John Reosti is a reporter covering community banks in particular and the financial services industry in general. He also focuses on the Small Business Administration, the National Credit Union Administration Board and issues connected to the CECL accounting standard.
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Several bankers left a high-profile meeting with the Financial Accounting Standards Board feeling more comfortable with a plan to change reserve accounting. The meeting was thrown into an abrupt recess after a FASB director and a bank lobbyist clashed over recent statements by FASB's chairman linking community banks to the financial crisis.
February 4 -
All it takes to bridge the divide between and credit unions and banks - and lawmakers on opposite ends of the political spectrum - is a controversial accounting change that threatens to harm members of both industries.
February 3 -
Trade groups for both industries put aside differences to seek congressional signatures on a letter urging FASB to reconsider its controversial proposal requiring early-stage loan-loss provisioning.
February 2 -
The company knew it would soon expand outside of Michigan, but management thought it might buy a $2 billion-asset bank based in Indiana. Talmer Bancorp was much bigger than that and it instead offered opportunity in Ohio.
January 28 -
BOK Financial in Oklahoma plans to further increase its reserves to cover loan losses amid the energy slump, emphasize health care and other non-energy sectors, and expand in markets like Kansas City that are less reliant on oil.
January 27 -
Talmer agreed to sell itself in a privately negotiated deal that values the company at 150% of its tangible book value. For some analysts and investors, the company should have considered an auction or not selling at all.
January 26 -
The American Bankers Association has gone public with its issues with a plan to require banks to record loan-loss provisions when they originate a loan. Bankers are worried that the rule will eventually force smaller institutions to use costly modeling programs to comply.
January 22 -
Credit unions will have 90 days to comment on the controversial OTR methodologya long-awaited victory for NASCUS and state charters.
January 21 -
Management has also been allocating more resources to other markets to add loans and boost fee income in businesses such as card services and wealth management. Such moves are designed to offset fallout from an energy book that shrunk by 14% last year.
January 19 -
A number of community banks have gotten into government-backed small-business lending by buying firms or poaching talent. While the business seems lucrative now, there are concerns that too many banks may be jumping into the pool.
January 19
