Writer: Tom Bengtson

The Minnesota Bankers Association concluded a four-year effort to identify a new headquarters by purchasing a 16,000-square-foot office building in Bloomington on June 6. [Continue]

The Lieberman-Warner Act didn’t go anywhere, but you can bet that climate change will be the subject of congressional debate for years to come. (See this issue’s feature.) That’s why bankers should take former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsak’s advice and get involved in the climate change discussion. There will be a lot of money in … Read more

Whether you believe it or not, reaction could have big impact on banking. [Continue]

It is relatively easy to be a manager in good economic times; the real test comes in times like these – when we are teetering on recession. Bank managers who have worked through previous economic downturns are in a better position to manage difficulties today than those who have only known good times.Bankers are in … Read more

Art Johnson is chairman and CEO of United Bank of Michigan in Grand Rapids and ABA vice chair. Editor Tom Bengtson caught up with Johnson at the Nebraska Bankers Association convention in Omaha in early May. [Continue]

Nearly 170 banks are clearing more than a quarter of their payment instruments through the all-electronic On-We Exchange Network operated by United Bankers’ Bank of Bloomington, Minn. [Continue]

Regulators are increasingly focusing on the real estate component of bank loan portfolios. Bankers with exams scheduled in the coming months would be wise to know the details of every commercial real estate loan they hold, particularly those involving the development of residential housing projects. No bank is going to get a pass on real … Read more

In the first major gathering of bankers since Iowa’s largest homebuilder ceased operations, the state’s top bank regulator noted several signs of an increasingly stressed industry. [Continue]

The situation in the housing market gives municipalities impetus to update their land use zoning rules. More homes are sitting vacant today than in years. Housing activity is at a standstill because many people can’t come up with the high down payments that most mortgages now require, and they don’t want to sell their current … Read more

Finance professionals can learn from the subprime mortgage debacle as they work to strengthen the secondary market for community development loans, said Randall S. Kroszner, a Federal Reserve Board Governor. [Continue]