American Banker Magazine's best stories of 2022

December 30, 2022 1:00 PM

The end of the year is a great time to reflect upon what happened during the previous 12 months.

Flipping through the pages of American Banker Magazine's 2022 editions provides some of that reflection. Each issue includes great features, opinion pieces and more covering some of the biggest challenges the industry faces today.

Here is a look at some of the magazine's best stories of 2022.

Too many fighting for the same business

Banks of all sizes from all over the country are expanding their wealth management operations. But with so much competition, there will eventually be winners and losers. What will determine that is how well each bank attends to their customers' financial needs throughout their lifetime.

Banks go all in on wealth management, but can they all succeed?

Rethinking a business line

State government partnerships with banks to use prepaid cards to distribute government benefits were once hailed as a win. The state government was able to get these funds into the hands of hard-to-reach citizens while pushing the customer service onto the bank partner. But COVID-19 upended that system, and rampant fraud has made banks rethink the risks of these programs.

How government benefits programs became a nightmare for banks

A looming threat to traditional banks?

Under decentralized finance, individuals would be able to complete financial transactions without the participation of a bank or without ever using a country's established currency. If DeFi would ever become widely adopted, it could present an existential threat to traditional financial services.

The revolution will not be centralized

An innovator and visionary

Allan Rayson helped transform Encore Bank — where he is chief innovation officer and chief technology officer — into a fast-growing digital-first institution, earning him praise from his colleagues and the title of American Banker's Digital Banker of the Year for 2022.

"Allan is a visionary," says Burt Hicks, a co-founder of Encore and the chief strategy and growth officer. "He is always challenging us to think outside the box and think about future trends, our expectations of our clients today and what they will be in the future."

The 'visionary' behind a tech-savvy commercial bank

Leading a transformation

Rob Holmes, CEO of Texas Capital Bancshares, has embarked on an extensive makeover of the Dallas company, which previously called off a planned merger with Independent Bank Group. Holmes, who took the job in January 2021, worked to wind down noncore lending businesses, bolster capital ratios, create an operating committee and launch a recruitment campaign to lure in new talent. And that was just during his first nine months on the job.

The turnaround of Texas Capital Bank

For what it’s worth

The list of complaints home appraisers have with their industry is quite long, ranging from a lack of diversity among the ranks of appraisers to not enough appraisers, especially in rural areas, to accusations of racial bias in home assessments. Many blame the Appraisal Foundation, a nonprofit that has the authority to write rules on licenses and best practices, for these problems.

Home appraisers are fed up with how their industry is run

The industry’s top leaders

American Banker's Most Powerful Women in Banking celebrated its 20th anniversary this year with an impressive list of honorees. They included Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup and the first woman to lead a major U.S. bank; Nandita Bakhshi, president and CEO of Bank of the West; and Kelly Coffey, CEO of City National Bank.

The Most Powerful Women in Banking 2022

Debating a digital dollar

Rep. Tom Emmer, a Republican from Minnesota, and Rep. Jim Himes, a Democrat from Connecticut, weighed in on the debate about whether the U.S. should create a digital dollar. Both pieces provide thoughtful commentary about the pros and cons of such a step and are a great read for anyone who is concerned about consumer privacy or the dollar's place as a global reserve currency.

The U.S. must carefully consider the development of a digital dollar

An innovation arms race: The case for a digital dollar