TEXAS BANKING NEWS, PEOPLE AND IDEAS
TEXAS BANKING NEWS, PEOPLE AND IDEAS
By Sean C. Payant, Ph.D. Many bank executives spend considerable time thinking about strategies to improve overall profitability and create sustainable growth. According to what is conveyed in banking industry publications and gleaned at trade shows and conferences, the industry’s best practices generally focus on strategies to cut expenses—using technology, looking at staffing levels, increasing … Read more
The Independent Bankers Association of Texas (IBAT) and FedFis, a fintech firm specializing in data transformation for financial institutions, have announced Bankers Helping Bankers, a new bankers-only platform to help community banks survive and thrive. Texas-based FedFis brings more than 40 years of building data in the banking industry, information that can benefit every community … Read more
The past year and a half has challenged our industry in ways previously unknown. We began the year expecting our biggest challenge would be the continued growth of deposits at reasonable rates. Today, we are faced with three challenges: a prolonged low-rate environment with continued margin compression; keeping branches open/serving our communities; and an increasing … Read more
Effective loan administration will protect margins and balance sheets at banks over the next year as financial institutions handle the effects of the pandemic-induced economic crisis. In any economy—but especially in the current one where borrowers’ financial situations are changing or highly uncertain—financial institution loan administration systems deserve a checkup and, in some cases, an … Read more
What if we could predict the weather? On September 5, 1862, this question led James Glaisher to do something no one had ever done before. Along with aeronaut Henry Tracy Coxwell, he stepped into a hot-air balloon and ascended to heights never before reached, almost 36,000 feet. Before eventually passing out due to a lack … Read more
The 2021 release of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), which was signed into law on December 27, 2020. The new release of the program arrived at the right time, as the health of small businesses had deteriorated toward the end of 2020. In this report, we first … Read more
Let me tell you a story. It’s not my story, but it is one I seem to be hearing a lot these days: The world of financial services is changing. It is changing fast. Everything is shifting overnight. Even while you sleep, someone is getting a leg up on you. As a banker, you are … Read more
Community bankers are feeling slightly better about the health of their local economies, but still far short of their pre-pandemic level of confidence, the most recent Community Bank Sentiment Index (CBSI) reveals. The Conference of State Bank Supervisors released the third-quarter results in early October, collecting data from 334 community banks across the nation during … Read more