With apps and growing demand for mobile payment options gradually pushing cash aside, banks face a conundrum on how to adjust to an ever-changing, competitive marketplace. It comes down to technology, what options the bank goes with, how effectively banks incorporate that into their culture, and how much they invest in it. [Continue]
Now is the time for the banking industry to unite behind an effort to level the playing field with credit unions. Consider what’s going on around the industry, and it is possible to perceive a “perfect storm” of factors that make now the right time. [Continue]
The National Retail Federation has predicted a strong holiday shopping season. In its October survey, consumers said they expected to spend an average of $1,047, up 4 percent from what they had planned to spend last year. It’s the 10th consecutive year of increased consumer holiday spending. [Continue]
Community bankers suddenly have a lot of tech to choose from when it comes to lending platforms. We talked to Snehal Fulzele, senior vice president and general manager for Cloud Lending, a Q2 company based in Austin, Texas, about what makes its digital lending platform a fit for community banks, and got his take on cybersecurity challenges. [Continue]
It’s pretty hard to out-hustle Mitch Cook. The Minnesota-based senior regional president for Iowa City-based MidWestOne bank once worked 53 days in a row without a day off. At the time, the native Michigander was working for his parents, who owned a multi-million dollar wholesale distributor of hardware and tools. [Continue]
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]
“I’m always amazed — a lot of kids come out of college, and they don’t understand balance sheets, income statements, cash flows, sensitivity analyses like they should, and it’s like, you’re going to run a business that depends on that stuff.” That’s Nate Franzén, president, agri-business division, at First Dakota National Bank in Yankton, S.D. [Continue]
There’s a transition underway at the Bloomington, Minn.-based United Bankers’ Bank, and the person at the center of it is leveraging his humble upbringing, industry knowledge, people skills and competitive nature to make it successful. [Continue]
Go to watch the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons or MLS’s Atlanta United FC play a game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and be prepared to use a credit or debit card or your phone to pay for everything. Whether you want a burger or a jersey, your cash is useless. [Continue]