On Dec. 11, the U.S. House of Representatives, magnanimously eager to bestow year-end gifts on the citizenry, unwrapped The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (H.R. 4173). Unfortunately, there we... >>more

There has been a lot of media coverage of how this recession is affecting consumers, mostly focusing on higher unemployment numbers, decreased consumer spending and increased foreclosure rates. But how is this... >>more

I cannot remember a more frustrating confluence of economic and market extremes than we as bond investors face for 2010. There have been many similar “nothing seems to make sense” markets in the past (e.g.1993, 1998, 2001) but last year was perhaps the worst combination of supply and demand extremes since WWII. First, the Fed essentially lowered the fed funds rate to zero, thus driving bond price... >>more

Eighty-four percent of respondents to the question, “How does your bank perform the function of mobile banking?” answered “not applicable” in the Independent Community Bankers of America’s 2008 Community Bank Technology Survey. One can only assume that the 84 percent that responded “not applicable” don’t currently offer mobile banking to their customers. The same survey then asked the respondents ... >>more

Among other effects, the current recession is likely to have an immediate and lasting impact on the branch deployment strategies in the banking industry. The immediate impact is fairly easy to predict. That is, the net branch growth rate will decline, most likely beginning with a period of negative growth during 2010 and 2011. But what should we expect to see happen after the recession? Does ... >>more

Loan demand has been sluggish since the beginning of the 2008 liquidity crisis. Attracting and attaining core deposits during periods of low-to-moderate loan demand can present advantages and disadvantages to banks. Without question, the uncertainty and rising costs of core deposit insurance is a significant unknown impact to future bank earnings. Core deposit inflows bring a regulatory compliance... >>more

Dealing with examiners and regulatory orders were topics drawing considerable interest at the Missouri Bankers Association’s Executive Management Conference in St. Louis last month. “Staying close” to examiners and the examination was recommended by Don Hutson, national industry manager for BKD LLP. “Go see them three times a day while the examiners are there,” he said. Hutson also advised think... >>more

The best news of 2009 may be that financial Armageddon was successfully averted. While not functioning “normally,” markets were functioning — especially the stock market, which, as measured by the Dow Jones Industrial Average, climbed to 10,462.89 as of Dec. 15 from 8,564.53 a year earlier. Bankers could count other blessings. The most onerous proposals for new regulation were watered down and/o... >>more