The Banker Next Door

During budget season the conversation usually goes to cost containment and incremental improvements. However, the most successful community banks invest strategically in infrastructure that creates measurable ROI and sustainable growth. The trick is to identify investments that will lead to operational efficiency and a positive customer experience. Community banks need to think about going from maintenance to transformation, how da...

Back in August, we reported on an M&A issue related to the CECL double count. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has issued an update that changes the accounting for loans acquired in an M&A transaction. This long-awaited fix matters to any bank entering an M&A transaction. This change does not take effect until December 15, 2026, but early adoption is permitted. This episode examines an article from Bank D...

This episode reviews the Federal Reserve Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey (SLOOS) on bank lending practices for October 2025. Some of the key findings of the report include tighter lending standards and stronger demand for C&I loans, unchanged lending standards and demand for CRE loans. Loan standards for residential mortgage loans including HELOCs remained unchanged, but banks did report higher demand for all residential mor...

The federal bank regulatory agencies, as members of FFIEC, released data on small business, small farm, and community development lending during 2024. CRA regulations require the agencies to annually disclose this data. The data collected showed 731 reporting lenders in 2024. The lenders made 9.1 million small-business loans totaling approximately $276 billion. This was an 8.1% increase in number of loans and 6.2% increase in dolla...

This episode examines a research report from CSBS titled “Too small to scale: What 10 years of data say about community bank compliance costs.” The report found that smaller banks reported spending 11% to 15.5% of their payroll on compliance tasks, compared with 6% to 10% for the largest banks. Data-processing costs consume 16.5% to 22% of small banks’ budgets versus 10% to 14% for larger banks. Consulting costs diverged the most, ...

This episode examines Bank Director’s 2026 Bank M&A Survey. Bank Director found that “the gap between buyers’ and sellers’ pricing expectations may be closing as potential acquirers look for ways to add low-cost deposits.” Some of the key findings revolve around boardroom discussions, angling for a better price, mixed plans on subordinated debt, organic growth drivers, limited interest in Crypto, and optimism on the economy. Li...

This episode reviews a recent working paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco titled “What is a Tariff Shock? Insights from 150 years of Tariff Policy.” The main finding of the report is that Tariffs are deflationary! “We find that a tariff hike raises unemployment (lowers economic activity) and lowers inflation.” With all the focus on Tariffs this year, this report is a must see! A link to the report is included below...

America’s farm system is in trouble. Parts of it are collapsing in real time. Over regulation is crushing small farmers. An Idaho farmer named Steve Jarvis has a plan. It entails wiping out every farmer’s debt! Very radical, but he might be on to something. Any bank or banker that is involved with agricultural lending should listen to this episode. If your state is highly dependent on agriculture, you should listen to this episode....

Envy is one of the seven deadly sins. Envy is defined as the intense desire to have an item or quality that someone else possesses. Envy is at the very heart of socialism. The recent creep in the U.S. toward socialism politically is very troubling. The U.S. has been here before in the 1930’s during the great depression. History has proven that socialism does not have the answers to economic problems that society seeks. Envy is a po...

The way we dress conveys a message about how we see ourselves and others. Seeing people ‘dressed up’ is becoming increasingly rare. At the same time, the clothes we wear speak volumes about us.  In business, clothes are essential to how you appear to others. How you carry yourself, how other people view you, how seriously you are taken. In society, clothes give us many clues into the mental health of the country. This episode exami...

Due to the recent government shutdown, SNAP benefits and the American welfare state came into focus. Massive fraud in the SNAP program was unveiled. A deeper analysis shows a massive growth in the welfare state since the 1960s. It was recently announced that all SNAP recipients will have to reapply in an effort to crack down on fraud. What does the current state of the SNAP program and welfare in America really tell us about our ec...