Standing in front of a room full of more than 100 Minnesota bankers at a country club along the Mississippi river, Jennifer Docherty, a spritely New Yorker and associate general counsel at Sandler O’Neill, and managing director of Bank on Women, Inc., glided enthusiastically from her first favorite slide to her second and third favorite slides. [Continue]
Farmers seem to span the range in support of the trade war. There was initial support with producers seeing the need to fix some stuff, but that has decreased with time. The government payments have taken some of the sting out, but there is becoming a stronger sense that this is going to have some very long-term impacts on American agriculture. [Continue]
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard discussed a possibe “soft landing” for the economy following the GDP growth of previous years. [Continue]
Are you satisfied with how your organization measures employee performance? Performance management is meant to enable employees to perform to the best of their abilities while making everyone accountable for reaching their goals. It’s proactive, not reactive, and builds better manager and employee relationships. [Continue]
When Midwestern ag bankers consider 2020, they expect some challenges for their farmer customers, not unlike the year that just ended. In 2019, struggles included severely wet weather, flooding, low commodity prices and a trade war with China. Changes within the dairy industry — from proposed regulations to breeding advancements — affected that sector. [Continue]
For his ongoing commitment to growing his bank in an era of increasing consolidation, along with his career-long commitment to industry activism, Hopkins has been selected BankBeat magazine’s 2020 Banker of the Year. [Continue]
How exciting is it to roll out a new client offering? It is like that new car smell and getting the new iPhone folded into one! The anticipation of how “the product” will grow deposits, increase non-interest income and reduce expenses can be intoxicating. But how often is excitement (or even formal communication) about a new product offering spread throughout the entire organization effectively prior to launch? [Continue]
Tony Cortilet, the noxious weed and cannabis program supervisor with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, said there’s a lot of money in the hemp industry, but also a lot of risk. Cortilet also explained that producing CBD isn’t farmers’ only option. [Continue]
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]