Correspondent Blog

Last week, JP Morgan opened banking’s first presence in the metaverse within the blockchain-based virtual world of Decentraland (go HERE for a primer). The “Onyx Lounge,” named after the Bank’s blockchain product, comes complete with a roaming tiger greeting visitors and an ironic portrait of CEO Jamie Dimon, who has been a crypto naysayer. Now,…

In our article last week (HERE), we discussed how the yield curve is currently flat between the three and 20-year points.  This makes term loan pricing between three years and 20 years virtually identical.  Banks that cannot offer competitively priced term loans out to 20 years may be at a significant disadvantage when competing or…

The reality is that most banks only design less than half a product. Sure, bankers are great at getting the basics right, but there is rarely much thought around 66% of the product’s design after that. In this article, we look at the elements of excellent bank product design and provide some hacks on how…

Community banks refine their products and services to compete for better borrowing relationships – the better borrowing relationships are associated with better credit quality, meaningful cross-sell opportunities, acceptable margins and fee income, and higher return on equity (ROE).  Unfortunately, current market dynamics are making it hard for community banks to outcompete for these better borrowing…

Scoff at the NFT’s all you want, but they are your bank’s future. Not every bank, just those that will survive. All the crypto ads during the Super Bowl are another sign of this. Sure, in part, it’s a hype-driven Pets.com moment. However, like the changes that took place around Web 1.0, Web 3.0 is…

In a recent blog [Here], we argued that banks are almost always in an inferior position by not re-quoting the loan rate with market movement until the loan closes. We think that when banks book a fixed-rate loan, the fixed-rate must be finalized at the closing table; otherwise, banks give borrowers a free option that…

How many “How to Market to Millennials” sessions or “How to Attract Gen-Z” have you sat through? Chances are you were wasting your time focusing on demographic segmentation. Every generation is indeed influenced by different environmental forces such as – war, protests, smartphones, social media, or crypto — but there is little evidence that shows…

In the last 30 years, the total number of bank charters has declined by 65% (as shown in the graph below). There are many reasons for this industry consolidation.  We believe that the most significant factor driving consolidation is that banks tend to underperform using a risk-for-pay bank business model, and banks that have properly…

Wage Gains Move Front and Center for the Fed As you read this, the January employment numbers will have been released and will probably signal a third straight month of sub-250 thousand job gains.  Will that slow the Fed in its newly redirected path to stamp out inflation? No. First, the weakness can easily be…

Casting About for a Fed Rate Path We knew this week would be partially about trying to reach consensus on what the Fed’s rate path this year might look like. On Monday, we were delivered forecasts from the major Wall Street banks and all were pretty different. Some stuck to the three hike scenario but…

Most banks are concerned with their credit portfolio. As credit risk increases with rising rates, the following question arises – is it better to diversify by geography, property type, or business type? Do you focus your marketing dollars and pricing on particular counties, commuter zones, types of commercial real estate loans, or specific C&I industries?…

Community banks have structured fixed-rate loans for many years with an adjustable repricing feature where a loan is fixed for a number of years and then resets based on a stated spread and an index. However, adjustable term loans have several drawbacks for banks, especially in a rising interest rate environment.  One of the most…