Category: Community Banking | Page 2

Who are You Calling a Predator?

Not us, say Big Banks, in response to comments by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) who reportedly called out “giant banks that make billions of dollars in profits and squeeze every last penny out of customers who are struggling”.-American Banker 7/19/21.…

The Bank Branch is Alive and Well, Thank You

Like everything else, banking is changing and evolving to meet the changing needs and demands of the times. There is no doubt about that. But anyone predicting the demise of the bank branch is premature, at best …at least in…

Not all puzzle pieces fit together nicely

Merger Mania Claiming Community Staples

Mergers and Acquisitions have claimed more than 225 banks since January 1, 2020. That represents over $174 billion in assets and $140 billion in deposits in less than an 18 month period. Several centenarians are among the banks lost leaving…

Economic Injustice Puts Banks on Notice

As we write this week’s article, CEOs of six of the nation’s largest banks are taking a verbal beating from Congress. Lawmakers took exception to some of the ways they perceive these bankers have taken advantage of poorer clients during…

Lending a Helping Hand, Sometimes Means Lending.

Loan volumes at the nation’s community banks grew over 10% during 2020. And that’s no coincidence. With help from the Government’s Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) Program, Commercial & Industrial (C&I) Loans accounted for more than two-thirds of that growth. But…

De Novos: Banking With a Purpose

This year is poised to be the most active for de novo banks that we’ve seen since before he Great Recession. Five new banks have already opened their doors and two others are scheduled to open in June. While we…

Temporary Hit to Capital Ratios

…and They’d do it Again. This week we will take a look at how some community banks have been helping their neighbors and communities during the past year. In some cases, that help has come at the expense of the…

Bank, CU Complaint or Question?

Complaint or Question About Your Financial Institution? We do a lot of things here at BauerFinancial, but since we are a private research firm, and not a government agency, fielding complaints about financial institutions is not really one of them.…

Image of Martin Luther King Monument with PPP Round 2

PPP Relaunch Open to Select Institutions

We know many small businesses were left behind in the first round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. That’s why when the Treasury Department reopened the portal on Monday, it granted access exclusively to Community Financial Institutions (CFIs). CFIs, which…

Loans: a Bank’s Best Asset, Until They’re Not

Although business models vary, the optimal loan to deposit ratio (LTD) at a bank is generally considered to be between 80% to 90%. At this level, the bank is lending sufficiently for its size, but not so much that its…

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