPS) can leap from 12 to 77, while customer churn rates fall from 27% to 8% when bankers consistently bring industry-specific insights into conversations. The significance of industry knowledge has only grown in recent years, which is why IBISWorld, too, has continued to invest into its partnership with Barlow.

In short, informed bankers build loyal clients. But knowledge isn’t free—it requires accurate, human-verified intelligence. That’s where IBISWorld’s team of 150 research professionals and their expanding suite of digital tools come in.

Two IBISWorld innovations sparked particular interest:

• “Phil,” the AI Economist: An on-platform assistant designed to deliver quick, context-specific economic and industry intelligence.
• Zero-click research integrations: New partnerships with CoPilot, nCino, Snowflake, and Salesforce, ensuring that bankers can access insights within the tools they already use.

The goal is zero clicks and zero dead ends in the research process.

Action item: Relationship managers should integrate industry data directly into their CRM and pipeline tools to ensure every customer conversation starts with relevant, informed context.

RelPro: Connecting people and data with precision

Closing the presentations, RelPro demonstrated how its platform bridges the gap between sentiment and industry data. By combining IBISWorld’s sector intelligence, RelPro equips bankers with trustworthy company and contact-level data to act decisively.

Bank-specific information such as UCC filing dates supports timely prospecting, while Buyer Intent signals allow teams to prioritize businesses currently researching products like “deposits” or “accounting audits.”

RelPro’s latest AI-driven features also help bankers summarize contact profiles by business type, location, and industry. The goal: help frontline teams start meaningful conversations with confidence, without spending hours researching LinkedIn or scattered databases.

Action item: Banks should evaluate their prospecting workflows and ensure frontline teams have quick access to aggregated, verified company and contact data to shorten the path from research to relationship.

From presentations to peer conversations

Once the presentations wrapped, the evening shifted into open conversation among the Denver market’s banking professionals. Familiarity filled the room—any attendees had worked together or crossed paths at previous events, making for candid and insightful exchanges.

Discussions touched on everything from M&A trends and technology partnerships to the human side of banking in an age dominated by AI. Some focused on the scalability of fintech tools now accessible to smaller institutions, while others debated the merits of buying versus building tech stacks to achieve deposit growth goals.

Several conversations stood out:

• Big Bank Meets CoPilot: Representatives from one of the nation’s top four banks shared their phased initiative to fully adopt CoPilot, praising IBISWorld’s investment in third-party integrations that align with their enterprise workflows.
• The Advantage of Being Small: Market Presidents from a $1 billion bank discussed how their senior bankers—handling $15-50 million deals—can deliver a personal touch that larger institutions often lose. Where some big banks route inquiries through 1-800 numbers, these community bankers offer direct access to seasoned relationship managers with decades of experience.
• Eyes on 2026: The group expressed cautious optimism for commercial loan growth heading into 2026. Yet most agreed that success will depend on pairing human connection with data-driven insight, and that IBISWorld’s integrated market intelligence will be central to those efforts.