Partnership advances Bankers Helping Bankers’ mission of empowering community banks

Bankers Helping Bankers, an online platform that promotes innovation among community banks, has named Discover^® Financial Services’ PULSE^® debit network its exclusive debit partner. The agreement builds upon PULSE’s longstanding support of community banks and the Independent Bankers Association of Texas (IBAT), which co-founded Bankers Helping Bankers in partnership with FedFis.

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As the exclusive debit partner of Bankers Helping Bankers, PULSE will provide debit expertise, insights and thought leadership to help community financial institutions improve their debit programs, strengthen operations, mitigate fraud risks and engage account holders. Debit is consumers’ most preferred payment method and a vital source of non-interest income for community banks.

“We are pleased to partner with PULSE, a recognized leader in debit with a long track record of supporting community banks,” said IBAT President and CEO Christopher Williston. “PULSE will be a valuable contributor to Bankers Helping Bankers, bringing key payments insights and beneficial content to help community banks strengthen their businesses.”

“PULSE strongly supports the efforts of Bankers Helping Bankers to cultivate and grow a community of bankers that fosters information sharing and sparks innovation,” said Steve Sievert, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Brand Management for PULSE. “Our focus on debit innovation provides a unique and beneficial perspective on how the payments ecosystem is evolving and what community banks must do to thrive.”

Bankers Helping Bankers is an ecosystem of services focused on creating informed and profitable banks by giving them data, information and access to experts. Bankers Helping Bankers has created a roadmap to navigate financial-technology integration within its ecosystem to help community banks thrive and compete into the future. Bankers Helping Bankers also provides an online forum, along with online networking events, through which community bankers share information, expand their knowledge base and build relationships.

FedFis is a data analytics and strategy system that tracks financial, merger and acquisition, and vendor data on U.S. banks and credit unions. FedFis helps community bankers understand which products and services will best pair with their existing technology to drive their desired strategic outcomes.

About Bankers Helping Bankers

Bankers Helping Bankers (BHB) is a bankers-only social platform for collaboration and education. Through data tools and dynamic user groups, BHB provides community bankers with a knowledge base focused on bank technology and emerging Fintech companies, as well as hot topics such as cryptocurrencies, banking-as-a-service, becoming a sponsor bank, and launching a direct digital brand. The BHB ecosystem includes access to capital, executive support with access to experts, a roadmap to navigate financial technology integrations, a direct connection to Fintech sponsor banks and a marketplace of community bank customers. It is the most complete end-to-end ecosystem for community bank-supportive technology companies. The BHB platform is free for bankers, reaching 75% of U.S. banks. For more information, visit: bankershelpingbankers.com.

About PULSE

PULSE is a leader in debit payments, cash access and account transfers, and we deliver exceptional value, choice and convenience to clients across the payments ecosystem. We enable reliable and secure digital money movement for a wide variety of debit card programs by leveraging our PULSE Network, the Discover^® Debit program, an advanced fraud-detection platform and partner-support services. Our commitment to continuous improvement, innovation and prioritizing the unique business needs of our clients empowers payment solutions that meet the evolving demands of consumers. PULSE is a Discover (NYSE: DFS) company and part of the Discover Global Network. For more information, visit PULSEnetwork.com.

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