In June of 2019, the FDIC released their annual report on the performance of Minority Depository Institutions (MDI). This report has been produced annually since 2001 and provides an excellent outlook on how MDIs are doing across the country.
The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) announced that they are starting up the second year of the ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator program. At the beginning of 2019, Teslar participated in the inaugural class of the ThinkTECH accelerator.
Community banks are fundamental elements within communities across the country. Whether they are funding school fundraisers, creating local scholarship funds, or donating to local charitable organizations, community banks have always lent a helping hand to those in need.
A trend on the rise in community banking is that of bank mergers and acquisitions (M&A's). The number of M&A's has increased almost every year since 2011, growing exponentially over the past few years. A staggering 4.6 percent of all banks exited the industry through mergers and acquisitions in 2018 alone.1
Following the trend of a strong 2019 for community banks, the FDIC is on track to accept the most bank license applications it has in years, allowing new startup banks to enter the fold in an ever-changing environment.
In June of 2019, the Independent Banker released their 40 under 40 list of Emerging Community Bank Leaders. This list created by the Independent Banker was generated by asking community bankers to nominate emerging leaders under the age of 40 in their bank and in their community.
US financial regulators decided to exempt community banks from the Volcker Rule. This is a landmark decision regarding community banks and their ability to invest their money in hedge funds or private equity funds.
How a bank decides to leverage a branch looks very different today than in the past. In the '90’s, banks experienced a boom and built tens of thousands new branches across the US. At that time, the branch was how customers interacted with their bank primarily. Say, for example, that you had an issue with your bank card. To fix the issues, you would drive to the bank and talk to somebody in person in order to assist you in fixing the problem.
Since the economic recession in 2008, the importance of trust for bank customers has risen to new heights. As banking moves towards the digital age, where more private information is being stored online, trust becomes even more critical. In 2018, trust outweighed price as a determining factor when choosing a bank, with 45 percent of those polled saying trust was the top priority versus 43 percent focusing on price as the top priority.1 With trust outweighing other factors when choosing a bank, maintaining that trust is vital for long-term success.
Joe Ehrhardt, CEO & Founder, participated in a roundtable discussion with other Arkansas business leaders discussing the future of blockchain and data privacy. Blockchain technology can affect a wide range of industries from trucking to banking, and the most important thing to protect with this technology is the privacy of the consumer’s data.