As a correspondent banker, Cliff McCauley has spent nearly half his life working with community banks; now, for the next year, the 51-year-old executive will be leading them in Texas.
Mr. McCauley, an executive vice president at Frost National Bank in San Antonio, was elected chairman of the Independent Bankers Association of Texas at the organization's annual meeting this month.
He started with Frost as a loan analyst in 1981 after leaving a job in the grain industry. Two years later, he moved into correspondent banking.
The $13 billion-asset Frost, a unit of Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc., is generally not viewed as a community bank, but Mr. McCauley said he feels comfortable representing small banks because he works so closely with them.
"Banker to banker is a deeper kind of communication," he said. "When you are talking with another banker, you can really drill down to the issues. It allows you to really develop credibility with them because you can't snow another banker."
Mr. McCauley, who has been active in the independent bankers group for about 13 years, spoke with American Banker about his plans for the coming year as chairman.
What has been the best part of working with IBAT?CLIFF McCAULEY: There are two. It's been very enriching to get to know so many bankers of high integrity and getting to know a lot of people I might have not been able to get to know.
And getting to see the voice of community banking preventing bad legislation and getting legislation passed that is good for our industry.
What are your goals as chairman?
McCAULEY: [2008] is a nonlegislative year for Texas, so there won't be any real Texas initiatives that need to be dealt with. So we are going to focus on the national level and things that come out of D.C.
I'd like to see an increase in participation of bankers visiting the halls of Congress in the spring and appoint a committee to get more bankers to make that trip. That's my No. 1 initiative.
Second is we are going to do a tour of 19 cities around the state in the early part of 2008 to take the association to the membership and go out and listen to the bankers and get feedback from them.
What do you see as the biggest challenge facing IBAT this year?
McCAULEY: The biggest challenge of the association coincides with the biggest challenge the industry has, and that is getting the right people in the right position. The biggest challenge is people.
Back in the 1980s, there was a 10-year period when we didn't develop talent because we were in survival mode. That gap in the pipeline is starting to show itself now.
We have got to get some of the young bankers involved a little bit earlier and have peer-to-peer contact through the bankers association. We need to start nurturing them and let them see what other people are doing.
As a correspondent banker, why do you want to represent the independent bankers in Texas?
McCAULEY: For everyone in the state to prosper, we have to have banks of all sizes.
Our footprint is primarily in the metropolitan areas, and that is where we believe our corporate footprint should be. But this great state of Texas has a lot of other areas besides the metros, and for the whole economy to do well there has to be someone supporting those smaller communities.
