Main Street Banking: A Podcast for Community Bankers

Jimmy Sawyers is a long time friend and supporter of Barret and he is also one of the premier voices in the community banking industry when it comes to tech and security for banks. Every year, he puts out a Top 10 predictions for the year and, in a twist on the top 10 trope, we decided we'd follow up with him at the end of the year to check in on those predictions and also, possibly, get a teaser on the upcoming list.

Also, each year, their Bank Tech Summit, is an industry cornerstone. Here is the program information for the one they just had so that you can get a sense of the topics. https://sawyersjacobs.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/BTS-2019-Brochure-Final.pdf?x85586

Also, here is his 2019 predictions so you can play along at home. https://sawyersjacobs.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Sawyers-Top-10-Predictions-2019-Final.pdf?x85586

You may have heard about in-school branches in a local high school. We'd like to introduce you to one here in the Memphis area that is doing an outstanding job in teaching, not only banking, but the soft-skills we want professionals to have as well as financial literacy that is so desperately needed in the banking industry. There's lots of ways to implement a plan like this...but it's so important to see that this is needed and also we, as bankers, have the resources and expertise to help our local communities.

Stepping "outside the vault" again for an episode, we're going to talk about the Banker's Build that the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Memphis has started on here in the local Memphis market. We're happy to be promoting this event...not only because of the AWESOME work Habitat does, but also as an example of the good that the community banking industry can do!!

For more information, check out their website: https://www.memphishabitat.com

It's one thing to have an expert talk to us about ideas for digital marketing and a bank's social media presence. It's another to have one of the best practitioners of the social media arts tell us her views and some of her best practice. It's quite another when they both sit down and discuss the issue. To top it off...having Eric Cook and Emily Mays on the show, with their personalities, makes for a great conversation.

It's a wrap. Another successful ICBA LeadFWD conference in the books and I can't wait to see the fruits of this years event.

Day 1 is wrapped here in New Orleans! Good conversations with great banking leaders!

We're circling back to CECL.  There's been some changes to the implementation of the standard that need discussing, but we also wanted to add a fresh perspective on the preparation.  One of the things that came out in this conversation is the quality of the data that will be needed.  Yes, that data may be more expensive, but there's a lot to be said for knowing your loan portfolio's data better than you currently do.  The silver lining to this cloud is that the data we will have to collect will also benefit our marketing efforts.

From Raymond James, we have John Toohig. 

John Toohig is a Managing Director at Raymond James, a Board Member and President of Raymond James Mortgage Company, Inc and Head of the Whole Loan Group.  John joined Raymond James (formerly Morgan Keegan) in September of 2006. As manager of the Whole Loan group, Mr. Toohig’s primary responsibilities include day-to-day trading of whole loan packages, portfolio analysis, transaction management and the structuring of whole loan, participation and various structured products. Mr. Toohig’s product focus encompasses both seasoned and new production: residential mortgages (both QM and Non-QM), commercial mortgages, consumer lending, scratch and dent loans, and non-performing assets. Prior to joining the Whole Loan group at Raymond James, Mr. Toohig was a part of the firm’s Taxable Banking platform where he was responsible for corporate debt transactions, trust preferred securities, sale leaseback transactions and ABS transactions.

Mr. Toohig received his undergraduate degree from the Houghton College and his MBA from the University of Mississippi with a focus in finance and IT. Mr. Toohig has his Series 7, 24 and Series 63 licenses. His community involvement includes currently serving as Member of the Board of Trustees for St. Agnes Academy / St. Dominic School. He is also a former chairman for both the Lafayette and DeSoto county American Cancer Society Relay for Life events and the former president of the Ole Miss MBA Alumni Board. Mr. Toohig resides in Memphis, TN with his wife Sha, and his two daughters, Helen Grace and Cressey, while he works in Raymond James’ east Memphis branch.

From Moody's Analytics, we have Robby Holditch with us again.  Robby is a Director in the Regulatory and Accounting Solutions team. He is responsible for providing accounting expertise across solutions, products, and services offered by Moody’s Analytics in the Americas. Robby has 15 years of experience in tax, financial reporting, and fair value measurement with regional banks and Big 4 audit firms. He has Bachelor of Accountancy and Master of Taxation degrees from Mississippi State University.  To hear more from Robby on Main Street Banking, check out our previous episode on CECL.

With all the questions on yields and yield curves and negative interest rates that we have heard, we decided to have an "early" Main Street Economic Update and bring in Jim Reber to talk to our listeners about what's been going on in the markets.

If you're not familiar with ICBA Securites, you need to go to their website (https://www.icbasecurities.com/) and sign up for The Bond Academy and their webinar series, Community Banking Matters.

Kicking off our "Outside The Vault" series, Darin Hollingsworth of the Working Gratitude podcast and Odonata Consulting sits down with me to discuss gratitude and how it interacts with financial services.

Trying something a little different! We're starting a new series called "Outside the Vault"...a look at community banking in a different way. Part of that is going to be an episode with listener responses. We want you to answer the question "How has a community bank impacted you or your family positively?" Send in your audio or written responses to me at [email protected] and we'll be sure to include them on an upcoming episode.