Our friends and customers and Richwood Bank in Richwood, Ohio recently received national recognitiont as one of the Independent Community Bankers' Association's Top Agriculture Lenders for 2023. Chief operations officer Brian Gehres and senior agriculture lender Kent Kramer share some of their expertise on the unique technical aspects of agriculture lending, such as the market, risk management, and concentration risk. But mostly, this lending specialty is build on the same foundation as all community banking: trust and relationships.

Richwood Bank Agriculture Lending: Agriculture Loans - Richwood Bank

Bankers' Agricultural Finance Service: Agricultural Mortgage Financing Options - Independent Community Bankers Bank (icbb.bank)

September in National Mortgage Professionals Month, and we're taking the month to celebrate and empower community bank mortgage professionals. The current rate and economic environment present significant challenges to mortgage professionals. In this episode of the Correspondent, we're joined by ICBB's Missy Harrod, assistant vice president of mortgage, and Zack Stanifer, vice president of residential lending at Citizens Bank in Mount Vernon, Kentucky, to discuss secondary market mortgages, a complex but important part of community bank mortgage lending.

ICBB's annual Bank Operations Opportunities Meeting (BOOM) is coming up in October and this episode provides a taste of the relevant, engaging and educational content it provides. Chasity Bruce, customer service specialist, interviews BOOM speaker Angelica Larranga from ePay resources. Angelica covers key operations topics like preventing fraud and suspicious activity reporting.

BOOM Registration: Bank Operation Opportunities Meeting | ICBB Courses

Today's episode of The Correspondent joins a conversation that has been taking the banking world, and the world at large, by storm: artificial intelligence, or AI. Some find it exciting, and some find it scary, but AI opens up a world of possibilities. Eric Cook, a digital strategist for a WSI digital marketing agency serving community banks and mentor to community bankers, discusses the possibilities and the challenges of AI for banks.

Eric's Newsletter, The Recovering Banker: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6866358235738234880/

Check out The LinkedBanker: Digital & Social Training for Banking Professionals | The LinkedBanker

Eric's Digital Marketing Agency: Digital Marketing and Online Strategies for Community Banks (poweredbywsi.com)

In this second market update episode of The Correspondent, Madison Caplinger and chief credit officer Stephanie Oerther, president and CEO Derek Hetherington, and president of Sapphire Fiduciary Advisors Paul Stropkay reflect on Q2 of 2023. Topics include the changing lending landscape, best practices in underwriting, inflation and interest rates, and the continuing post-pandemic liquidity crisis.

Sapphire Fiduciary Advisors, LLC: Investment | Sapphire Fiduciary Advisors, LLC | Louisville

ICBB Participation Loans: Bank Participation Loans Services | ICBB

Follow Derek, Stephanie, and Paul on LinkedIn:

(21) Derek Hetherington | LinkedIn

(21) Stephanie Oerther | LinkedIn

(21) Paul Stropkay, CFA | LinkedIn

In today's competitive environment, every part of your customer's journey matters. This is especially true of the onboarding process. How can your bank onboard customers effectively, remaining efficient while maintaining that personal touch that community banks do so well? Kyle Herschberger, president of Cross Financial in Omaha, Nebraska, shares valuable insight on this topic.

Cross Financial: Sales and Marketing Development Services for Financial Institutions - Cross Financial

Connect with Kyle on LinkedIn: Kyle Hershberger | LinkedIn

A question that seems to be heavy on the minds of community bankers, and especially community bank marketers, is how to capture the business of the younger demographic. Generation Z comprises 40% of US consumers, and Millennials are not far behind them. But growing up with technology means their consumer and banking behavior can be quite a bit different than the older generations. So how does a community bank get their business? In this episode, Brian Reilly, Digital Marketing Nerd at BankBound, a digital marketing agency for financial institutions, and Madison discuss this very question.

Learn more about BankBound:

BankBound Digital Marketing || We grow local banks.

BankBound: Overview | LinkedIn

This special episode of The Correspondentit was recorded live from ICBB's 2023 Annual Credit Conference. It features a panel discussion on loan review and risk management with CEO Derek Hetherington, professor Maggie Abney from Eastern Kentucky University, and Don McFadden and Matt Evans from ICBB affiliate, Bankers' Service Corporation.

This episode marks the first first quarterly market update, where Madison is joined by chief credit officer Stephanie Oerther, senior lender Brandon Feltner, and president and CEO of ICBI affliate Sapphire Fiduciary Advisers Paul Stropkay, to discuss trends, current events, and other issues that have arisen over the past quarter.

Many community banks are hesitant to offer international payments services to their customers, perceiving it to be risky and not worth the investment. But without them, they may risk losing their best customers to a larger institution. Madison Caplinger, along with Dan Caputo, VP of Global Treasury for AscendantFX, and Chasity Bruce, Customer Service Specialist for ICBB, discuss the need for international services and dispel foreign transaction myths that many bankers believe.