Tales from Community Banking's Trenches

Bumper Crop

"The yields have been better than we expected and the size of the portfolio has been bigger than we expected," said Neil Hayslett, chief administrative officer of $569 million-asset F&M Bank in Timberville, Va. Hayslett was discussing the bank's recently added indirect auto lending business.

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Seizing the Day

"HSBC has been sending letters to their customers saying that if they don't have an international business, they don't want them," said Stuart Lubow, chairman, president and CEO of $909 million-asset Community National Bank in Great Neck, N.Y. Lubow was discussing how his bank has been stealing customers from big banks.

Old Nemesis

"We've got a credit union problem," said Doug Hultquist, president and CEO of $2.5 billion-asset QCR Holdings in Moline, Ill. Hultquist was referring to an unnamed credit union in one of his markets that, he says, been driving down pricing on loans.

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Needing to Downsize

"A lot of us have these legacy office networks and we're going to have to do something with them," said Kim Davis, chief financial officer of $2.5 billion-asset Capital City Bank Group in Tallahassee, Fla. Davis was discussing how his bank's branches are too large, which is costing the bank money.

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Learning More Tricks

"We're really not into in one-trick ponies. We're out chasing relationships, not transactions," said Harvey Glick, chairman of $428 million-asset Bank of the Carolinas in Mocksville, N.C., discussing how the bank is trying to improve its loan-to-deposit ratio.

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Making Customers Stick

"If you've got to unwind all your online bill-pay accounts, that's more of a hassle," said Patrick Frawley, CEO of $3.1 billion-asset Community & Southern Bank in Atlanta. Frawley was saying that one way to prevent current customers from bolting to other banks when rates rise, as they search for higher CD rates, is to get them signed up for additional products.

Stressful Stress Testing

"The only thing examiners care about right now is capital: How much do you have? How do you plan to get it, if A, B or C happens? What will you do if you can't get it?" said Ron Paul, CEO of $3.9 billion-asset Eagle Bancorp in Bethesda, Md. Eagle is in the midst of an examination.