In 2009, Sunrise Banks became a Certified B Corp, one of only a handful of financial institutions across the country to do so. The bank also became a legal Minnesota benefit corporation in 2015, shortly after the state made that designation available. [Continue]
Tim Keane and W. Kent Lorenz joined the board of First Business Bank, Milwaukee. They previously served on the board of First Business Bank-Milwaukee, which dissolved June 1 when its holding company, First Business Financial Services, Inc., merged its three bank charters into one. [Continue]
A curious bit of news came across the banking wires recently. Burger King in Russia had launched its own currency: WhopperCoin. Built on the same blockchain technology as bitcoin, such homebrewed money is known generically as cryptocurrency. While bitcoin has remained something of a curiosity to bankers, personalized currencies, particularly in commercial enterprises, are already being developed and tested by the biggest players in the market. [Continue]
I am hoping there is still a place for human initiative in banking. I understand banking is defined by the numbers: ROE, ROA, NIM, net income and much more, but generally I have found over the years it is the people behind those numbers who make the industry something special. [Continue]
Filing checks in the backroom at Citizens National Bank in Cheboygan, Mich., was the first job Susan Eno ever had. And soon, after 46 years, she will retire as bank president and CEO from Citizens National having only ever received a paycheck from that single employer. [Continue]
Every banker has heard more about cybersecurity in the last year than most of us care to hear in a lifetime. How much of what we hear is hype? And if it’s really that bad out there, how is a community banker supposed to keep up with it? [Continue]
– Geoff Rand has joined First National Bank and Trust Company of Beloit, Wis., as vice president and retail market manager. Rand is responsible for FNBT’s branches in Rock County, including the four branches in Beloit as well as the Clinton and Janesville offices. Rand comes to FNBT with 25 years of banking experience, most recently at BMO Harris Bank in Janesville, Wis., where he was branch manager and, earlier, group market manager. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Rand has a bachelor of business administration degree with an emphasis in finance. [Continue]
Illinois community banking association legend comes to retirement 43 years after picking up cause [Continue]
Rep. Maxine Waters, ranking minority member of the House Financial Services Committee, has written FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg, requesting his agency conduct a public hearing to consider SoFi’s application for deposit insurance on the industrial bank it is chartering in Utah.
SoFi is Social Finance, the six-year-old company that has made a name for itself in the online lending space focusing on student debt. More recently it has begun offering mortgages and personal loans. In June, SoFi submitted the application with the FDIC; Rep. Waters, a Democrat from California, sent her letter to Gruenberg on Aug. 25. [Continue]
The Iowa Finance Authority has recognized top lenders from throughout the state for their efforts in advancing affordable homeownership through IFA’s programs in 2016, and Iowa Bankers Mortgage Corporation (IBMC) was named the top lender. [Continue]