Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

On February 23, 2010, I had an opportunity to testify before the Los Angeles CIty Council's Jobs and Business Development Committee.  Councilmember Richard Alarcon is proposing a city law that will divest public funds from banks that do not have a strong record of social responsibility.  As a community bank that is extremely active in the low- and moderate-income communities of East L.A. and Santa Ana, we are 100% in favor of this piece of legislation.  The proposal requires banks to jumps through additional hoops, which we are not keen on.  However, the spirit of the legislation is something I support.

I have included below the written testimony given to the Committee.  Bottom line, city councils should reward with deposits those banks that are doing all the right things.  Have a read.

Written Statement

Jobs and Business Development Committee

Hearing on Council File Number CF 09-0234

Jesse Torres

President and Chief Executive Officer

Pan American Bank

February 23, 2010

Chairman Alarcon and members of the Committee, I am pleased to submit testimony to the Los Angeles Committee on Jobs and Business Development on the topic of community re-investment and the potential divestiture of City funds from banks that have not demonstrated a positive track record of community responsibility.

My name is Jesse Torres and I am the President and Chief Executive Officer of Pan American Bank. We are a 45 year-old Latino-owned community bank headquartered in East Los Angeles. We are California’s oldest Latino-owned bank and the second oldest Latino-owned bank in the United States. Pan American Bank was established in 1964 by Romana Acosta Banuelos, the first Latina Treasurer of the United States. Pan American Bank was founded for the express purpose of serving the unbanked and underbanked Latino communities of Los Angeles and Orange counties.

As of December 31, 2009, $27 million of Pan American Bank’s $32 million loan portfolio was comprised of residential mortgages. Nearly every residential loan was made to low- or moderate-income borrowers. Pan American Bank’s mission is to transform and empower Latino communities through banking relationships built on trust, service, respect, communication, and guidance. Consistent with that mission, in 2009 Pan American Bank did not foreclose on a single borrower and modified 100% of borrower modification requests.

My testimony today is going to focus on the role community banks play in stabilizing communities during difficult times - a role that is largely ignored by larger regional and national organizations that do not have a close tie to specific communities and as such, do not feel compelled or are unable to assist communities that need help the most.

During the mid part of the last decade, money was cheap. Large regional and national banking organizations utilized cadres of local loan brokers and the Internet to make use of the vast amount of cheap dollars and to grow their organizations to unseen levels. As the supply of traditional borrowers dried up, alternative borrowers were cultivated - many of whom were ill-prepared for the challenges of homeownership but were intoxicated by the dream of owning their own home. Unfortunately, when the party was over, many of these financial institutions and their armies of brokers were nowhere to be found and borrowers were left to deal with the hangover effect all on their own.

As a seasoned banker I understand the economic and financial rationale for seeking economies of scale and market share. As a community banker, however, I also know the long-term damage that is inflicted on a community when financial institutions focus solely on short-term profit and ignore the long-term financial and economic health of the community. 

For the past two years our communities in Los Angeles – particularly the low- and moderate-income communities, have been decimated by foreclosures. Initially lured by the dream of homeownership, many in our communities have been living a nightmare that began when they were offered financial products that made no sense for the borrower or the banks. Fortunately for the too-big-to-fail banks, relief came in the form of federal bailouts. Unfortunately for the borrowers, the too-big-to-fail banks were unable or unwilling to do the same.

I understand that too-large-to-fail organizations maintain highly complex financial arrangements with mortgage investors and other parties that may make modifications difficult. However, based upon these organizations’ influence, their history of financial innovation and inventory of immensely talented human capital as well as the modest cost of mortgage modifications relative to the high cost of foreclosures, I do not understand the hesitation to provide relief – particularly in light of the billions of dollars of public bailout funds that these large, too-big-to-fail firms received.

Pan American Bank is only a $40 million community bank and has very limited human and financial resources when compared to the too-big-to-fail banks. However, Pan American Bank has a perfect record when it comes to mortgage modification requests. Most of us can agree that the economic downturn is temporary and that jobs will return and income will increase in the future. Pan American Bank believes strongly that its 45 year existence is directly tied to the community’s support of the Bank. As such, now is the time for bankers to return the favor by treating customers with dignity and respect and by finding ways to assist customers in need.

Unlike too-big-to-fail banks, community banks are vested in the local communities they serve. Community banks survive and thrive only if the local community thrives. Community banks such as Pan American Bank owe their success to the community. Without local community support, community banks would cease to exist. As such, community banks are the first to assist the community and the last to say “no.” Community banks cannot ignore the needs of its local community, as opposed to large regional and national banks that can shift focus from one region to another. Community banks are woven into the fabric of the local community. Through good times and bad, community banks serve the needs and are the first to do what can be done to stabilize and improve the local communities.

City councils are also vested in the communities they govern. Cities thrive only if their communities thrive. As such, city councils and community banks share common goals and serve common constituents. Large regional, national and multinational banks with headquarters outside the community have no vested interest in the local community other than to generate income and export deposits to the most financially attractive region.

Given the mission of city councils, consideration must be given to how to best deploy deposits to enhance the standard of living of the residents served. Based on the similarities between city councils and community banks, city councils must include local community banks when determining how to allocate public funds. City council and community bank survival is dependent upon successfully meeting the needs of the community served. This is not the case for large regional and national banks that are able to change geographic focus based upon factors such as return on investment. As such, social responsibility is an inherent characteristic of community banks. A characteristic that may or may not exist within large regional and national too-big-to-fail banks.

If there is one lesson that should be taken away from this troubled economic period it is the effect that banks can have on stabilizing communities during severe economic downturns. Over the course of the past two years entire neighborhoods have been evicted by banks unwilling to make the effort to provide relief. The result is the further collapse of neighborhoods and the financial and psychological ruin of families whose dreams were quickly turned into nightmares.

City councils must consider the record of all financial institutions holding public funds. City councils must divest such funds from institutions with poor or superficial community reinvestment performance. City councils should use the power of their deposits to reward those institutions that act in a manner consistent with the council’s social responsibility objectives and that address the most urgent community needs.

Cities will benefit by rewarding banks that take social responsibility seriously. While certain large regional and national banks may provide benefit to certain areas within their footprint, the community bank model is specifically tailored to meeting the needs of the local community served and to provide financial and economic stability to the community. As such, community banks must be rewarded for their effort and noncompliant banks must be penalized for their lack of support. Within the banking industry, deposits provide a powerful incentive for compliance. A policy that rewards socially responsible banks will create substantive benefit for the city and its constituents. Thank you.

The Latino Middle Class

Back in December I read an article on LATimes.com about the Latino middle class.  In the article entitled "L.A. Needs a Healthy Latino Middle Class," Hector Tobar highlights three recent reseach studies from USC, UCLA and the Pew Research Center.  All three focused on Latinos and all three were released in either November or December 2009 (odd, no?).

 The three studies are contained below:

• The State of Latino Los Angeles - UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center - November 2009
• Between Two Worlds: How Young Latinos Come of Age in America - Pew Research Center - December 2009
• The Mexican Origin Middle Class in Los Angeles - USC - December 2009

According to Mr. Tobar, Latinos make up a plurality of both Los Angeles County and Greater Los Angeles.  "With this year's census likely to show a Latino majority in both the city and county of Los Angeles, it's obvious that our collective future is linked to the social health of that group of people."

Mr. Tobar highlights the December 2009 report of Dr. Jody Agius Vallejo.  The USC researcher looked at the "pathways to success" that allow even people of humble immigrant origins to reach middle-class status. Her work rebuts the widespread perception that Mexican immigrants and their offspring are following a trajectory of downward mobility into a permanent underclass.

Dr. Vallejo's study focused on individuals that possessed at least three of these four characteristics:

1. College educations,
2. Higher than average income,
3. White-collar jobs, and
4. Home ownership.

According to Dr. Vallejo, each person who achieves social mobility improves the overall well-being of the community. Social climbers show others behind them the way forward.  It is these individuals upon which the future of Los Angeles hinges.

According to Dr. Dowell Myers, a healthy middle class with Latin American roots is critical to the entire country's future too. This is the thesis of Dr. Myers book, "Immigrants and Boomers: Forging a New Social Contract for the Future of America."

As I read Mr. Tobar's article it reminded me that Pan American Bank is not just a community bank.  It is also a tool for the families of the communities we serve to use to bootstrap themselves into the middle class.  Apart from viewing our business as a collection of assets, liabilities and equity, we need to view it as a platform from which transformation can occur. 

When I was in school one of the first lessons I was taught was the importance of the mission statement.  Pan American Bank's mission is to transform and empower Latino communities through banking relationships built on trust, service, respect, communication, and guidance. This means we have a direct responsibility to operate our business in a manner that is consistent with that mission.  There is much that we as a community bank and community leader can do to contribute to the improvement of our communities.  I am happy to say that every day we are closer to fulfilling our mission.

Bank, A Four-Letter Word

Sometime around the time I was a sophomore or junior at UCLA I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in banking.  At the time, I envisioned something along the lines of investment banking.  It was around 1988-1989.  I remember sometime afterwards reading about Michael Milken, Drexel Burnham Lambert and a whole lot of chatter about greed, abuse and other related activities.  It was right about that time that I decided I instead wanted to work for a regulatory agency like the SEC or the FDIC.  I graduated at the tail end of the savings and loan debacle and joined the Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as a bank examiner.

It was during my time with the OCC that I started to get an understanding of the differences between mega banks (those that are today too-big-to-fail) and "true" community banks.  I will forever be thankful to the OCC for giving me the opportunity to experience examinations at the largest banks in the country as well as the smallest.  These opportunities served to shape my career as a community banker.

If you know anything about "real" community banks you know that they are not run by Wall Street types.  You won't find them having a power breakfast with Donald Trump or meeting with Tim Geithner for dinner.  The CEOs of "real" community banks know banking and they know how their banks can and do best serve the local businesses and families within their communities.  The CEOs of "real" community banks know the owner of the local strip mall down the street and its many tenants.  The CEO of "real" community banks greet you at the little league fundraiser or the local Rotary Club or chaperone at the local high school dance.

So you can imagine how sickened I felt when I read the results of the 2009 Edelman Trust Barometer.  The report found that in no country is trust in a more dismal state than in the U.S., where government, business and media are not trusted to do what is right. But more specifically, in the U.S., in just one year the trust in banks among 35-to-64 year olds dropped nearly in half, from 69 percent to only 36 percent.  And the worst part of it is that no matter how much community banks have done to support local businesses and families, all banks have been painted with the same brush that should be specifically reserved for those banks too-big-to-fail.

Last week, in an attempt to escape banking, I picked up a copy of the recent issue of Sports Illustrated (January 25, 2010).  The cover showed my hero Brett Favre on the cover.  Excitedly, I began reading the issue (note: I have an odd habit of reading magazines from the back to the front...don't ask).  Within two minutes, Selena Roberts in "Coming Clean: It's Complicated" starting taking pot shots at bankers in an article that was supposed to talk about baseball, steroids and Mark McGwire ("He must calibrate his words like an artful banker").  Are you kidding me!  Is there no escape!

Banking was once a trusted and respected business. Bankers were the pillars of their local communities.  No longer.  After Congress rewarded mismanagement and bad behavior by banks and financial institutions that are too-big-to-fail by bailing them out with more than a trillion dollars of taxpayer money the public has become outraged.  Unfortunately, most people and the media never had the opportunity I had to work for the OCC.  They don't know that the differences between "real" community banks and too-big-to-fail mega banks are significant.  Night and day significant.  Black and white significant.  Life and death significant.  Right and wrong significant.

One of the biggest challenges for "real" community bankers, then, is to regain public trust and to make clear to the community that all banks are not cut from the same cloth.  "Real" community bankers must build an understanding that community banks provide not only vital financial products and services but also serve social needs.

Directors, CEOs and senior executives of "real" community banks need to show their communities that they are accountable, responsible and good citizens. They need to show appreciation for being able to continue in business thanks to the patronage of the community. And, they need to continue to show how "real" community banks differ from the too-big-to-fail mega banks.

Financial Illiteracy is a Disease

A recent viewpoint article by Laura Fisher in the December 2009 issue of Community Banker Magazine stated that many experts compare increasing financial literacy to decreasing obesity rates.  According to the article, both decreasing obesity and increasing financial literacy have behavioral and educational components and a similar goal: using education to help individuals form good habits and/or change the ones that are destructive and often deep-seated.

I have been teaching youth financial literacy classes for over 15 years.  I have done it on behalf of banks, religious organizations and nonprofits such as Operation Hope.  In all the time I have donated my time to teaching financial literacy it never occurred to me to compare financial illiteracy to a disease.  But after thinking about it, I agree.

Ms. Fisher states that "financial education has become our nation's No. 1 defense against another financial crisis."  While it took two to tango - the misinformed and financially illiterate consumer and the overly aggressive financial institutions - removing one of the two from the equation would have eliminated a lot of the pain and suffering. 

While I do not believe that all the damage would have been avoided, I do believe that a more informed consumer would have prevented many of the side effects from this period of easy credit.  Let me make it very clear that the substantial majority of financial institutions - particularly community banks - were not at fault.  It was a small network of large players - most of which are no longer with us - that created the program.  The rest of us - especially the community banks - are now unfairly guilty by association.  But that is a story and rant for a different day.

So how do we as a nation use financial literacy to defend against another similar crisis?  Whose plate should this sit on?  Elected officials?  Educators?  Nonprofits?  Financial institutions?  All of the above!  Creating a financially literate America will be a very difficult task that will require complete and total collaboration.  It will require a long-term strategy that holds all participants accountable for success.  It must also include all segments of society - from low-income participants to those with silver spoons.  Financial literacy is a learned trait that everyone needs.

Ms. Fisher makes another strong point when she says that "a one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate for a diverse population with different learning styles."  Some people learn through listening, some through watching, some through doing, and most through a combination.  As such, we need to use different ways to deliver the needed information.

If you follow Pan American Bank you've heard that we recently partnered with a nonprofit called LatinoGraduate.net.  Through this partnership Pan American Bank is providing LatinoGraduate.net with rent-free space to establish a "new media" studio.  Part of LatinoGraduate's mission is to establish an advisory board that will guide the creation of financial literacy curriculum that will be distributed to schools and homes across the Country via the Internet.  As of the date of this blog posting the advisory committee included Pan American Bank as well as financial literacy thought leaders from Texas State University, California State University and the University of Notre Dame as well as others from financial institutions and media companies.

While my team and I will continue to conduct face-to-face training within our community, the delivery of financial literacy training via the Internet provides a second approach which reinforces the lessons of financial literacy. 

Which brings me to the next topic: financial literacy is not a one-and-done activity.  While I applaud educators that allow bankers to visit their schools to provide lessons in financial literacy, they have to do more.  Just as history, math, science and the other subjects span extended periods of time, so too should lessons in financial literacy.  To often I visit schools that do not ask for follow up.

My advice to community-minded individuals is to create a collaborative committee comprised of elected officials, financial institutions, nonprofits, educators and other stakeholders.  The collaborative should work together to create a community-based effort to provide ongoing financial literacy education to the local community.  Begin with the 2006 National Strategy for Financial Literacy.  Leverage the tools provided by the FDIC's Money Smart program.   Work with organizations such as Operation Hope.  Through these efforts we can eliminate the disease that is financial illiteracy.

A Sort Of New Year's Resolution

The posting below was taken from an email sent by me on January 1, 2010, to Bank stakeholders.  I thought I would also share it here since it contains some information worth sharing.

# # #

When I joined Pan American Bank in June, I stated that I wanted to make Pan American Bank THE bank of East Los Angeles. Having been born in Boyle Heights and raised in East L.A., I jumped at the opportunity to come back to East Los with the tools I had acquired working around the country. The bulletpoints above are not new year's resolutions because they will not be accomplished in one year. They are, however, goals that I have established for the Bank to work on. Not by itself, but in collaboration with others in the community. We're a very small bank...but with the right partnerships we can create tremendous change.

I know you are busy and have little time for touchy-feely e-mails such as this. But please indulge me for three minutes as I share what 2010 will bring to East Los Angeles from Pan American Bank's perspective.



1) LatinoGraduate.net: In January, LatinoGraduate.net, a new media nonprofit focused on getting Latino youth into college and keeping them there until graduation, will be moving into Pan American Bank's corporate headquarters. The Bank will be donating a portion of its space to permit LatinoGraduate.net to tape and broadcast its shows. The Bank will host a Open House Celebration on Friday, February 5, 2010, from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm. RSVP to Tony Ramirez if you did not receive an e-mail invitation.

2) VELA: January brings a second nonprofit to Pan American Bank. VELA, an East Los Angeles-based powerhouse nonprofit, will be operating a technical assistance center from the Bank's headquarters. The program will provide technical assistance to both nonprofits and small businesses. This effort will be a collaboration between not only VELA and Pan American Bank, but many other organizations that will bring essential resources to bear.

3) Institute for Nonprofit Leadership: Pan American Bank, VELA and the Riordan Volunteer Leadership Development Program will launch in September 2010 the Institute for Nonprofit Leadership. The Institute for Nonprofit Leadership will train young professionals from eastern Los Angeles County on how to serve as leaders of nonprofits, with a focus on serving on nonprofits located in eastern Los Angeles County. The Riordan program has been extremely successful with participants from downtown and the westside and will now collaborate with Pan American Bank and VELA to roll out a similar program at the Bank's corporate headquarters in East Los Angeles.

4) Financial Services Advisory Council of East Los Angeles: In January the Bank will kick of its Financial Services Advisory Council of East Los Angeles ("FSAC-ELA"). The role of the FSAC-ELA will be to bring together local stakeholders to develop strategies that address the shortcomings cited in the FDIC's recent Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households. As the only bank headquartered in East Los Angeles, Pan American Bank is taking a leadership role in working with the offices of elected officials, nonprofits and residents, to bring mainstream banking services to as many East Los Angeles households as possible. The FSAC-ELA will be comprised of representatives from throughout the East Los Angeles community.

5) UCLA School of Urban Planning: At the end of this email is an e-mail to me from Raul Lugo. Raul is a graduate student in the UCLA School of Urban Planning. Raul will graduate in June. He and a team of classmates have formed a company that will be attacking some of the issues we face in East Los Angeles. Raul and his associates will bring to East Los Angeles energy, enthusiasm and a new set of eyes. When I was fresh out of UCLA someone took a chance on me and provided me with the mentorship that helped me succeed in my professional career. I hope to do the same. But more than that, I encourage you to read his email and engage him in thought provoking discussion. Only through such discussion will issues and challenges surface and get worked out. If the Bank has any shot at achieving the goals above, it will only come through collaboration.

There is much more in the works but I'll save that for another day. While 2009 was a challenging year for banks, it also provided tremendous opportunities. As a bank we have a lot of work ahead of us. Just the daily challenge of bringing in new deposits and making new loans is enough to fill our plates. But Pan American Bank is not just any bank. It has a mission that is unique and a story that needs to be told if we are to be THE BANK OF EAST LOS ANGELES.

Before I conclude, I would like to publicly congratulate the team at Pan American Bank. In 2009, the Bank did not foreclose on a single borrower and in 2008 it had only one foreclosure. While the Bank did modify some loans, the Bank's goal was to do everything possible to keep our customers in their homes. We don't know what 2010 will bring but we look to have similar successes this time next year.

Best wishes to you all in 2010. On behalf of the employees, shareholders and customers of Pan American Bank, Thank You for your continued support. May all of our goals be achieved this year so that we can look back on this year with a smile.

Jesse Torres
President and CEO
Pan American Bank
3626 East First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90063
(323) 264-3310
(323) 264-8057 fax

"The mission of Pan American Bank is to transform and empower Latino communities through banking relationships built on trust, service, respect, communication, and guidance."

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: raul lugo
Date: Thu, Dec 31, 2009 at 8:14 PM
Subject: New Year Resolution
To: jtorres@panamericanbank.us

Jesse,

We will create a movement with inventive and diverse approaches to the rebuilding of our community. This will be done through targeted investments, which will need to be meticulously and assertively planned for success due to the present scarcity of resources. Our efforts are aimed to creatively effect change in East Los Angeles. These investments will be made in a broad range of areas such as housing, small business formation and development, and economic development at large.

Investors look first for the formal investment targets due to their familiarity. The traditional channels offer a formal infrastructure friendly to business that simply does not exist in the inner cities of America. As a result, these communities suffer from diminished services and struggling institutions. Private investment in these communities often comes from the people who live there themselves. These entrepreneurial ventures emerge as a result of necessity due to the lack of support and disinterest from mainstream investment. The goal is to identify many investment targets with a strong potential for profits. We need to create a new paradigm of profitable, sound and constructive investments outside of traditional channels. We need strong leaders who have decided that they will take the chance with us and place their valuable investment in this energetic community.

We are currently learning the limits of government involvement. California faces bankruptcy amidst the worst budget crisis, and public funds are simply insufficient to meet the needs of the population. The aid and subsidies that trickles down through a complicated bureaucratic process is proving to be ineffective. This means our team will have to shift the level of sophistication and inventiveness to be the group that seeks investments for the community of East Los Angeles.

The business sector is an integral partner in the economic development of East Los Angeles. As grants and donations diminish in economic downturns like the one we are experiencing, agencies that seek to fill gaps in services need to tap into their entrepreneurial capabilities to survive. Financial institutions are of particular importance because they need to broaden their perspective on the types of investments they are willing to consider. Promoting small business creation, we can create sound and profitable deals, even with people who have little or no education about conventional business establishments. In this process, we will need to inform the population about the importance of civic participation to build transparency, and trust through dialogue between different community stakeholders that would have otherwise never exchanged ideas with one another. We will harness a conscious smart growth movement in East Los Angeles to make the United States free enterprise system responsive to the needs of the community by building a resilient and sustainable network to support new enterprises.

Happy new year, let's make it a good one.

Raul

Oh No You Didn't!

Before I get hot and heavy in this post, let me make one thing clear - I have nothing but respect for Wells Fargo Bank. I admire its leadership and I have many friends within its ranks that I consider best in breed.

I was recently paging through an industry magazine that featured an interview with a top ranking officer at Wells Fargo. This article was essentially a profile of a very accomplished Wells Fargo banker. As I read the article I was feeling good about this person and Wells Fargo Bank. Then it happened...

"Leading the COMMUNITY BANK [emphasis added]...blah blah blah."  What?! Community bank?  Wells Fargo?  At that point I let out a loud "are you kidding me!?" (I figured it was loud because everyone outside my office was staring at me and wondering if I was upset with someone on the phone).  "Nothing to see here folks.  Get back to work."

Again, I have no problem with Wells Fargo. In fact, thoughout this whole mess I think they have managed their affairs better than most of the big guys. I love their marketing, their strategy and they seem to train well (two of my top performers are Wells Fargo alumni). I do, however, have a problem with a bank that calls itself a community bank that has total assets of $548 billion, $325 billion in deposits and 3,429 branches in 24 states (as of 9-30-09).

Unfortunately for me there is no clear cut definition of what "community bank" means. And as such, I can't call out Wells on it.  And I'm pretty sure they know that.  In a twisted way, I suppose I appreciate that.

Back in October 1997, Steve Cocheo tried nailing down a definition in his ABA Banking Journal article, "Musing toward a definition of community banking." According to Steve, "community banking" can include mega-banks as well as local home-grown institutions. It all depends on your point of view and interpretation.  As a small bank operator that is deeply vested in its community, I find that fact very disappointing.

In my perfect world community banks are not titles bestowed simply for doing good deeds in a community.  To me and many of my community banker friends (as defined by me of course), community banks are just that, banks that serve a particular community. In my opinion, if your footprint spans the western United States you are not a "community bank." I don't care how you divide the empire. You're not a community bank. Plain and simple.

Over the past year and a half the banking industry has taken it on the chin. Surveys conducted during this period have shown a steady reduction in consumer trust of banks. With billions in bailouts, foreclosures at record levels and the whole regulatory reform mess, it is clear why consumers are not happy. While I will agree that some bankers took a few liberties with consumers, for the most part bankers and their banks were also brought along for the ride. In particular, community banks, who generally stayed away from the practices that created the whole mess.

The media and others are starting to recognize the role that community banks played or did not play. Not only did community banks generally not play a role in creating the banking debacle, they have generally been the only group lending during all the chaos. So when some regional bank comes along and calls itself a "community bank," I'm sorry, but I take offense.  I respect you, but I take offense.

My problem is that community banking cannot be easily defined.  For me, community banking means a bank that is focused on a particular "community."  For example, I have three branches - two in East Los Angeles and one in Santa Ana.  Those two communities are my focus.  Nice and tight.  When I can call the entire state of California my community I think I've gone beyond community banking.  Perhaps a better guide is how much time your bank management spends on Wall Street versus Main Street. 

I will be the first to admit that I don't know the right definition of what makes a community bank.  But something I've learned as a banker is that your gut is usually right.  And on this one my gut tells me that if you run a bank with branches in nearly half of all U.S. states, you're not a community bank.



What do you think?  What does community bank mean?  Let me know.  I'm interested in hearing your opinion.  Maybe I'm all wrong on this.

Stop Acting Like A Bank. You're Embarrassing Me!

As I was paging through the November 2009 issue of Bank Technology News I came across the following news blurb:

"A poll of 18 to 29 year olds in the U.S. funded by Microsoft found that about half feel the banking industry is in touch with their generation; and about 60 percent say their level of trust in financial services has decreased over the past year. When asked how banks can improve trust, 27 percent said blogs would be very important, while 42 percent said it would be somewhat important. And 75 percent were in favor of monthly email updates."

As you can imagine, I was pleasantly surprised to know that we were on the right track when we decided to launch this blog.

I have been a banker for most of my adult life. When I wasn't a banker I was a bank examiner or a bank consultant. As such, banking has been at the center of my professional life for nearly 20 years. During this time I have focused almost entirely on community banking.

Based on my experience, what I can tell you is that community bankers are Main Street, not Wall Street. We coach the local AYSO team, we shop at the local Walmart, we eat hot dogs at the local little league games, we hang out at the local pub and we drive our own cars. And most importantly, we do not single-handedly threaten the viability of the American banking system. Unforunately, the everyday bank customer does not know the difference between a community bank and a big bank




When I started this blog a couple months ago I wanted to share a little bit of the Bank in an informal setting. Along the way I hoped to give readers a glimpse into the "personal" side of the Bank. I hope I am doing that. But more importantly, I hope that readers are starting to see that community banks are more like the corner drugstore than the trillion dollar bank. We TRULY stand behind the community. But more importantly, we thrive only if the local community thrives. So we are fully vested and all in.

Through this blog, therefore, I hope to accomplish a couple things. First, I wish to reach out to the millenials who feel we have no clue. We get it. We know you demand more than what your dad's bank gave you. And community banks are here to let you know we get it. Some of us move faster than others, but we get it.

Second, I hope to show you that community banks make a REAL difference in the community. We may not have the budgets that big banks have but you can always count on us to support the community and its various efforts. We are built around the community, through good times and bad. We don't just close the doors and move to the next town when things get tough. We stay and struggle with everyone else to get things back on track.




So, the next time you need a loan or need to open a new deposit account, ask yourself if having a branch on every corner in every state is better than supporting the local bank that is a part of the local fabric.  And if you're a millenial, feel free to send out a tweet about it.