Banks across the U.S. continue to shrink their branch networks but one community bank, Citizens Bank of Edmond, has gone a step further and replaced physical locations with innovative strategies, including the creation of a street festival and a coworking space for customers. Jill Castilla, the bank's CEO, discussed the transformation and how it has paid dividends.

While tax reform will offer big boost to bank earnings, some bankers, including the CEOs of JPMorgan and Capital One, expect the windfall of profits to lead to increased competition. Fiercer competition could benefit consumers since they would receive lower prices on loans and higher rates on deposits but it would mean lower margins for banks, whose stocks have rallied on the prospect of higher profits.

A new accounting standard that changes that way banks reserve for loan losses might not sound that earth-shattering but it could lead to a capital shortfall as large as $70 billion across the banking industry. Josh Siegel, CEO of StoneCastle Partners, an investor and adviser to community banks, and Ethan Heisler, president of the Bank Treasury Newsletter, discuss the impact of new standard, dubbed the current expected credit loss model, or CECL.

We spoke with Rick Childs, partner at Crowe Horwath LLP, about tax reform's impact on bank M&A activity. While tax reform has caused bank stocks to rise and could make a number of deals easier to ink, a lower tax rate will make one aspect of bank acquisitions more expensive.

In the episode, we offer our updated and more bearish outlook for community banks. While community bank earnings are still poised to grow higher, largely due to a boost from tax reform, hopes for considerable margin expansion have been dashed.

We spoke with PL Capital's Rich Lashley, longtime bank investor and shareholder activist, about his view of U.S. banks and how the increase in valuations has left fewer investment opportunities. He also offered his outlook for M&A activity and fundamentals, including the prospect of rising deposit costs that will likely separate the true "haves and have nots."

We spoke with PL Capital's Rich Lashley, longtime bank investor and shareholder activist, about his view of U.S. banks and how the increase in valuations has left fewer investment opportunities. He also offered his outlook for M&A activity and fundamentals, including the prospect of rising deposit costs that will likely separate the true "haves and have nots."

We spoke with the co-heads of Stephens' financial institutions practice about the resurgence in bank IPO activity, what investors are looking for in new issuances, the current IPO pipeline and the success the firm has enjoyed since ramping up its depository practice.

We spoke with Jeff Davis, managing director of Mercer Capital's financial institutions group, about banks' third-quarter earnings season, what results say about the current stage of the credit cycle, stock valuations and the prospect of higher deposit costs and future loan growth.

In the latest episode, we discussed the highlights of the Big Decisions in Banking Conference with S&P Global Market Intelligence colleagues Brian Cheung and Eric Turner. The conference covered the future of bank M&A, regulation and the current stage of the credit cycle as well as the crossover between fintech and traditional banking.