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]
Dan Brown, author of the bestseller “The DaVinci Code,” states that “History is always written by the winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated and the winner writes the history books — books that glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe. As Napoleon once said, ‘What is history, but a fable agreed upon?’” [Continue]
It used to be that the banking regulatory community gave you a pass on having a formalized and documented ERM program within your organization, but the tide, as they say, has turned. [Continue]
Bankers often think of strategic planning in the fall, sometimes in conjunction with the annual budgeting process, but I want to encourage you to think about strategic planning now. If you want to conduct strategic planning successfully this fall, you really need to begin preparing now. [Continue]
Banks these days offer some payment transactions in real time, others in simulated real time, and still others in a day or two. But the pressure is on. In a culture where people “want it now,” faster payments is a resolute rallying cry for most financial services professionals. [Continue]
For a long time, it seemed as if the deck was stacked against community banks. But now, some of that imbalance has shifted in favor of community banks. In May 2018, President Trump signed into law the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. One of many bank-friendly aspects of the new law is a change in treatment of most reciprocal deposits. [Continue]
Making sure you have the best technology solutions in place for your community bank is tough enough. Making a change in order to save your bank money or to obtain better service should be an option open to every bank. For this reason, you want to make sure you never accept a vendor contract which imposes a large “deconversion fee” on your bank. [Continue]
What makes a strong Enterprise Risk Management program? How do you know you’re asking the right questions? You develop strong risk assessments. [Continue]
The 2018 World Series starts tomorrow. What do Major League Baseball and the banking industry have in common? Data analytics. Here’s what bankers can learn from America’s pastime. [Continue]
For many community banks, deposits are a big issue. Statistics show that deposits are coming into the banking system, but most customers are stashing their cash with the bigs. [Continue]