For institutionsSample · Free

The efficiency ratio workbook.

Model your institution’s automation ceiling with your own FTE count, loaded cost, and a candid range of how many hours per week the average employee spends on work AI can plausibly absorb. Same math we walk through in every Executive Briefing. No email required.

The four inputs

Four numbers, one defensible estimate.

The estimate is only as honest as the inputs. Two minutes with your CFO and HR lead is enough to source all four.

Full-time employees: Total FTE across the institution. Pull from your most recent quarterly Call Report, or your HR system. Include branch and back-office staff; exclude part-time contractors unless they represent a meaningful share of operational hours.
Loaded cost per FTE: Total compensation including benefits, taxes, and overhead — not just base salary. The default of $85,000 is a community- bank-typical loaded figure; replace it with your CFO’s number. The math divides by 2,080 hours/year to derive an hourly rate.
Hours automatable per FTE per week — low: Your conservative estimate of how many hours of repeatable, low-discretion work AI could plausibly absorb. For most community institutions, 1–3 hours/week is defensible without further investigation.
Hours automatable per FTE per week — high: Your aspirational ceiling. Cornerstone Advisors’ 2025 AI Playbook documents 30–50% reduction in alert volumes for BSA/AML, 40–60% reduction in loan processing time. 4–6 hours/week is the upper bound most cohorts converge on.

Sources: FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile · Cornerstone Advisors, AI Playbook for Banks and Credit Unions (2025).

Calculator

Move the sliders. The number is yours.

Full-time employees50

Loaded cost per FTE$85,000

Hours automatable per FTE per week — low2 hrs

Hours automatable per FTE per week — high5 hrs

Estimated annual labor hours recaptured

$357,572

Range: $204,327 – $510,817 · 8,750 hours/year · ~8.4% of payroll

Discuss your number

How to read your result

What the number is — and what it isn’t.

It is the annual dollar value of the staff hours AI could plausibly recapture across your full headcount, given your inputs. Multiply your low and high hour estimates by total FTE, your hourly rate, and 50 working weeks; that is the math.

It isn’t a projected change in your efficiency ratio. The efficiency ratio moves only when those recaptured hours are reinvested or eliminated — not when they are recaptured. The ratio improvement follows from what your team does next, not from the automation itself.

It isn’t guaranteed. The estimate assumes your institution can identify, build, and adopt the automations within a year. That is what a Practitioner cohort and (optionally) a Pilot Advisory engagement are designed to deliver.

It is defensible. Every input is yours. Every assumption is documented. The math is the same simple labor-rate calculation a CFO would run on the back of a napkin — which is exactly why it works in a board meeting.

Next step

Bring your number to an Executive Briefing.

Thirty minutes. We’ll pressure-test your inputs, identify the three departments most likely to deliver the recaptured hours, and recommend whether a Practitioner cohort, a Specialist cohort, or an institution-wide capability program is the right starting point. No pitch.

Book an Executive Briefing