Viewpoints: Community Banking
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2010
Viewpoint: Risk-Retention Bill Misdirected
American Banker | Mar 11 As reform moves forward, Congress should focus risk retention on securities and high-risk assets that have been proven to generate high defaults, market imbalances and disruptions.
Viewpoint: Consumers' Chance to Have a Voice at the Fed
American Banker | Mar 11 President Obama now has an historic opportunity to make sure that the small group of governors that runs the Fed represents consumers and not just the banking industry.
Feedback: CU Biz Lending Limit Isn't the Issue
American Banker | Mar 10 [Re "Politics, Economics Clash in CUs' Bid to Lift Cap," March 8]Doubling the credit unions' member business loan limit won't increase small business lending or create jobs.
Viewpoint: Seven Ways to Make $30B Do More for Small Business
American Banker | Mar 9 The most important idea raised at the bankers meeting was not to limit the $30B to community banks, but make available up to half of that money to the roughly 800 CDFIs nationwide.
Column: Make a Friend; Don't Just 'Be Friendly' to Get Sales
American Banker | Mar 4 Call me nuts, but in an increasingly competitive and commoditized industry, "friend" seems like a strategically good place to be. What will you and your team do to make friends this week?
Viewpoint: Help Small Banks Help Small Businesses
American Banker | Feb 25 Supporting the ideal of a bank on the corner that knows every customer is not merely some nostalgic notion of America. Rather, it is a necessity for the success of our local economy.
Column: Take Financial Education Beyond 101
American Banker | Feb 25 Financial institutions need to move beyond brochures and classes if they are serious about improving their customers' financial capability, and they are well positioned to do so.
Viewpoint: Community Banks Must Diversify
American Banker | Feb 10 In this age of record bank failures, the deposit/loan model should be shelved for good. Success lies in delivering a wider array of financial services to gain a stronger client bond.
Viewpoint: Why Lenders Can't Do Workouts
American Banker | Feb 4 While regional and national banks with large portfolios have workout departments that take over distressed commercial loans, community banks do not.
Column: Retail Banks Losing Grip on Customers
American Banker | Feb 2 Over the past 20 years, a range of companies have been steadily making a grab for businesses that had once been the purview of banks.
Feedback: Florida Bank Too Expensively Closed
American Banker | Jan 27 If you think the FBOP story was interesting ["Legislators Call FDIC Too Hasty in FBOP Closure," Jan. 22], you should look into the failure of a true community bank, Peoples First Community Bank in Panama City, Fla.
Letter to the Editor: CUs Need Alternative Capital Legislation, Not Conversions
American Banker | Jan 13
To the Editor:
In his Jan. 8 Viewpoint, "A Better Charter Alternative for Credit Unions", Alan D. Theriault recommends rules that more aggressively promote the conversion of credit unions to banks, citing capital pressures as the reason. But his call for credit unions to give up their charter flies in the face of today's economic realities and public sentiment.
Viewpoint: A Better Charter Alternative for Credit Unions
American Banker | Jan 8 The question of long-term viability is what gets progressive managers looking at the bank charter. And, access to the capital markets may be critically linked to viability.
Viewpoint: Public Didn't Get a Clear Tarp Message
American Banker | Jan 8 The failure of our leaders to communicate the true nature of the CPP, and the media's mischaracterization of it, did severe and unnecessary damage to confidence in our nation's banking industry.
2009
Viewpoint: Martin On Retailing - Putting Your Best (Web) Foot Forward
American Banker | Dec 30 Banks that are not cognizant of how many customers begin "shopping" their organizations on their Web sites are not paying enough attention.
Viewpoint: Home Loan Bank Harm in Reg Reform
American Banker | Dec 9 Now, in the name of reform, this bill would impose new requirements and penalties on the Home Loan banks that would make them less effective no matter what the economic climate.
Viewpoint: Martin on Retailing - Leading with a Sales Pitch, Striking Out
American Banker | Dec 4 Companies choosing to begin customer interactions with sales pitches are establishing whose priorities matter most — theirs.
Viewpoint: Wall Street-Main Street Divide's a Gaping Issue
American Banker | Nov 20 Banks and bankers have got to make every effort to restore the industry's reputation. There is no silver bullet to accomplish this, but here are some steps that would help.
Viewpoint: Keys to Effective Financial Education
American Banker | Nov 13 Properly structured financial education programs can and do help people make wise decisions about their personal finances. These six components are key.
Viewpoint: Martin on Retailing - Avoiding Message Overload in Branches
American Banker | Nov 6 During a period when more pressure than usual is on us to cross-sell products, the temptation to pile on the marketing is natural. But in some situations, saying "less is more" has real merit.
Viewpoint: Improve Credit Product Access, Quality
American Banker | Oct 30 With 100 million underbanked consumers, credit product access will have to meet consumer needs, be transparent, be fairly priced, help consumers build credit, and have solid underwriting.
Viewpoint: Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Run
American Banker | Oct 28 I support the Treasury Department's announcement of core principles for regulatory capital standards. Higher capital standards will enhance the stability of the financial system.
Viewpoint: Fostering Trust: There's Ample Loyalty to Start
American Banker | Oct 21 Instead of taking a wait-and-see approach, financial institutions should be in the business of connecting with their customers with responsible and transparent communications.
Letter to the Editor: Report Flawed on Irwin Banks Sale
American Banker | Sep 30
To the Editor:
The article from Sept. 25 on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s agreement with First Financial Bank to take over the Irwin banks ['Acquirer Impresses with Terms Won in Failure Buy'] fails to capture how the process works.
Viewpoint: Time to Help Community Banks in Crisis
American Banker | Sep 18 These institutions did not cause the current financial crisis; their woes are the product of failures triggered by the activities of under- and unregulated entities and entities with more leverage.
Viewpoint: Small Businesses, Toxic Loans Are a Bad Couple
American Banker | Sep 11 Various findings indicate a link between small-business owners with mortgages that are resetting and spiking and the financial distress precipitating the small-bank failures.
Viewpoint: Martin on Retailing: Managing with the Player-Coach Model
American Banker | Sep 4 Take a minute this week to make sure your branch managers remember that, in our increasingly demanding branch environments, coaching shouldn't be a spectator sport.
Viewpoint: Main Street Turns to Bernanke
American Banker | Sep 2 After a vote of confidence from President Obama, will Chairman Bernanke focus on those who live from paycheck to paycheck and the small businesses that are the key to the economic recovery?
Viewpoint: No Accounting for Fair-Value Benefit
American Banker | Aug 21 Here's why fair-value accounting is not good for community banks.
Viewpoint: Marketing Online Applications
American Banker | Aug 14 Advancements in technology have made online account opening and funding affordable. To generate maximum ROI, the new offering has to be marketed correctly.
Viewpoint: Good Will Can Be a Sales Mind-Changer
American Banker | Aug 7 It's often the basic and simple good will gestures that generate the kind of awareness and positive personal impressions that 'marketing campaigns' can seldom deliver.
