Correspondent Blog

During a regulatory exam, one of the first questions you will be asked these days is your percentage of uninsured deposits to total deposits. The concern is grounded in the SVB/First Republic 2023 liquidity crisis and data that shows higher balance accounts are more interest rate and risk-sensitive than lower balance accounts. In this article,…

We talk to many community bankers who are seeking ways to expand their commercial and industrial (C&I) loan portfolios. Yet, despite the strategic importance of this category, growth has remained elusive. The A and B cross-secured structure (“AB structure”) has recently been utilized by community banks as a practical, risk-managed method for increasing C&I lending…

If not properly structured, fixed-rate commercial loans can become one-way floaters. The term refers to a loan where the bank retains the fixed rate when interest rates rise, but the borrower refinances the loan when interest rates fall resulting in declining yield for the bank. In this article we explain why this reduces profitability for…

Love or hate Salesforce, but the one thing they get right is their vision for the future. They correctly predicted the widespread adoption of the cloud, mobile, API integrations, and enterprise AI. Now, their promoted vision is the “Agentic Enterprise.” No matter if you are a Salesforce bank or not, this article breaks down 10…

I am not sure if the hype around stablecoin is real or not, but my position is that this could be a dramatic shift in banking, and it is worth spending time and effort to see if just 25% of the hype is true. In this article, we provide the algorithm to see if a…

Over the last few months, we have been hosting dozens of banks to lender lunches across the country.  At these lender lunches we discuss credit and pricing trends, deposit gathering strategies, loan pricing and structuring, and fee generation opportunities for community banks.  While we will author a separate article about what we heard from community…

Unfortunately, disruptions from a federal government shutdown are all too familiar to the American population. More unfortunately, this one is different from all that have come before. This shutdown will test both Democrats and Republican’s resolve like never before. As such, this shutdown could go past the 35-day record during the first Trump presidency. Banks…

Many clients are relying on their commercial relationship managers for advice on how to finance their business or real estate assets in the face of Fed rate cuts.  We work with thousands of community bank lenders across the country, and some have been advising their borrowers to finance long-term assets with short-term loans in the…

For the second quarter of 2025, there were 11mm checks written every day totaling $34B, according to the latest Federal Reserve data. While the number of checks decline by about 8% every year, the fact that we still have the check is an embarrassment to banking. In this article, we explore what each check likely…

Central bank independence is currently, and has long been, considered a cornerstone of economic stability in advanced economies. The Federal Reserve (Fed) is established by Congress with a dual mandate of maximum employment and price stability. Its structure is designed to resist direct political pressures. Yet, in 2025, the Fed faces its greatest institutional challenge…

As banks finish strategic planning, it is helpful to understand your bank’s performance assuming you DON’T make any changes. A statistical reliable model that factors historical performance, current business model and future market assumptions allows bank executives to more accurately apply capital, resources, and risk to improve performance with a higher degree of confidence. In…

Most bankers understand that they are in the business of keeping loans versus making loans.  Originating new loans drains bank resources with acquisition, processing, and onboarding costs.  By identifying the right customer at inception and structuring the appropriate products, community banks can create a long-term, growing banking relationship.  Short-term loan commitments decrease cross-sell and upsell…