Not long after I had my first child, I got her a piggy bank. I knew it would be important to her wellbeing to impart strategies to save for the future (lessons in delayed gratification, really), and the ceramic bank which sat on her dresser offered the conduit. [Continue]
Success in ag lending hinges on a banker’s “passion for people,” says Dave Coggins, the Wisconsin banker who chairs the American Bankers Association’s Agricultural and Rural Bankers Committee. Coggins learned the value of good people skills early in his career when he saw the impact to customers that resulted from one supervisor’s “sub-par” interactions. [Continue]
I’ve come to believe community banking is somewhat of a vocation. This view has been reinforced for me by the eight honorees for “Rising Stars in Banking,” whose stories are presented this month. Each of them has already made an impact, either with their co-workers or around their communities; some are also actively bettering the industry through their activism. Many of them have done all of this while also raising families. Perhaps it’s my age, but these professionals appear too fresh-faced to have accomplished so much already. [Continue]
In life cash is king but in commercial lending it is cash flow that rules. Bankers interested in helping commercial customers improve their cash positions, therefore, may want to take a fresh look at those companies’ merchant services, says Marnie Ochs-Raleigh, CEO of Evolve Payment. Her suggestion is not without precedent. [Continue]
Two years ago, after buying my first pair of Brooks running shoes, I wrote about how its CEO (a former highschool classmate) pulled the upstart shoemaker from a cliff’s edge and made it relevant in a market dominated by Nike, Adidas and Skechers. He saved the company through a combination of tough and bold decision-making. I’m not a runner, but I appreciate the fit of my Brooks shoes and have been impressed by the way the company has engendered loyalty for its brand by fostering communities of elite runners. [Continue]
In 2020, a year pockmarked by racial tensions and hyper-partisanship, 77 U.S. Senators and 300 U.S. Representatives added their names to an initiative to commemorate Negro Leagues Baseball on the centennial of its founding. This rare display of Congressional bi-partisanship resulted in the Negro Leagues Baseball Centennial Commemorative Coin Act, which authorized the minting of commemorative coins, the sale of which will support the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo. [Continue]
Inflation. Continued supply chain disruptions. War in Ukraine. Yet another Covid variant. There’s never a shortage of bad news, is there? But if you’re looking for something on which to pin some real hope, consider this economic silver lining: In the last two years, there’s been a significant jump in the number of new business applications. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2021, a record 5.4 million applications were filed to form new businesses. [Continue]
Between the year 2000 and 2008, the FDIC approved 1,042 new bank charters, leading those in the industry to dub that near-decade the “go go” years. Observers of the industry would just as soon forget what happened then. One consequence of the Great Recession is the rapid net decline in total banks, exacerbated by anemic de novo activity. [Continue]
Fire in the belly. It’s a key intangible that Dan Boeckermann, chair of EntreBank, recognizes in successful entrepreneurs. And Twin Cities banks, with two or three exceptions, have not adequately fueled such entrepreneurial flames. At least, that was what the principal and CEO of Bloomington, Minn.-based Boeckermann Grafstrom & Mayer, a small-business focused accounting firm itself billed as “entrepreneurial,” had been hearing over and over and over again. When Boeckermann decided to spearhead the launch of a new bank to change things, the CPA also looked for “fire in the belly” in the bankers needed to fulfill his vision. “Fire … and a book of business,” he added. [Continue]
In my neighborhood, trucks and vans from UPS, FedEx, Amazon, the United States Postal Service, and various grocers rumble past my door with increasing frequency. My husband and I had originally selected our townhouse community because it was set apart from highly-trafficked roads. It was secluded and quiet. These days, I feel like my home has been plopped into the middle of Richard Scarry’s “Busytown.” [Continue]