Just like Chicken Little, the bond market was recently hit on the head with an acorn, and the yield curve screamed “recession.” The yield curve temporarily inverted, and the three-month Treasury yield was higher than the 10-year yield. This created a bit of hysteria, because an inverted yield curve has predicted the last seven recessions since 1970 with only one head fake. [Continue]
Community banking industry experts weigh in on the art of negotiating and its worth to both up-and-coming and veteran bankers. They offer insight into the key areas of negotiating and how to hone your chops in this key skill. One tip? Queue up episodes of Shark Tank. [Continue]
Excellent leaders possess strong negotiation skills. Yet the art of negotiating successfully is rare these days. As many organizations transition to their next generation of leaders, soft skills training, which includes negotiation skills, seem to be forgotten. I consider negotiation skills to be a key trait for up-and-coming leaders to succeed in the marketplace. [Continue]
LenderClose, a fintech startup based in Des Moines, Iowa, is developing new ways for banks to close deals, particularly in the mortgage market. BankBeat talked to its CEO Omar Jordan about the young company’s take on crossing the finish line. [Continue]
It’s a big deal when any small business lands a big customer. Business owners dream of landing a Fortune 500 customer that will assure sales and boost profits. But of course, that’s not the end of the challenge. No small business owner wants to become dependent upon one big customer, so the ultimate goal is to land several big customers. [Continue]
An entrepreneur is someone who surveys the landscape, looks for things that could be improved, and acts toward that improvement. Entrepreneurship, at its essence, is problem-solving. Sometimes an entrepreneur will start a company to solve that problem, and if the company is successful, that entrepreneur becomes famous. [Continue]
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. “Why won’t they just finish the project?” I am sure “they,” those awful nameless faceless creatures, are lurking at your institution as well. How do we flush them out? How did they infiltrate our institution in the first place? [Continue]
Invest Sou Sou is a company leveraging tech to create and maintain “lending circles.” This is something of a new twist on an old concept of community-based lending. BankBeat spoke with the company’s co-founder and CEO, Fonta Gilliam, about her career and what lending circles can accomplish. [Continue]
There’s a proverb that goes: A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. I connect this idea to community banking, where each day, bankers make investments in the form of loans, which is really about planting the seeds (and seedlings) for economic growth. [Continue]
In May, the House Financial Services Committee approved the COUNTER Act to modernize and reform the Bank Secrecy Act. The bipartisan bill (H.R. 2514) sets out to curb money laundering and illicit financial activities. It awaits a vote on the House floor. [Continue]