After 30 years as CEO of Frandsen Financial Corp., Rich Hoban refocused his role to grow the company through acquisition. When the Arden Hills, Minn.-based holding company closed on its acquisition of Peoples Bank Midwest, Hayward, Wis., Frandsen leaped across the $2 billion-total-assets threshold. Here Hoban reflects on the company’s acquisition strategy. [Continue]
As it weighed whether to build an electronic payments infrastructure, the Fed received strong encouragement from the community banking industry. [Continue]
Looking ahead with accuracy depends on getting a clear picture of the past. As 2019 closes, it is worth recalling some of the year’s developments in order to see where things may be going, from the economy and pot banking to technology and political leadership. [Continue]
There are banks engaged in newsworthy initiatives all across this country. Maine’s Bangor Savings Bank caught my eye recently, not only because it provides tuition reimbursement, but because it has partnered with Husson University to allow its employees to earn undergraduate credit for work done at the bank. [Continue]
Kathleen Kraninger, the Trump-selected director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is emerging as a very intriguing public official. Criticized early on as inexperienced, Kraninger has turned out to be refreshingly selfless. Confirmed by the Senate last December on a straight-line party vote, Kraninger is attempting to take partisan politics out of the CFPB leadership job. [Continue]
ClickSwitch is a Minneapolis-based fintech with a simple goal: Make it easier for people to switch banks. The company started with a focus on moving automatic payments between banks but soon learned the key was to move direct deposit information. [Continue]
Demographic trends are reshaping the U.S. labor force, leading economists and policymakers to rethink the key macroeconomic parameters that drive decision making, and reassess their views about the economy’s longer-run growth potential. Like melting glaciers, changes in global demographics are difficult to see in the near term, but over time they will reshape the landscape. [Continue]
This will be a year to remember as weather patterns went from wet, to dry, to wet again in many parts of the country. Trade negotiations improved, deteriorated, improved and deteriorated again. Yet, notwithstanding the rollercoaster ride, the financial conditions of agriculture changed little due to government payments. [Continue]
Just about every banker who has had to make a hire in the past year knows how daunting the task has been. From the top of the organizational chart to the bottom, finding a skilled worker to fill an open position is hard — and it might get worse. [Continue]
Workers are looking for advancement opportunities, a way to see that their efforts are making a difference in peoples’ lives, and a culture that fosters collegiality, growth and innovation. [Continue]