Main Street Banking Economic Update: December 12, 2025 by Barret School of Banking

Wanted to drop a quick Thanksgiving message to the community banking industry. Enjoy your holiday!!

Ever wanted to take another shot at bank sim? Have you ever heard about bank sim and wondered what it was? Regardless of whether you have no clue what we're talking about, were victorious in a graduate school of banking sim in the past, or (like me) tasted the sour taste of bitter defeat...you've never done sim like this.

And that's the point. Now, you can take another shot at it, actually learn banking, talk a little trash...and...get ready...have fun!

If you'd like to learn more about our new monthly virtual sims, check out https://barretbanking.org/landings/banque-sim/

Teslar Software has been a really cool company to watch. We were first introduced to them way back during one of the first ICBA ThinkTECH's and it's been a joy to see them grow and get to know them.

Also, I've always believed that the merging of small business and consumer business banking is a path to profitable banking in most communities. These become sticky customers and brand evangelists. Joe and the gang at Teslar agree and are talking about some ways that this can happen on their system.

Check out Teslar at https://teslarsoftware.com/

Many thanks to ICBA Securities for their continued support!

https://www.icba.org/icba-securities

Stable coins have gotten a lot of news lately...but what are they? Are they here to stay? Is this something community banks are going to have to deal with...whether we like it or not?

I don't know, but it is always best to arm ourselves with information because, as my good friend Justin says, "we fear the unknown until we know the fear". I think it's a powerful statement as it pertains to all types of shifts in the industry.

Be sure to follow Justin and his business, High Risk Education on LinkedIn.

Justin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-muscolino/

High Risk Education: https://www.linkedin.com/company/highriskeducation/about/

And as always, thanks to ICBA Securities for their support and sponsorship!

https://www.icba.org/icba-securities

With all the news this week, time to bring on Jim Reber, CEO of ICBA Securities.

Be sure you sign up for Stifel's Quarterly Strategy Webinar for Banks at https://stifel.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Rk2fDcs1Q2iNsWFfT7iF6A#/registration

I have to be honest here...one of the things that I didn't fully understand in my time in production was treasury services. I understood what they were...but it was never really part of the strategic process. The more I'm around banking, I see the same thing with other banks and I don't think it's because it's a bad idea but rather it's because we don't understand it very well.

Laura Wetherell with Treascent LLC has a history of working with bankers (and being a banker herself!) understand and implement this often misunderstood part of banking.

Check out her site: http://www.treascentllc.com/

Follow her on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/laurawetherellctp

And as always, thanks to ICBA Securities for their support and sponsorship!

https://www.icba.org/icba-securities

Peter Stenehjem is the Pres/CEO of First International Bank and Trust in North Dakota. He's a returning guest, friend of Barret, and a fascinating banker to talk to. FIBT has been family owned for over 110 years now by Peter's family and has branched out into doing some really cool stuff in the world of fintech and payments.

They've owned Kotapay (https://www.kotapay.com/) for years now and are a Top 40 Payment Processor and, through Kotapay, they've launched Kavinu (https://kotapay.com/kavinu) as an embedded payment solution. It's really cool stuff!

Be sure to check them out and a big thank you to our sponsor, ICBA Securities (https://www.icba.org/icba-securities)

C.J. Tate and I connected a while back and just had some really interesting conversations around career advancement in community banking and the role of education. He made some great points about how it's a two-way street and the role of culture AND the role of the greener banker's attitude towards learning more. He's dead on right....

His story is really cool and I don't want to spoil it so, take a listen!

Many thanks to ICBA Securities for their continued sponsorship!

Scale Link is a really cool CDFI that offers a secondary market for small business microloans and trading platform. Their CEO, Jonathan Brereton, stopped by the show to have a chat...and y'all know what a fan we are of CDFI's on Main St. Banking.

Love meeting other true believers out there!!!

Be sure to check out Scale Link at https://scalelink.org/

And many thanks to ICBA Securities for their sponsorship!