Main Street Banking: A Podcast for Community Bankers

We know that things are crazy right now. I wish there was something that we could do to make it all go away and get back to the way things were a month ago. But...what we can do is get you content that meets you right where you are. I'm hoping that next week's schedule goes a long way to making this situation a little easier for you, your employees, your customers...everyone.

Taking a little detour from our normal posting schedule. People are trying to figure out their lives in this COVID-19 environment and community banks are no different. We've got communities to serve, stockholders to answer to, and most of us have never seen this type of environment before. What do we do? Today, Greyson Tuck and Ben Pankonin talk to us about how to be strategic and still tell that story that our communities need to hear right now.

ICBA Live 2020. Bold Vision/Clear Focus. From Orlando...the city where dreams come true. There really is no better setting for a collection of dreamers like community bankers. And that's what we are...dreamers...and there's nothing wrong with that. We have the strength and knowledge to say our banks can be better..our communities can be better...our nation can be better...and we go out and find a way to do that.

We've heard about it. We read about it on social media. We have some vague memory of it from our younger days...but what on Earth is this LIBOR transition and how is it going to impact your bank?

Here is the website that Jim mentions about possible contract language you might want to consider for your loans impacted by the LIBOR transition.

https://www.newyorkfed.org/arrc/fallbacks-contract-language

We all know that FinTech is going to (and already has) radically changed the way banks do business. But when community banks partner with venture capital to create relationships where both FinTech and community banks prosper, it's truly awesome what can happen. Here are two cohorts from ThinkTECH 2.0, Griffin Technologies and LendSMART.

For more:

ThinkTECH 2.0: https://www.venturecenter.co/icbathinktech

Griffin Technologies: https://grffn.io/

LendSMART: https://www.lendsmart.ai/

There is a growing gap between what is being discussed online and what is actually threatening to banks. CECL is going to be a game-changer and the lack of conversation we are having about it is concerning. If you'd like to read more, take some time to read this article in American Banker. https://www.americanbanker.com/opinion/cecl-is-a-real-threat-to-the-financial-system

We start off the year with our Executive Director, Chris Kelley. Chris is a a long-time community banking advocate and proponent of training's role in the culture of a bank. When we think about training and all that's involved with that, there's really three different approaches that we need to take in our banks...onboarding, reboarding, and upboarding. We talk about that today, what those mean, and how community banks can go about implementing them in their corporate structure.

It's the end of one year...and the start of another. Rather than wrapping up our year with a "best of" or "mixed tape" episode, I thought it'd be fun for the Barret staff to sit down and talk about our 2019 and 2020. And as you can probably tell by this episode...we have a lot of fun together!!

Happy New Year to you, your bank, and most importantly to your family and loved ones!

We're wrapping up an...interesting...year this year in economic news. Dare we say, it looks...calm for the foreseeable future?! We never know what's going to happen in the macroeconomic world but there are some strategies that you can do in your investment portfolio as we end the year. Now's a good time to talk to your investment experts!

For more information, you can visit ICBA Securities page at https://www.icbasecurities.com/

Greyson Tuck is a consultant, attorney, and board member of Gerrish Smith Tuck, PC here in Memphis. He is also on our faculty of the Barret Graduate School of Banking and is a perennial favorite of our students. He travels all over the country talking with community banking executives and, as a result, has the pulse of what community banking directors and executives are thinking heading into 2020.

Also, Gerrish Smith Tuck produces three newsletters that are "must reads" for the community banking industry. If you want to stay abreast of topics on the industry, I'd recommend signing up for them at http://gerrish.com/ and take some time to go back through the archives. It'll be worth your time.

Finally, Barret is working with Gerrish Smith Tuck for their Chairman's Forum on January 16-17, 2020 in Naples, FL. This is the event we were discussing in the interview. If you're interested in signing up, you can register at https://barret.ws/programs/community-banking-chairmans-forum/

There's not many places better to be in the month of January than Naples, FL!