Five Questions With: Donna Dailey

Donna Dailey is Bank of America Corp.’s senior vice president for consumer banking in the Greater Providence market. She oversees the bank’s nine local branches. One of her focuses is serving students of local colleges, universities and high schools. The East Providence resident also attends events at local schools, including financial literacy sessions.

PBN: What are your job duties?

DAILEY: I am responsible for Bank of America’s consumer business in the Providence market, overseeing nine financial centers to deliver solutions for our clients and make an impact on our community.

This time of year, one of our key focuses, especially in Providence, is serving our students from area colleges, universities and high schools. As part of my duties, my team and I attend on-sites at the schools and conduct financial literacy sessions.

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Bank of America has a wealth of educational resources, including its free online financial educational platform, Better Money Habits, as well as financial centers across the country, where advisers can help students strengthen their financial expertise and have successful experiences managing their money.

For students, creating good habits early on can lead to a more successful long-term path. We currently have events planned with Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design, as well as many others across the state, where we will work with students on meeting their financial needs and setting them up for financial success.

We are proud that Bank of America was recently named Money magazine’s “Best Bank for College Students.”

PBN: Why are students and schools significant in the local consumer banking landscape?

DAILEY: Graduating high school is a rite of passage to adulthood. This year, more than 3 million U.S. high school seniors are making that transition. Nearly all of them will either head off to college or start in the workplace, taking important first steps into adulthood.

At that time, they will also achieve a new level of financial autonomy and will face money-management decisions on their own for the first time – decisions that could impact them for years to come.

At Bank of America, we’re noticing a trend toward students establishing a banking relationship well before high school graduation. There are several factors contributing to this trend, including more students taking on part-time jobs, the rise of online shopping and video gaming, and the acquisition of mobile devices, including digital wallets.

PBN: Given the younger generations’ penchant for online banking, what does the future hold for so-called “brick-and-mortar” branches?

DAILEY: Technology has made it easier to conduct banking online or through a mobile device, especially for our clients that are students. Many of our clients are using our digital capabilities to do their traditional banking.

Our financial centers are where clients come to have deeper conversations focused on their life priorities, [such as] planning for retirement, securing a loan, or establishing a banking relationship for a small business.

Additionally, for our students who are new to banking, the personal connection to one of our financial center associates can be very valuable in educating them on how accounts work and how to best leverage our technology to manage their accounts, as well as conduct basic transactions.

And they can leverage that relationship for any future questions they have or needs that come up as their financial priorities change. Many of our clients, especially our students, enjoy the convenience of having our award-winning mobile banking app on their phone to be able to bank on their time with 24-hour access to their accounts.

PBN: Is there still room for improvement with online consumer banking services?

DAILEY: We’re just starting to unlock all the capabilities with the Bank of America Mobile Banking app. We currently offer a number of great features that can help students save, spend, and manage their financial lives. For instance, students are able to use their mobile devices to check balances and activity on all of their Bank of America accounts from anywhere.

In addition, Zelle is great for enabling students to send and receive money from family and friends, no matter where they do their banking. Also, BankAmerideals gives students the ability to find great deals on or off campus and earn cash back into their checking accounts.

If the student finds their debit card is lost or stolen, they are also able to use their mobile device to temporarily lock usage … and unlock it after the card is found. Digital Wallet allows clients to securely store their card information electronically and use an app on their device – such as a mobile phone – to make purchases or transact at ATMs without the need of their physical card.

Our mobile and online banking features spending and budgeting tools to help in managing money and plan for expenses and big purchases, and clients can interact through voice or text with Erica, our virtual financial assistant. As you can see, there is so much that our mobile app delivers for our clients, but we continue to make enhancements based on our clients’ feedback.

PBN: Aside from online services, what other ways do you see consumer banking evolving?

DAILEY: The technology is always evolving, but for many students, the banking relationship still starts with a checking account. When evaluating banking options, some good features to look for include availability of ATMs, waiving monthly maintenance fees and preventing overdraft fees. Bank of America’s Advantage SafeBalance Banking provides these features, which is one of the reasons why Money magazine selected us as the “Best Bank for College Students.”

Additionally, we continue our commitment to financial education to help clients understand all that’s available to help them meet their financial goals and priorities. We invite all our clients to come into one of our local financial centers to get to know our local team and become familiar with the solutions and capabilities we offer at Bank of America.

Scott Blake is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Blake@PBN.com.