ABA Banking Journal Podcast

Brent Beardall thinks bankers need to be more comfortable with risk. "We're not out there taking crazy risk, but my point is don't be afraid to fail," says the president and CEO of WaFd Bank, based in tech-focused Seattle. "If you're going to fail: fail quickly, fail small. That's the two requirements I have, because if you're not failing, you're not trying hard enough." In the latest episode of t...

"I need people who understand technology and the business more than I need people who understand compliance," says Greg Imm, who recently retired as chief compliance officer at M&T Bank. "I can teach them compliance. I cannot teach them technology. We are paying much more attention on what is going on in technology that never existed five, six years ago." The latest episode of the ABA Banking Jour...

In a time of heightened regulatory risk and business challenges, "that's where the risk professionals become very important," says David Kelly, CERP, who recently retired as chief risk officer at Denver-based FirstBank. "Those relationships across business lines, because the risk will flow across those business lines, and getting stakeholders together to have those conversations." The latest episo...

On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by  Biz2X  — Anthony Sharett, president of Pathward N.A., discusses how his FDIC-insured bank works alongside depository institutions to expand offerings that enhance financial inclusion and reach the unbanked. Sharett discusses Pathward's reloadable co-branded prepaid card business — which can help a bank offer a  Bank On-certif...

What's new with Small Business Administration lending this year, and how can bankers maximize the value of the SBA loan guaranty programs? On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by  Biz2X  — Erik Daniels of U.S. Bank, the nation's fourth-largest SBA originator by number of loans, talks about how U.S. Bank builds SBA into its overall business banking strategy. Daniels...

Checks have become so marginal that the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Payment Choice relegates them to a category of "other," which, along with prepaid cards and money orders accounted for less than 9 percent of all payments in 2022. But checks aren't entirely dead, with 11.2 billion still written in the U.S. in 2021. Meanwhile, their use by criminals as a vector of fraud has shot up. Which...

According to  newly released Gallup figures , just 30 percent of American workers are engaged in their work. The rest are described as disengaged, with 17 percent  actively  disengaged, "which means they are literally trying to sabotage the organization," notes Neil Stevens, president and CEO of Oconee State Bank in Oconee, Georgia. "Gallup also says that if you have a 70 percent or higher engagem...

For Financial Literacy Month in April, the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by  R&T Deposit Solutions  — features a conversation on how banks are engaging their communities with financial education. The ABA Foundation's Kelsey Havemann discusses a brand-new K-2  Teach Children to Save  curriculum launching soon, and Lindsay Torrico talks about the Foundation's  big goal  to help five millio...

What's the CEO-eye view on the U.S. economy, business conditions and the regulatory environment for banks? This week's episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by  R&T Deposit Solutions — features a conversation with ABA's Peter Cook and four bank CEOs from across the country. In the conversation, they discuss local economic conditions in their markets, how the "regulatory tsunami" i...

"These rewards are more than just Amex, Chase, Citi," says Brian Kelly, founder of the popular travel site  The Points Guy . "Well over half of Americans have some form of rewards, often through their community banks — and to a lot of people, cash back rewards." This bonus episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by  Alkami  — features a conversation with Kelly and ABA President and...

The banking agencies and the Justice Department are shifting how they assess and review bank mergers and acquisitions. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by  Alkami  — ABA SVP Hu Benton discusses what bankers need to know about potential deals and offers amid the wave of policy changes. Among other topics, Benton explores: The Justice Department's  review  of bank...

Forget Tom Brady: Most professional athletes don't play well into their 40s. "You play football for three to four years," says Brandon Ghee. "And then the next thing you know you're 25, 26. You're looking to pursue a career and you go from making $750,000 a year to $50,000. These guys and girls have a problem with the transition [in]how they're spending during their careers." Athletes make a lot o...

First Horizon Bank, a regional bank based in Memphis, Tennessee, offers some eye-catching numbers on the bank's gender balance: Women make up 62 percent of its executive team, 54 percent of its top 1,200 corporate managers and 33 percent of its board of directors. To mark International Women's Day and Women's History Month, the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by  Alka...

On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by  Alkami  — ABA's Dan Brown and Sharon Whitaker discuss community bank exposures to commercial real estate and how community banks are managing shifts in the CRE sector. They also dispel imprecise narratives about the state of CRE. "There is a lot of  nuance within the commercial real estate market ," says Brown. There are goin...

If the past has any predictive power, rate-watchers may want to discount the chance of significant rate movements this election year. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, ABA VP Jeff Huther summarizes his analysis of Federal Open Market Committee actions during presidential elections, showing that in rare circumstances — well-telegraphed technical movements from a low base or...

"We're really focused on increasing competition and innovation in the core provider landscape," says ABA  Core Platforms Committee  Chair Kristiane Koontz. "We want to make sure that people know core conversions are an option, and we want to help make that easier and less risky for banks to undertake. But in many cases, a core conversion may not be the right path." On the latest episode of the ABA...

Sometimes there are good reasons for friction in the banking experience: to stop fraud, to comply with laws. But sometimes the friction is a result of legacy tech — and legacy thinking. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, Anne Tangen, a bank IT expert-turned-CEO at BankFive in Fall River, Massachusetts, talks about BankFive's efforts to reduce friction in the account opening...

The multiyear effort to  change the credit scoring models  required by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continues to move forward, and mortgage lenders, credit officers and compliance professionals need to know the latest developments. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, ABA VP Sharon Whitaker provides an update. Among other topics, Whitaker discusses: The operational challenges of...

Late in 2023, Warsaw Federal — a $71 million mutual savings and loan in Cincinnati — was officially designated as a minority depository institution. The move to MDI status is part of the 130-year-old bank's pivot to serving its community more deeply while building its capital base to support growth. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, President and CEO Robie Suggs discusses t...

Last week, the ABA Banking Journal Podcast featured  the CEO of Esquire Bank , a nationwide bank with a focus on law firm banking. On the second part of this two-part series, the podcast welcomes Kyall Mai, chief innovation officer, to discuss how the bank reaches this niche market. With the goal of getting lawyers ("who are often very difficult to convince," he notes) to switch banks, Mai emphasi...

Esquire Bank has found a strategy that turns the typical ratio of business client loans to deposits on its head. Through its nationwide vertical of services for law firms, Esquire Bank brings in roughly $1.80 in core deposits for every dollar lent. On the first ABA Banking Journal Podcast episode of 2024, Andrew Sagliocca — president, CEO and vice chairman of Long Island-based Esquire Bank — discu...

On the final ABA Banking Journal Podcast episode of 2023 — sponsored by  R&T Deposit Solutions  — John Vivian of Patomak Global Partners and ABA EVP Hugh Carney discuss the OCC's latest  Semiannual Risk Perspective ,  released earlier in December . Both past veterans of the OCC, Vivian and Carney explore the agency's findings — including the way credit risk and leapfrogged liquidity risk over the...

From the Basel III endgame to Regulation II to new Community Reinvestment Act and Section 1071, 2023 has delivered a regulatory onslaught for the industry. How are bankers navigating the waves of overlapping changes? On this episode, Gary Shook, chair of ABA's Government Relations Council, reflects on the council's recent meeting and offers perspectives on how banks can navigate the policy environ...

For high-net-worth clients, generational transitions can be fraught moments — implicating business ownership sales, control transfers, tax situations, philanthropic decisions and of course family dynamics. On the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by  R&T Deposit Solutions  — Todd Brockwell, president of 1900 Wealth, offers strategies for bankers and wealth managers to help their clients navi...

For new couples, does the decision of how to organize their finances — separate accounts, a joint account or a blend of the two — matter? On the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by  R&T Deposit Solutions  — Indiana University marketing professor Jenny Olson discusses  new research  that provides an answer. Olson and her colleagues randomly assigned new couples to one of three conditions for...