Print Issue: 2017 - November Edition

Nobel Prize validates theory on customer motivations

The Nobel Prize in Economics awarded Oct. 8 to professor Richard H. Thaler for his behavioral economics work on irrational financial decisions confirms the Money Anxiety Theory and its application in banking.

Research in behavioral economics shows that money anxiety is a major factor impacting financial decision-making. The 2013 book, “Money Anxiety,” which I wrote, demonstrates how money anxiety shapes our financial decision making. For example, when money anxiety is elevated during recessions, people tend to shift money from higher yielding bank accounts to much lower yielding bank accounts just to feel that their money is more readily available. This is a phenomenon known as “mattress money.” [Continue]

Finding deposits becomes Wisconsin banker’s specialty

Oregon Community Bank’s management could see economic growth taking hold in the Madison area. A suburb of about 10,000 people 10 miles south of the Wisconsin capital, Oregon may be an unlikely place to spot the early bounce back from the recent recession, but Oregon Community President and CEO Steve Peotter was confident the incoming loans in late 2013 and early 2014 were not outliers. [Continue]

Banker argues for GSE reform

More than nine years after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were first brought into the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, they remain there. Both the ICBA and the ABA addressed the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance about the reform of the two government-sponsored enterprises Wednesday. [Continue]

KSOP expertise makes Minnesota banker indispensable

When a Safeway plant in southwest Minnesota closed nearly four decades ago, Connie Lonneman needed to find a new job. Just a few miles away, First State Bank Southwest, then based in Rushmore, Minn., had an opening. Lonneman began as a do-it-all, working as a teller, secretary and bookkeeper, adding in whatever else needed tending but might not have a specific title. [Continue]

Congressional denial of CFPB’s restriction on arbitration agreements

A Congressional denial of the CFPB’s restriction on arbitration agreements took another step forward late Tuesday night thanks to Vice President Mike Pence casting a tiebreaking vote in the Senate. With Republican Senators Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and John Kennedy (La.) voting with the Democrats, the Senate split 50-50, leaving it to Pence to break the tie on a resolution voiding the CFPB’s rule. [Continue]

Midland States Bancorp catches eyes of investors, community bankers

Midland States Bancorp, Inc., has concluded its purchase of fellow Illinois bank Centrue Financial Corp. That marks the 12th acquisition since 2008 by the Effingham, Ill.-based operator of Midland States Bank. There could be more, as Midland States has fresh SEC permission to sell as much as $165 million of new stock “to support the continued implementation of our organic and acquisitive growth strategies,” said Leon J. Holschbach, president and CEO. [Continue]

Women advised to be proactive to advance in industry

As she wends her way through Illinois calling on banks of many sizes, correspondent banker Marlene Luther, now 66, catalogs the ways the industry has changed for women since she started in banking. In the 1970s, pantyhose and closed-toe shoes were mandated attire and management was homogeneously male. Over time, she saw increasing numbers of women at meetings sponsored by state banking associations, yet many sat doe-eyed and silent. A few still do.

“In some ways the path to leadership for women is easier today, especially at the larger banks that recognize the value of diversity,” said Luther, vice president at Midwest Independent Bank, Jefferson City, Mo., and 2017 chair of the Illinois Bankers Association’s “Women in Banking” Conference, which was conducted in September. “But I still find bank presidents — both men and women — asking, ‘why do we need a Women in Banking conference?’”

This is an easier question to answer after one looks at the gains women have yet to make into C-suite positions in banking and beyond. [Continue]

Strategies on tax reform, credit unions discussed at IBA convention

Leaders of the Iowa Bankers Association articulated the group’s top priority: gaining tax parity with credit unions. David Nelson, CEO of West Bank, West Des Moines, and Kurt Herbrechtsmeyer, president and CEO of First Security Bank & Trust, Charles City, focused on credit union taxation during their respective speeches at the 131st annual IBA convention. The meeting, which attracted nearly 600 bankers, vendors and guests, took place Sept. 17-19 at the Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines. [Continue]

Forest City, Iowa, bank honored

MBT Bank, Forest City, Iowa, has been awarded a 2017 Top Workplaces honor by the Des Moines Register. The Top Workplaces list is based solely on the results of an employee feedback survey. Several aspects of the workplace culture are measured in the survey, including alignment, execution and connection. [Continue]