Correspondent Blog

On our path to describing the Bank Strategy Cube framework, we laid down the four horizontal layers (HERE). In this article, we tackle the vertical layers that complete the cube. Where the horizontal layers pertain to strategy development at different parts of the Bank, the vertical layers provide the foundation for execution. These vertical layers…

A good bank strategy is a multi-layered cube. In this article, we present the four horizontal layers and then follow this article up with the vertical layers to round out the construction of the basic framework that can be used to set any bank’s strategic planning. The reality is that many banks fail to plan…

As we have discussed before, your bank is a manufacture of credit, liabilities, and fee services. Whether you know it or not, you have a certain production capacity for each.  In today’s current environment, some banks are running at full and even overcapacity while some banks are operating at a 50% utilization level. The question…

As we say – every bank must pay for growth. The most obvious case is when a bank hires staff to bring in and service new customers. People. marketing, branches, technology, capital, and many other items are all inputs or investments into growth. The need to grow is probably the single biggest driver for bank…

More than a year ago, the Federal Reserve changed Regulation D, Section 19 to allow an unlimited amount of withdrawals or transfers from a customer’s savings or money market account. Most banks immediately changed their policies to pass on this freedom to their customers. Some banks proactively left the limit in place or modified the…

We looked at the average NIM and ROE for all operating banks in the country (4,973 of them) for the past ten years. We started with the thesis that the wider a bank’s NIM is, the more profitable the bank would be. We also looked at the NIM and ROE for almost 11,000 defunct banks…

We have published multiple articles, economic bulletins, and podcasts on inflation (including here and here).  In this article, we will not make a case for or against the market’s expectation of inflation.  We will assume current gauges such as CPI and PCE accurately reflect the current inflation environment (many arguments can be made for why…

One deficiency at most banks is that while there is a business line owner, there is rarely a product manager (PM) of a particular product such as commercial loans, demand deposits, treasury management, or even digital banking. As a result, most banks roll out a new product and then move on. Neglected, products quickly become…

We recently interviewed a top commercial loan producer at a regional bank who explained how he uses three common principles to beat out his competition. We want to share his principles, philosophies, and techniques in hopes that it might serve as an aid for some of your new relationship managers and a reminder for some…

Both the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie) have aggressive multifamily lending programs and comprise the bulk of the market. Freddie’s total multifamily finance activity in Q1/21 was $14B, and Fannie Mae’s was $21.5B.  Some bankers complain that taxpayers’ dollars are creating an unfair playing field for financing…

At SouthState Bank, we are using a tested strategy to increase loan revenue by 20% and decrease interest rate risk by 80%.  We are achieving this result on our better credit quality commercial loans without any gimmicks or confusion to the borrower.  We have developed a technique and a loan structure to assist bankers who:…

We review and analyze two shareholder letters every year: Berkshire Hathaway’s and JP Morgan Chase’s (JPM).  We feel that as community bankers, we can learn much from Jamie Dimon (Chairman and CEO of JPM) and from Warren Buffet.  Recently JPM released its 66-page 2020 shareholder letter, and as usual, it was full of insight that…