Iowa action likely to slow CU-bank deals

Days after the Colorado State Banking Board became the first regulator to prevent a credit union from buying a bank, First American Bank in Fort Dodge, Iowa, filed an application with the Iowa Division of Banking to cease operations and sell its assets/liabilities to GreenState Credit Union. [Continue]

Social sharing helps you connect to the community

Consumers gravitate toward community banks in part because they enjoy supporting locally owned businesses. That relationship should be reciprocal — as customers support your bank, give back to them by supporting their community. [Continue]

Nebraska banker’s ‘worst day’ recounted

Nebraska banker Greg Hohl was at an out-of-state meeting when he received a text message from his sister that there just might be a fire at their family-owned Wahoo State Bank. Cindy Hohl, executive vice president of the $92 million bank, had been sitting at her desk when someone reported smelling smoke. [Continue]

How to survive a system conversion

As the first post-conversion business day begins, systems are up, clients can access online and mobile banking and their debit cards are working. Your nightmares of being hunted like Frankenstein by a mob of angry clients were unfounded.  [Continue]

Architects help bankers weather the worst

Natural disasters are nothing new, but climate scientists are predicting more extreme weather events, which will continue to affect entire geographic areas. And while it’s not realistic to think that all losses can be prevented, architects and engineers can design a bank with features that can limit losses from flooding, fire, snow, lightning and tornadoes — and keep employees safe. [Continue]

The new challenge testing our preparedness

What we didn’t expect when we put our April architecture issue together was that in the week-long stretch between going into production and sending the issue to the printer, we’d all become bit players in an unfolding calamity of a different sort: The coronavirus pandemic. [Continue]

Foreign fintech enters a crowded field

Community banks by definition are traditionally bound by geography that cloud banking deems irrelevant. Now foreign tech firms are reaching into the United States and jumping into the increasingly competitive field of all-things-cloud.  [Continue]

The case for inclusion

While diverse hiring practices and an awareness of the growing demographic shift within the United States has lessened the gap between minority and non-minority bankers in the past several years, there’s still work to be done, particularly when it comes to including minority bankers in decision-making processes. [Continue]

Faces of Architecture: Vanman

Reliant on repeat business, firm goes beyond year’s warranty A few years back there was a shingle company that we used for a majority of our projects. If I remember correctly, the company came under new management and changed the composition of their adhesive to a cheaper alternative which resulted in several cases where groups … Read more