Trump & Trade: Global agreements concern farmers
Amid trade talk, farmers, ranchers and ag lenders ready for uncertainty. [Continue]
A community bank director’s role: Lessons learned
In the past two years we’ve experienced the sale of four community banks where we served as directors and investors. Our experience as community bank investors, executives and directors was enriched as each bank engaged in the process.
So what did we learn?
First, strategic shareholder value updates should be on every holding company board’s agenda. The board is directly responsible for preserving, protecting and defending the shareholders’ interest in your bank’s capital account. Most directors are not focused on banking on a daily basis; we need to be reminded regularly of community banking trends and valuations. [Continue]
It’s not too late for community banks to disrupt the future
The Money 20/20 conference prides itself in bringing together companies of all sizes and backgrounds, from multi-billion dollar financial institutions to fintech startups working out of their garage, and everyone in between. As a first-time attendee at the world’s largest and most well-known payments conference, I spoke with seasoned vets on what I could expect. “Wear comfortable shoes” and “get ready to be overwhelmed” were the pieces of wisdom bestowed upon me. Comfortable shoes turned out to be a hot tip as I navigated through the 11,000 attendees, 4,000 minutes of content and a 1.8 million-square-foot exhibit hall filled to the brim. By the end of the four-day conference, my pedometer logged me as having walked almost 30 miles. [Continue]
Regtech moves swiftly to the cloud
Financial technology research and advisory company Celent published a report in October titled “Cloud-Enabled Governance, Risk, and Compliance Solutions.” Written by research directors Neil Katkov and Cubillas Ding, the report is based on the authors’ study, sponsored by Amazon Web Services, which examined the potential for GRC in the ever increasing number of services moving to the cloud.
The report contends GRC in financial services is at a crossroads. Legacy systems in this arena are failing commercial banks that have moved to more cutting edge solutions for other operations. And like many of those, the services have become cloud based. [Continue]
A post-crisis view: Don’t let prosperity cause complacency
Similar to 2005 when I started at the FDIC, the U.S. economy is experiencing a period of prosperity. Growth in real GDP has averaged 2.2 percent in this expansion, and was right around 3 percent in the second and third quarters of 2017. Our stock market has reached new highs and real estate prices have been rising. Global economic growth appears to be picking up, with the IMF raising its growth forecasts for Japan, China and Europe. [Continue]
Straight Talk: A blurring of the lines
How many times have you heard a politician or regulator say they use data to make decisions? That sounds great until you look a little deeper. Three trendy approaches to data analysis — disparate impact theory, proxy data and behavioral economics — completely destroy the credibility of any government official who claims to use data … Read more
Straight Talk – Disparate Impact
The Supreme Court has set Dec. 4 as the date to hear arguments in the disparate impact case, Mount Holly v. Mt. Holly Gardens Citizens in Action. It is very important that the parties do not settle before the court rules in this case. [Continue]