The Banker Next Door

This video is a clip from BND: Strategy Room Live Stream on July 18, 2026. This video looks at a series of articles that examine the current state of the AI market. The White House announces AI clearinghouse. The White House created Gold Eagle, an initiative to enable AI innovation by creating a clearinghouse for cybersecurity vulnerability coordination. At the same time, Google DeepMind chief Dem...

Bank News: SoFi gets into small business lending. CFPB gives employees warning on geographic reassignment. Valley Bank executive thinks AI is changing the conversation around build versus buy. Circle gets OCC full trust bank charter. Fed informs Iowa’s TS Banking Group that they need to increase capital levels for two subsidiary banks. Fed enforcement actions have been declining over the last deca...

Kentland Federal Savings Loan Association (KFS) located in Kentland, Indiana and Small Business Bank (SBB) located in Lenexa, Kansas are the 3rd and 4th bank failures of 2026. KFS was closed on Friday, July 10th by the OCC after its capital position became critically undercapitalized. KFS had $3.73 million in assets at the time of its closing. Nearby (but unrelated) Kentland Bank was appointed rec...

This video is a clip from BND: Strategy Room Live Stream on July 18, 2026. While the overall economy remains decent, there is a segment of the American consumer that is starting to show signs of stress. This video covers a series of articles that delve into consumers trends. Consumers are turning to buy now, pay later for essential expenses, they are cutting back on purchases at grocery stores due...

This video is a clip from BND: Strategy Room Live Stream on July 18, 2026. Here is my summer reading list for 2026: 1) Suicidal Empathy by Gad Saad (2026) 2) Reshore: How Tariffs will bring our jobs home plus revive the American dream by Spencer Morrison (2025) 3) The Repo Market: Shorts, Shortages, and Squeezes by Scott E.D. Skyrm (2023) 4) Crisis and Leviathan: Critical episodes in the growth of...

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 is the best of BND: Interviews. A discussion with Allan Burkley about the failure of Heartland Tri-State Bank in Kansas and the fraud that was committed by their CEO Shan Hanes. This story is fascinating from many angles including internal controls, separation of power, checks and balances, who should serve on the board, the effect of a dominant CEO, internal fraud at banks, and how a bank’s...

This is the best of BND: Interviews. A discussion with Mac Thompson, who is the Founder & President of White Clay. We discuss how White Clay’s software helps banks and credit unions maximize profitability within a product or business unit. How you can fully utilize existing data to build stronger relationships with your customers. How White Clay can help with balance sheet management and thus...

This is the best of BND: Interviews.  A discussion with Greg Smith, Curriculum Director for the Stonier Graduate School of Banking. Stonier is a banking school, which is run through the American Bankers Association (ABA) and has a partnership with the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Stonier has been around for 91 years and was originally founded by Dr. Harold Stonier...

This is the best of BND: Interviews.  Continuing the discussion with Bob Newman from Chatham Financial. Chatham is a global advisory and technology firm focused exclusively on financial risk management. Chatham has expertise in the debt and derivatives markets. The conversation here is based around an example of a “vanilla” derivative transaction, that can help a bank turn mismatches in assets and...

This is the best of BND: Interviews. A discussion with Bob Newman from Chatham Financial. Chatham is a global advisory and technology firm focused on financial risk management. Chatham has expertise in the debt and derivatives markets. The conversation focuses on derivatives and how banks can effectively use them to hedge the risk on their balance sheet. Link: https://www.chathamfinancial.com/

This is the best of BND: The Lords of Easy Money. Dr. Thomas Hoenig is the former Governor of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank and Vice-Chairman of the FDIC. Dr. Hoenig is the main character in the book The Lords of Easy Money by Christopher Leonard. Dr. Hoenig became famous for his dissenting votes during FOMC meetings in 2010 along with his warnings about prolonged easy money policy.

This is the best of BND: The Lords of Easy Money. In this last episode of the series, we look at what has transpired from the end of the book in 2021 to today. I pose the question one more time, did the Fed save the day or permanently destroy our economy? What do you think?

This is the best of BND: The Lords of Easy Money. This episode reviews Part 3 of the bank, which covers chapters 13-16.  

This is the best of BND: The Lords of Easy Money. This episode reviews Part 2 of the book, which covers chapters 7-12.   

This is the best of BND: The Lords of Easy Money. This episode reviews Part 1 of the book, which covers chapters 1-6. 

This July 4th we celebrate America’s 250th birthday by considering Adam Smith’s view of free trade. What did he get right and what might he have gotten wrong? We also consider 10 enduring lessons from Adam Smith. In addition, what American classics should you be reading this 4th of July? This episode reviewed multiple articles from The Epoch Times (subscription required).   

This is a great time for your bank to treat the 2Q CECL cycle as a ‘health check’ on the process. Consider questions such as: has anything changed in our portfolio and macro view? How did your ACL move from quarter to quarter? Do we need to consider any changes to our key assumptions and qualitative factors? Other components to review third-party models, overlays, qualitative factors, documentatio...

The Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank recently conducted a focus group with subjects representing the Unbanked and Underbanked demographic. What they found was that this group really likes cash, alternatives such as prepaid cards, fintech tools, and money orders were very popular, hacking fears and bank fees are a top concern, complained about the time it took to open a bank account, and had some neg...

An AI test was conducted using the largest four AI models. The test included Gemini, GPT, Grok, and Claude. Researchers built a virtual town with a town hall, marketplace, police station, and homes. Ten AI residents with jobs, names, memories, and relationships were created. The town was provided with an economy. Residents were expected to earn their keep, follow rules, carry out tasks, and create...

Bank News: First Reliance Bank buys Colony Bank. Superior National Bank to purchase Range Financial Corp. North Shore Bank to acquire 1895 Bancorp. Hancock Whitney Corp’s acquisition of OFB Bancshares was very strategic. Credit Union purchases of banks have slowed in 2026. Washington state de novo United Development Bank announces leadership team. Management shake up at JPMorgan. Big banks breeze...

Dr. Bill Minnis returns to BND to discuss academia, banking, AI, and efficiency. Higher education has many challenges at the moment. AI is changing the landscape. What does this mean for higher education’s future. How does this tie into banking? Where does efficiency come in? Dr. Minnis helps us to understand the current environment and what we should be focused on moving into the future.  

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.

The Dallas Federal Reserve Bank recently conducted research on the effects of unauthorized or more accurately illegal immigration on U.S. labor and housing markets. The findings of the paper suggest that local employment increased without significant declines to local wages. However, on a per capita basis, illegal immigrant workers reduced wage compensation of the local workforce. In addition, the...

The Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank recently conducted research on the overall risk exposure of bank lending to nonbank financial institutions (NBFIs). Direct bank lending to the nonfinancial business sector in the U.S. has decreased in recent decades. However, bank lending to NBFIs, which then lends the money directly to the nonfinancial business sector has dramatically increased in recent years....