As a recession looms, customer neglect could kill community banks

By Puja Sharma

• With a US recession increasingly likely, if community banks continue taking their customers for granted, they’ll risk extinction, warns Adam Turmakhan, CEO of TurmaFinTech.
• Turmakhan’s intervention follows reports that the US economy shrank for the first time since 2022, fueling fears of a recession.
• Turmakhan has seen a prevailing belief among community banks that their customer bases will forever remain stable. He believes this “complacency” will only deepen into insolvencies when a recession hits, and bank runs become more likely.
• Turmakhan believes US community banks must refocus on and revisit their customer retention strategies. Failure to look beyond past attitudes could threaten their very survival.

As the US approaches a recession, if community banks continue taking customers for granted, they’ll risk going extinct, warns Adam Turmakhan, CEO of TurmaFinTech.

TurmaFinTech is a Florida-based startup that offers customer data platforms to US community banks and credit unions. The firm helps these institutions manage, analyse and monetise their customer data to fight technological lag and customer churn.  Turmakhan’s intervention follows reports that the US economy contracted for the first time since 2022, further fueling fears of a recession, according to various reports.

At TurmaFinTech, Turmakhan has seen a concerning “complacency” among community banks, many of which believe their customer bases will forever remain stable. Given that an average of 23 banks have failed every year since 2000 , without a strategic refocus on customer retention, he argues US community banks could be vulnerable to increased bank runs and insolvencies as a recession hits.

Turmakhan also argues that technology will be key to their survival. US banks closed 272 brick-and-mortar locations throughout Q1 2025, meaning institutions can no longer rely solely on their ‘in-person’ experiences to ensure customer retention. Tools that can help smaller institutions identify at-risk customers and streamline communications will be key to building customer trust in a low-growth environment.

For him, the time for “complacency” is over – without a refocus on customer retention, community banks could be at risk of extinction as a recession hits.

Adam Turmakhan, CEO at TurmaFinTech, said: “US community banks have become increasingly complacent about their customers. They believe they will be there no matter what, but with a recession now likely, the last thing smaller institutions should do is take their depositors for granted. They’ll simply leave themselves open to bank runs, failures and, at worst, widespread extinction.

“Retention will be the all-important factor in surviving an economic downturn – and to effectively settle customer churn, community banks must invest in technology. Historically, these institutions have taken a less-than-favorable view of the likes of AI, but that must change – especially with brick-and-mortar branches becoming increasingly few and far between.

“Strong, personal customer relationships remain at the core of community banking, but this customer complacency we’re seeing right now is untenable. Without a strategic refocus on retention and an acceptance that data-driven technologies can help banks understand their customers on a deeper level, a recession could be an extinction-level event for many community banks across the US.”