Technology

Why Bank Remediation Falls Short When Institutions Treat Findings in Isolation

Published

1 hour ago

August 3, 2026

As the OCC continues to issue and terminate bank enforcement actions, FFERM founder and CEO Dr. Jeffrey L. Edwards says institutions must look beyond closing individual findings and identify the interconnected risk failures that allowed them to develop.

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Aug. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — A consent order can require a bank to correct identified deficiencies. Compliance with the order, however, does not necessarily mean the institution understands the governance, control, or risk-management weaknesses that allowed the problem to develop. Dr. Jeffrey L. Edwards, founder of FFERM Technologies, a financial risk intelligence company, warns that banks under enforcement pressure can mistake completion of required remediation for correction of the underlying risk system.

“Banks often resolve this issue from a short-term perspective so they can get the enforcement action lifted,” Dr. Edwards said. “They address what regulators identified, but not the root of the problem. That means they are treating the symptom, not the cause.”

Enforcement Identifies the Issue, Not Always the Cause
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) says it uses enforcement actions to require bank boards and management to correct deficient practices or violations. Its May actions included a consent order against Community Federal Savings Bank for Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering deficiencies and violations. In July, the OCC announced a cease-and-desist order against United Texas Bank and the termination of four prior actions.

For Dr. Edwards, enforcement identifies what must be corrected. The bank’s risk program must also determine why the problem developed, what other areas may be affected, and whether the same weakness is emerging elsewhere.

A cited deficiency can be connected to broader weaknesses in governance, data, controls, escalation, or board reporting. Correcting the finding may satisfy an immediate regulatory requirement while leaving the institution without a clear understanding of how exposures interact across the organization or where controls are failing.

Operational failures rarely remain isolated. A breakdown involving people, processes, or systems can trigger a chain reaction, creating financial exposure before eventually becoming a regulatory issue. Viewed individually, each risk may appear manageable. Viewed together, they may expose interconnected weaknesses across the organization.

“Bank boards should begin with one question: ‘Why did it happen?'” Dr. Edwards said. “It sounds simple, but people answer it quickly because they think they know. Without evidence, the answer may be opinion rather than fact.”

Static Reports Do Not Explain Risk Behavior
Reports are necessary during remediation, but most capture a single point in time. They can document progress against a finding without showing how the underlying risk is changing, compounding with other risks, or migrating into another part of the institution.

“Reports give you only what you give them,” Dr. Edwards said. “A report is a flat, single-purpose document. It can support a decision, but intelligence provides the information and framework leaders need to make decisions as conditions change.”

Dr. Edwards argues remediation priorities should be based on evidence linking the finding to relevant processes, controls, owners, data, and downstream effects, not on the volume of documentation produced.

Traditional scoring may calculate likelihood and severity without showing which weakness should be addressed first. Dr. Edwards says remediation teams must be able to distinguish the visible consequence from the control failure, creating the broader exposure. Otherwise, the institution may complete remediation tasks without fixing the source of the risk.

Community Banks Need Proportionate, Usable Risk Intelligence
Community and regional banks do not face identical supervisory expectations in every area, but they are still responsible for correcting violations and unsafe or unsound practices. They often must do so with smaller risk teams, less specialized infrastructure, and more limited consulting budgets than larger institutions.

“Small banks do not always have the resources to buy a major enterprise platform or bring in a large consulting firm,” Dr. Edwards said. “But they still need to understand root cause, prioritize remediation, and see how risk is behaving across the institution.”

From Checklist Remediation to Risk Intelligence
FFERM Technologies developed a patent-pending Four-Factor Enterprise Risk Management methodology that evaluates Compounding, Likelihood, Severity, and Predictability. By adding Compounding and Predictability to traditional likelihood and severity scoring, the methodology is designed to help institutions assess risks as interconnected and evolving rather than isolated and static.

During enforcement remediation, the cited finding is rarely the only issue that matters. Banks must determine whether the issue is isolated, whether similar failures exist elsewhere, and which corrective action reaches the source of the problem first.

“Compounding and predictability help banks get closer to the root cause by showing how risk spreads and when it may emerge,” Dr. Edwards said. “The focus is not only the calculation. It is the behavior of the risk and what the institution can do about it.”

About FFERM Technologies

FFERM Technologies is a financial risk intelligence company founded by Dr. Jeffrey L. Edwards, a 30+ year financial services and risk executive. The company developed a patent-pending Four-Factor Enterprise Risk Management methodology that expands beyond traditional likelihood-and-severity scoring to include Compounding and Predictability. FFERM helps financial institutions identify, quantify and prioritize interconnected, systemic risks that traditional models can miss, transforming risk management from a static compliance function into dynamic, forward-looking intelligence. FFERM’s platform is designed for regulated financial institutions, including banks, credit unions, insurers, RIAs and broker/dealers. For more information, visit ffermtech.com.

References

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. (2026). 2026 risk review. fdic.gov/analysis/2026-risk-reviewOffice of the Comptroller of the Currency. (n.d.). Enforcement actions. occ.gov/topics/laws-and-regulations/enforcement-actions/index-enforcement-actions.htmlOffice of the Comptroller of the Currency. (2026, May 21). OCC announces enforcement actions for May 2026. occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2026/nr-occ-2026-40.htmlOffice of the Comptroller of the Currency. (2026, July 16). OCC announces enforcement actions for July 2026. occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2026/nr-occ-2026-59.html

Media Inquiries:
Karla Jo Helms
JOTO PR™
727-777-4629
Jotopr.com

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SOURCE FFERM Technologies

Technology

Americans Are Choosing Land Over Traditional Real Estate

Published

29 minutes ago

August 3, 2026

OffersTree, a real estate technology company and nationwide land marketplace, explains how changing investment priorities, population growth, digital marketplaces and renewable energy expansion are influencing how Americans evaluate vacant land.

BEAR, Del., Aug. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Americans are taking a fresh look at real estate investment. While single-family homes and rental real estate continue to play an important role in many investment portfolios, vacant land is attracting interest from buyers seeking flexibility, fewer ongoing maintenance responsibilities and opportunities tied to long-term growth.

Vacant land offers a different ownership experience from traditional developed real estate.

OffersTree recently expanded its educational resources to help buyers and landowners better understand changing land market trends, evaluate potential uses and make informed decisions when buying or selling vacant land.

To learn more about emerging investment markets, read the full article, “Best States to Buy Land for Investment” on the Offers Tree website.

The shift toward land reflects several factors shaping the broader real estate market. Population growth in emerging regions, infrastructure investment, changing lifestyle preferences and expanding renewable energy projects are influencing where buyers look for opportunities.

Unlike rental real estate, vacant land generally does not involve tenant management or ongoing building maintenance. Depending on its location, zoning and other characteristics, land may also provide flexibility for residential development, agricultural activities, recreation, long-term investment or other potential uses.

“Today’s buyers are looking beyond what land is being used for right now and asking what opportunities it could provide in the future,” said AnuSavi Tara, founder and CEO of OffersTree. “Location remains important, but buyers are also paying closer attention to zoning, infrastructure, legal access and long-term usability before making a decision.”

Why Land Is Becoming More Attractive

Vacant land offers a different ownership experience from traditional developed real estate. Rental homes may require tenant management, repairs, insurance coordination and ongoing building maintenance. Vacant land generally has fewer day-to-day operational requirements, although owners may still be responsible for taxes, insurance, assessments and land maintenance depending on the location.

Flexibility is another factor attracting buyers. Depending on zoning regulations and local requirements, vacant land may be considered for several potential uses, including:

Residential development.Agricultural activities.Recreational use.Long-term investment.Solar farming.Battery storage facilities.Wind energy projects.

Renewable energy development has added another dimension to the way some buyers evaluate land. In states such as California and Texas, certain land may attract interest for solar, battery storage or wind energy projects when factors such as acreage, location, transmission access and local regulations align with project requirements.

“Land should not be viewed as a one-size-fits-all investment,” Tara said. “A vacant lot near an expanding community may have a very different long-term opportunity than rural acreage suitable for agriculture or renewable energy. Understanding the highest and best potential use is becoming an increasingly important part of the evaluation process.”

Population Growth and Infrastructure Are Influencing Demand

Population shifts continue to shape land demand across the United States. As communities expand and infrastructure reaches new areas, buyers are increasingly researching vacant land located outside established metropolitan centers.

States including Texas, Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, California, Colorado and New Mexico continue to attract interest from buyers exploring residential, recreational and investment land opportunities.

Transportation improvements, new community development and business expansion can influence how buyers evaluate surrounding land. However, future appreciation is never guaranteed, and buyers should consider local market conditions, zoning restrictions and planned development before purchasing.

For some investors, vacant land is becoming a complementary part of a diversified real estate strategy. Rental real estate may provide potential income and tax benefits such as depreciation, while land may offer a different combination of potential appreciation, flexibility and lower operational involvement.

Digital Marketplaces Are Changing the Land Buying Experience

Technology is making it easier for buyers to discover and compare vacant land across different regions.

Traditionally, buyers often relied on local networks or real estate professionals to identify opportunities. Digital land marketplaces now allow users to research land across state lines while reviewing information about acreage, location, zoning, legal access, utilities and potential uses.

Offers Tree, a nationwide land marketplace, provides buyers with access to land listings while giving landowners and Realtors an online platform to increase exposure for available land.

The marketplace allows users to:

Browse vacant land opportunities across U.S. markets.Review structured information about available land.Compare opportunities across different locations.Submit offers and negotiate with sellers.Explore cash offer opportunities from land investors where available.List land for broader market exposure.

“Technology is giving both buyers and sellers access to information that was traditionally fragmented across different sources,” Tara said. “Our goal at OffersTree is to create a more transparent marketplace where buyers can discover opportunities and landowners or Realtors can list land, evaluate market interest and choose a path that aligns with their goals.”

Key Trends Influencing Land Buyers

Several broader trends continue to shape how buyers evaluate vacant land:

Population migration into growing regions.Infrastructure expansion creating new development corridors.Continued investment in renewable energy projects.Increased interest in portfolio diversification.Greater awareness of zoning and potential land uses.Growing use of digital marketplaces to research and buy land online.

Together, these factors are expanding the role vacant land can play in long-term investment planning. At the same time, successful land investment continues to depend heavily on due diligence, location, market demand and the buyer’s intended use.

A More Informed Approach to Land Investment

As interest in vacant land grows, buyers are becoming more analytical about their decisions. Zoning, legal access, utilities, environmental considerations and future infrastructure plans can all influence whether a particular parcel aligns with a buyer’s goals.

Rather than viewing land as a replacement for traditional real estate, many investors may consider it another option within a broader investment strategy. The right approach depends on financial objectives, risk tolerance, intended use and local market conditions.

Digital marketplaces are supporting this shift by making land opportunities easier to discover while providing sellers with additional ways to reach potential buyers.

Buyers and landowners interested in comparing different selling approaches can also read “Should You List Your Land or Accept a Cash Offer?” on the OffersTree website.

About OffersTree

OffersTree is a minority women-owned real estate technology company and nationwide land marketplace focused on simplifying how buyers and landowners connect across the United States. The platform helps landowners explore multiple ways to sell vacant land while providing buyers with access to residential, recreational, investment and undeveloped land opportunities. By combining technology, structured listings and marketplace transparency, OffersTree supports informed decision-making throughout modern land transactions.

AnuSavi Tara
Founder and CEO, OffersTree
Phone: 352-763-3377 (352-7OFFERS)
Email: Info@offerstree.com

Website: www.offerstree.com

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SOURCE GT Xchange LLC dba Offerstree

Technology

DriveCentric Introduces Service Engagement Hub, the Industry’s Modern CRM Built for Fixed Operations, Empowering Service Advisors and Service BDC Teams.

Published

29 minutes ago

August 3, 2026

One Customer. One Platform. Every Department. DriveCentric delivers a unified engagement platform for Sales, Service, and F&I to grow retention, loyalty, and lifetime customer value.

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — DriveCentric, the dealer industry’s leading AI Engagement Platform, introduced Service Engagement Hub, the industry’s first modern CRM purpose-built for Fixed Operations, empowering Service Advisors and Service BDC teams with a modern customer engagement and AI platform.

“We’re proud to introduce a modern, purpose-built CRM and engagement platform for Fixed Operations that connects sales and service through one customer record. For decades, CRM technology has transformed how dealerships communicate customers in Sales and Marketing, yet Service, the department responsible for the majority of customer interactions throughout the ownership lifecycle, has been left without a true customer engagement platform,” said Matt Leone, CEO of DriveCentric. “At DriveCentric, we’ve always believed that when you focus on the customer, prioritize long-term relationships over one-time transactions, and create meaningful engagement at every touchpoint, dealerships can earn greater trust, increase retention, strengthen loyalty, and ultimately maximize customer lifetime value. That’s exactly what the Service Engagement Hub was built to do.”

For decades, service teams have managed customer communication with disconnected tools. Fixed Operations has never lacked ways to send a text or an email. What has been missing is engagement: knowing why a customer needs attention, surfacing that opportunity to the right person with context, and tracking whether anything happened. The Service Engagement Hub replaces that with a single, unified experience built for how Service Advisors and Service BDC teams manage opportunities.

Built natively inside DriveCentric, the Service Engagement Hub gives service teams one place to manage opportunities, follow up on declined services, re-engage inactive customers, and grow retention and loyalty. Every capability dealers rely on in sales now works in service too: text, chat, and click-to-call, built-in video, campaigns, reporting, and native AI agents, all on one customer record across the full ownership lifecycle.

“We built the Service Engagement Hub the way we build everything at DriveCentric: natively and enterprise-grade, and in direct response to what our dealer-partners asked for,” said Michael Affronti, Chief Product and Business Officer at DriveCentric. “Because every capability and every AI agent runs on one platform and one data foundation, we could build something designed around the engagement needs of Fixed Operations – different workflows, different pressures, different customer relationships, in a way that no other system can.”

Service teams work their opportunities in the Hub, while sales sees service history and active visits on the same customer card. And that card runs on DriveCentric’s unified customer identity, so everyone in the store shares one view of the customer, their lifetime value, and the next best and compliant way to engage them.

“This is the first real Service CRM purpose-built for Fixed Operations that our industry has ever had, and we’re excited to be helping shape it alongside DriveCentric,” said Tom Moore, COO of Morgan Auto Group. “For the first time, our Service Advisors can work from the same customer record, giving us a unified view of every customer throughout the entire ownership lifecycle. By combining centralized customer data with intelligent AI-powered engagement, we’re creating better experiences for our customers while giving our teams greater visibility, accountability, and opportunities to strengthen retention, loyalty, and long-term growth for Morgan Auto Group.”

The Service Engagement Hub ships with a new, native Service AI Agent that augments and automates the nurture of opportunities into Scheduled ROs, prospects new RO opportunities, follows up on declined repair orders, and runs automated retention and loyalty campaigns. Across the industry, dealerships fielded an estimated 53 million inbound service calls last year, with roughly 19 million going unanswered or unresolved and only about 4 million ultimately converting into booked appointments, highlighting how much revenue and relationship-building gets lost anywhere follow-through breaks down, from the first ring to the service bay.

“We partnered with DriveCentric because they figured out what most companies can’t. When using their new platform, Service Engagement Hub with the latest AI technology it gives our Fixed Operations Team the best and most efficient way to communicate with our customers from beginning to end which ultimately provides a very high-level experience for our customers. This in turn produces high level engagement, increases customer satisfaction, and builds customer retention and loyalty. If you want to predict the future for Customer engagement in Fixed Operation, you can create it by partnering with DriveCentric,” said Jim Sabino Fixed Ops Director at All American Ford.

As dealerships fight technology sprawl and vendor fatigue, the Service Engagement Hub reinforces a simple idea: dealers should not have to buy, integrate, and pay for another disconnected engagement tool. Everything runs on the platform they already have, with no new vendors, leveraging the secure and certified integrations DriveCentric already maintains for you. This includes our industry-leading enterprise security certifications like ISO/IEC 42001 Certification for AI governance.

“A dealership’s most valuable inventory isn’t its vehicles or its parts, it’s time,” said Tully Williams, Fixed Operations Director, The Niello Company. “Every day begins with a fixed number of technician hours. If those hours go unsold, they’re gone forever. You can’t warehouse them, reorder them, or recover them tomorrow. The dealerships that outperform their competition aren’t simply selling repairs, they’re maximizing every available technician hour. For the first time, our Fixed Operations teams and Service BDC have the modern engagement platform our industry has been missing. We can engage the right customer with the right message at the right time because we’re in the repeat and referral business. Most importantly, it enables us to treat every customer as one relationship, not separate Sales and Service experiences, which ultimately strengthens retention, builds loyalty, and delivers the level of customer experience our guests expect from the Niello Company.”

“This is a milestone not just for DriveCentric but for the entire industry. Dealers have been asking for a modern CRM purpose-built for Fixed Operations, and we’re incredibly proud to deliver it. We’d also like to thank pioneering partners like Morgan Auto Group, All American Ford, and The Niello Company, whose trust, collaboration, and willingness to shape this product have been critical to its success. Their guidance throughout has been invaluable, and together we’re redefining what customer engagement in Fixed Operations should look like for the next generation of dealerships,” said Leone.

The Service Engagement Hub opened for full Early Access to our existing customers on August 3rd, with general availability for new customers on September 1st. Dealers can join the Early Access list and see the Service Engagement Hub in action now at https://drivecentric.com/products/service-engagement-hub.

About DriveCentric

DriveCentric is the automotive industry’s leading AI Engagement Platform, helping dealerships engage customers across the entire ownership lifecycle through native AI, unified customer data, and modern communications, all in a single platform. By building AI natively rather than bolting it on, DriveCentric helps dealerships create better customer experiences, work more efficiently, and drive measurable results. DriveCentric is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Learn more at www.drivecentric.com.

Media Contact
Audrey Fusz
DriveCentric, LLC
afusz@drivecentric.com
12900 Maurer Industrial Dr.
St. Louis, MO 63127

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SOURCE DriveCentric

Technology

DataGroomr Expands Customer Data Verification

Published

29 minutes ago

August 3, 2026

PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — DataGroomr today announced expanded customer data verification capabilities for its Salesforce data quality platform on Salesforce AgentExchange, Salesforce’s marketplace for the agentic era that brings together the rich ecosystems of AppExchange, Slack, and Agentforce into one experience. The new capabilities make customer data verification smarter and more efficient, helping organizations build trusted customer data across Salesforce and the connected applications and workflows that depend on it.

DataGroomr is currently available on AgentExchange at
https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000FMagqUAD

As organizations increasingly rely on AI, automation, and digital customer engagement, trusted customer data has become a critical business requirement. Yet customer information is constantly changing as employees change jobs, phone numbers are reassigned, companies update their websites, and contact information becomes outdated. Without continuous verification, organizations risk making decisions, engaging customers, and powering AI with inaccurate information.

DataGroomr helps organizations build trusted customer data through AI-powered deduplication, cleansing, enrichment, verification, monitoring, and automation. The expanded verification capabilities strengthen that foundation by helping organizations continuously validate customer information while reducing the effort and cost of maintaining accurate Salesforce data.

DataGroomr’s expanded verification capabilities include:

Email Verification with Business Email Identification: Automatically distinguish business and personal email addresses, learn domain-specific email patterns to improve verification accuracy, and synchronize email type back to Salesforce.Website Verification with Redirect Detection: Automatically detect website redirects and recommend updated URLs to help maintain accurate company records.Phone Verification with Line Type Identification: Automatically identify whether verified phone numbers are mobile, landline, or VoIP to help improve sales outreach and customer communications.Verification API for Connected Workflows: Extend DataGroomr verification beyond Salesforce by integrating verification into external applications, business processes, and AI-powered workflows.More Efficient Verification: Reuse previous verification results, eliminate duplicate credit consumption when validating the same value multiple times, and expose richer verification details through the Verification API.Improved Global Verification: Increase international verification accuracy by intelligently inferring missing country codes for phone numbers when country information is unavailable.

Comments on the News
“Every customer interaction starts with trusted customer data,” said Steve Pogrebivsky, CEO and Co-Founder of DataGroomr. “Our latest verification enhancements make it easier to keep customer information accurate and current, helping sales teams reach the right people, marketers improve campaign performance, and AI deliver more reliable results.”

“Customer data verification plays an important role in helping organizations maintain trusted Salesforce data, and DataGroomr’s AgentExchange solution helps customers strengthen that foundation,” said Tyler Carlson, SVP and Head of Product, AgentExchange and Ecosystem at Salesforce.”

Salesforce AgentExchange makes it easy for customers to discover, buy, activate, and manage trusted solutions across Salesforce and Slack. Today, customers can discover more than 14,000 vetted apps, agents, sub-agents, tools, integrations, and experts that help customers solve their unique business challenges faster.

Follow Salesforce on LinkedIn and X Follow DataGroomr on LinkedIn and X

Salesforce, AgentExchange, AppExchange and others are among the trademarks of Salesforce, Inc.

About DataGroomr
DataGroomr helps organizations build trusted customer data on Salesforce. Its AI-powered data quality platform combines deduplication, verification, enrichment, cleansing, monitoring, data importing, and intelligent automation to ensure customer information remains accurate, complete, and ready for sales, marketing, customer service, analytics, and AI. Thousands of Salesforce professionals rely on DataGroomr to improve CRM data quality while reducing the manual effort required to keep customer data trusted over time.

Media Contact:
Steve Pogrebivsky
DataGroomr
+1 215 253 5600
420023@email4pr.com

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SOURCE DataGroomr