The Banker Next Door

Foreign banks are seeking to gain access to the U.S. banking market. This is nothing new, but what is new is the type of bank. The new competition tends to be fintechs and neobanks with a digital-first approach. Some examples include OakNorth Bank, Revolut, and Nubank. These banks tend to be built around a customer-friendly digital interface. Younger customers are seeking a digital first approach....

Banks can experience buyer’s remorse when they purchase costly software to upgrade their technology stack. This experience can be extremely painful as most community banks have small technology budgets to work with. Spending the bank’s budget on new technology that does not work out will most likely end up as money that cannot be recovered. This episode considers reasons why organizations regret t...

Two recent reports from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General (OIG) highlights the workforce reductions at the SEC and FDIC. The GAO report states that since January 2025 the SEC had an 18% reduction in their workforce of approximately 871 employee departures. The SEC has made efforts to manage and assess the effec...

This episode reviews the OCC’s quarterly report on Bank Trading and Derivatives Activities for the 4th quarter of 2025. Trading revenue for the 4Q of 2025 was $14.9 billion, down 16% from the 3Q of 2025 and 4.4% year over year. The four largest banks continue to hold the vast majority of total banking industry’s notional amount of derivatives at 85.1%. Derivative notional amounts decreased in the...

This episode reviews ICBA Advocacy in Action for the 2nd quarter of 2026. This is a two-page PDF that provides a short summary of all the major regulatory issues in the banking industry. The topics include digital assets regulatory frameworks, house advances community bank regulatory relief bills, farm bill and aid, executive order to create mortgage rule relief, challenges to 1071 rule and statut...

This video is a clip from BND: Strategy Room Live Stream on April 4, 2026. The conversation around Private Credit continues as redemption's exploded in the last few weeks. The problem has turned extreme at Blue Owl, where they have two funds under pressure. This clip also looks at is another crisis on the horizon, bank’s overall exposure to Private Credit, how loans to Private Credit have been the...

The Banker Next Door (BND) weekly live stream show. Strategy Room provides financial news, commentary, top stories in the business world, economic indicators, and all things banking for the week.

This special report examines the difficult nomination of Kevin Warsh to Chairman of the Federal Reserve and the awkward transition facing him as Jerome Powell may stay around beyond the end of his term in May. Kevin Warsh’s time at the Fed could be transformational. He would like to do away with Forward Guidance, projections, change the Fed’s main targets, get away from data drift and dependence,...

This is part 38 of the crypto series. In this episode we provide an update on the stalemate with crypto legislation and how that is affecting the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. We also look at Fannie Mae agreeing to accept crypto-backed mortgages in conjunction with Better Home & Finance and Coinbase. Nasdaq is partnering with Kraken to develop a plan for 24/7 tokenized stock tra...

Two monumental cases were brought against social media companies including Meta, Google, TikTok, and Snapchat. TikTok and Snapchat were only involved in the Los Angeles case; they decided to settle out of court before that trial began. The trial in New Mexico accused Meta of tailoring its platforms to prioritize user engagement, promoting and profiting from illegal content that allowed for the exp...

This video is a clip from BND: Strategy Room Live Stream on March 28, 2026. The zero loss-fallacy has evaporated for the Private Credit Market. Now major players such as Apollo, KKR, UBS, and BlackRock are locking down their funds and halting redemption requests. The Private Credit Market is experiencing a decrease in inflowing funds, an increase in redemptions, and an increase in delinquency. Thi...

In this episode we examine the challenges of starting a De Novo Bank, the surge in bank charters and what type of companies are applying for them, and should a bank consider changing its charter to fit its future strategy. A De Novo Bank must raise a significant amount of money to get started. They must also consider market fit, capital and investor base, strategic differentiation, and execution c...

Rich Carty is a bank consultant with Remedy Consulting. Rich seeks to educate potential clients on the strategic and financial impact that Remedy creates. Remedy consulting specializes in technology contract negotiation, system assessment, strategic planning, and M&A support. Rich and I discuss Remedy consulting, the technology that community banks should be focusing on and the strategies that...

This video is a clip from BND: Strategy Room Live Stream on March 28, 2026. SpaceX is preparing for the largest IPO in the history of Wall Street! The IPO is scheduled to take place in June of this year. The expectation is that the IPO will raise over $1 trillion dollars. However, before that happens, Elon is completing the process of rolling X into xAI, then xAI into SpaceX. Why would Elon roll u...

The Banker Next Door (BND) weekly live stream show. Strategy Room provides financial news, commentary, top stories in the business world, economic indicators, and all things banking for the week.

Why should you study economics? Some things to consider, where does wealth come from? How does it grow? Why do economies go up and down? Is inflation really ‘transitory’? Why have tariffs not caused inflation? If the unemployment rate is under 5%, is that good or bad? Economics drives are understanding of the world around us. For business people and bankers, many of the decisions they make daily a...

What is the difference between a tokenized deposit and stablecoin? Tokenized deposits are issued by a bank, denominated in fiat, backed 1:1 by funds on the bank’s balance sheet, and accessible only to customers who have completed standard KYC onboarding. Tokenized deposits operate on a permissioned network where participation is controlled and restricted to known parties. Stablecoin are digital to...

How are banks currently being affected by regulatory changes that have taken hold in the last few years? We focus on three specific items 1) SBA lending, 2) CFPB 1071 rule, and 3) FinCen beneficial ownership information (BOI). The SBA has made multiple changes returning to a more pre-pandemic and pre-Biden administration stance. The 1071 rule requirements being enacted by the CFPB will kick in for...

This video is a clip from BND: Strategy Room Live Stream on March 21, 2026. The state of Arizona has filed criminal charges against Kalshi. Arizona is claiming that the Prediction Markets company is operating an illegal gambling business without a license. Businesses are now becoming highly concerned that insider trading is happening on Prediction Market platforms as the market is projected to gro...

This video is a clip from BND: Strategy Room Live Stream on March 21, 2026. The problems in the Private Credit Market are turning into a contagion! MFS solutions, a UK mortgage lender, collapsed! Banks are looking to lend additional money to Private credit funds, even as withdrawals continue to increase. The legal battles between Western Alliance Bank and Jefferies expose many of the underlying ri...

Interview with former banker and current digital asset expert, consultant, and speaker Wade Peery. Wade and I discuss several topics. We start with his banking career, background, and why he decided to put off retirement. We then move into what he is currently working on, which is helping banks around the country with digital assets. Beyond helping banks, Wade has also gotten into public speaking,...

The Banker Next Door (BND) weekly live stream show. Strategy Room provides financial news, commentary, top stories in the business world, economic indicators, and all things banking for the week.

I have covered the trend of major migration from Democrat states to Republican states in prior episodes. Since then, the reality of a billionaire’s tax has been moving ever closer. Washington State is looking to pass a millionaire’s tax. The net effect of these actions has been an acceleration of billionaires moving to red states such as Texas and Florida. What happens to the U.S. if this migratio...

Do you really own the stocks, bonds, ETFs, and Mutual Funds sitting in your IRA, 401(k), or brokerage account? You do, but not in the way that you think. You are NOT the legal owner of that security. You own a contractual claim, what the law calls a “security entitlement” against a financial intermediary. Does this matter most of the time? No. Does this matter if we have a major financial crisis o...

What happens during a bank merger? How does the deal making process start? How does the deal come together? This episode seeks to answer those questions by going behind the scenes with a look at two bank mergers. We examine mergers between QNB Bank and Victory Bank and LINKBANCORP and Burke & Herbert Financial Services Corp. With both M&A examples we consider the ongoing negotiations, the...