Truist Bank wants to lure tech workers and spur big ideas through a just-opened innovation center in its Charlotte, NC headquarters.
Truist joins a handful of banks that have launched designated office spaces meant to juice creativity, agility, and ambitious projects – though it remains to be seen whether state-of-the-art digs will succeed at attracting top talent used to working from home.
Royal Bank of Canada opened its own innovation hub in Calgary last September (and is currently looking to more than triple its workforce there to 300 by the end of next year), while TD Bank just launched a new tech research center in Philadelphia called Workshop.
Truist chose to put the tech center in its headquarters because it wanted its spirit of creativity and experimentation “to be part of our DNA,” exec Dontá Wilson told American Banker during the center’s construction.
Truist is betting that the hub – which has customer meeting rooms, a virtual reality lab, and a designated call center – will help it design better digital products. Increased effort is warranted: Truist recently ranked last among its peers in customer satisfaction with its mobile app and online banking, according to a JD Power study.