Bank Customer Experience Podcast

How banks, credit unions can reduce efficiency ratios

Many FIs have a very high efficiency ratio, making it much harder to make money. Cook Solutions Group provides insights in this episode of the Bank Customer Experience podcast on how to reduce these ratios.

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May 22, 2026

How many FIs have a relatively high efficiency ratio? In other words, how much do they have to spend to make $1? Scott Fieber, chief strategy officer, said he was shocked to find out that "over 12 % of all institutions in the United States are over 90%." This means that these FIs had to spend more than 90 cents to make $1.

Fieber and Scott Smith, chief strategy officer at Cook Solutions Group, joined Bradley Cooper, editor of ATM Marketplace, to discuss this issue and how banks can reduce their ratios in this episode of the Bank Customer Experience Podcast.

Fieber and Smith emphasized the importance of starting small with this issue, as even reducing ratios by 2% could make a big difference to one's bottom line. That money saved can then be used for strategic initiatives.

"Instead of spending that money on inefficient practices and doubling down on bad purchases and bad protocols, now we've got some money. Let's free it up to do the fun stuff," Fieber said.

One way to improve this ratio, according to Smith and Fieber, is to take a look at one's vendor relationships and ask basic questions such as:

• Are we experiencing vendor creep?
• Are multiple departments using different vendors, where we could use one?
• Is there a vendor we could partner with to handle multiple aspects of our business?

When asked how FIs can begin addressing efficiency ratios, Fieber pointed to hosting a strategic workshop where banks can gain some "nuggets" that could start some ideas.

"Why is a strategic workshop so important? It's important for the FI individually, but it's also important for the FI to involve their partners so that they understand the strategic layout of what their partners are doing too. Hey, what's on your roadmap? Does it align with ours? I think those are all conversations that sometimes get overlooked that are very, very valuable," Smith said.

Cook Solutions Group created a guide calledA Strategic Guide for Banking Executives: 10 Questions for Banking Executives, which FIs can use during these workshops to jumpstart conversation.

Fieber said the guide can "at least get you started if you're kind of stuck on a home plate, not sure where to go."

Listen to the entire conversation above. Clickhere to download Cook Solutions Group's free guide.

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