FSG pilots high-tech bank branch in Cleveland, Tenn.

Michael Kramer saw banking’s high-tech future on Christmas 2010, when each of his three grown children took out their iPhones to photo and deposit the checks Kramer had given them as stocking stuffers.

“I said, ‘What are you doing?’ This was five years ago,” remembers Kramer, the president and CEO of FSG Bank, Chattanooga’s largest independent bank.

Banking customers’ comfort with technology has only grown since then, Kramer said, which is why FSG Bank’s newest branch at 3200 Keith St. in Cleveland, Tenn., is jam-packed with the latest technology, including two in-lobby teller machines, or next-generation automatic teller machines that can count a stack of cash, dispense $1, $5, $10 and $20 bills and eventually will be programmed for tasks typically reserved for human bankers, such as selling certificates of deposit.

“Our sense now is generally people want to engage with technology. They want the consistency, the speed,” Kramer said, adding, “If you still want to interact with a person, you can.”

Two human tellers, dubbed “universal bankers” by FSG, stand at counters nearby, ready to duck into their offices if a complex transaction requires some sit-down time.