The Banker Next Door

This episode examines a blog post from PCBB titled “Move over SEO. GEO is the new sheriff in town.” Search Engine Optimization or SEO has been the dominate strategy for getting your bank or business to the top of the list on Google search for years. As AI-backed internet searches continue to grow, a new strategy called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is emerging. GEO is the next generation of...

This episode examines two articles from The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) titled “Wall Street’s Big, Bad Idea for Your 401(k)” and “Retirement account and emergency savings? 401(k)s increasingly play dual role for many workers.” There are big potential changes coming to the 401(k), the question is are they good changes? It becomes a bigger question when we examine how people are curr...

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.

In this episode we review two articles from Bank Director titled “Rising bankruptcies are a warning sign for banks” and “Banks should not chase loan growth right now”. There is a strong correlation between rising business bankruptcy filings and commercial loan write offs. Yet, commercial delinquencies and loan write-offs remain very low. Should banks be preparing for a turning of the credit cycle?...

This episode examines two blog posts from PCBB titled “The rise & risks of shadow banking” and “Why small businesses choose non-bank lenders”. Shadow banking has grown through technological advancements, lack of regulation, increased demand for credit, and cost efficiency. Because of this, shadow banking poses several risks to traditional banking. Therefore, what are non-bank lenders in the sh...

This is part 26 of the crypto series. In this episode we review the BIS Annual Economic Report for 2025. Specifically, section III - The next-generation monetary and financial system. This report considers how Tokenization represents a transformative innovation. Tokenized platforms with central bank reserves, commercial bank money, and government bonds can lay the groundwork for the next-generatio...

This episode examines ICBA’s Advocacy in Action for the 3rd quarter of 2025. This report covers all the ‘hot button’ regulatory issues in the banking industry. Issues covered include digital asset regulatory framework, trigger leads, challenges to 1071 rule, support for agriculture, taxation of larger credit unions, ICBA check fraud task force, Section 1033 Rule, CRA, GSEs, and FHLBs. A link to th...

This episode is an interview 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 strategic planning....

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 episode examines an article from Banking Drive titled “Why small banks may shun Zelle.” The Zelle payment network is owned by Early Warning Services (EWS). EWS is owned by the largest banks in the U.S. Zelle is a P2P platform, which is currently the third largest behind Venmo and Cashapp. Many smaller banks around the country have not signed up to use Zelle because of higher transaction rates...

This episode examines a blog post from PCBB titled “Key factors behind lower losses in 2025 Stress Test results.” This blog post takes a deeper dive into the recent Stress Test results. The Stress Test results were influenced by three main factors. 1. Less severe scenario due to countercyclical design. 2. Revised measurement of private equity exposures. 3. Higher net revenue from improved bank per...

This episode examines an article from Independent Banker Magazine titled “Kari Mitchum: It matters to community banks who has master accounts.” The article focuses on Federal Reserve master accounts and how only traditional highly regulated banks have historically had access to them. More recently, crypto-native and non-traditional financial companies have been seeking to get access to master acco...

This episode examines multiple articles around artificial intelligence. The Pentagon just awarded AI contracts to Google, Anthropic, OpenAI, and xAI. Sam Altman has become President Trump’s new buddy on AI. The epic battle for AI talent. Google hires Windsurf CEO. CoreWeave’s purchase of Core Scientific did not go as planned. CoreWeave and Blackstone to invest over $30 billion to establish data ce...

This is part 25 of the crypto series. In this episode we review recently signed crypto regulation The Genius Act and two additional bills, JPMorgan and the other big banks want to get involved with Stablecoin, Ether jumps into the spotlight, Stock Tokenization is not all it is made out to be, and we consider if crypto is bad for the government deficit?

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 part 24 of the crypto series. In this episode we review multiple crypto related articles. This week was dubbed ‘Crypto Week’ by the U.S. Congress because of 3 crypto bills that are being reviewed. The Genius Act is scheduled to come up for a vote this week in the house of representatives. In other news, Bitcoin flies to a new all-time high, OmegaPro is charged with crypto fraud, BNY Mellon...

This episode examines an article from Cornerstone Advisors titled “You don’t need a Chime marketing budget to make smart marketing investments.” Now that Chime has become a publicly traded company, they have released numbers around their marketing budget. For the first time, we can compare what banks and credit unions are spending on marketing compared to one of the fastest growing fintechs. While...

This episode examines a series of articles on ‘Stock Tokens’. What is stock tokenization? Is it a real investment? Is it a real asset? Robinhood stirred a lot of conversation over the last week by rolling out stock tokens to their customers in Europe. The two companies they are focusing on are OpenAI and SpaceX. OpenAI immediately came out and said they gave no permission to Robinhood to issue a s...

This episode is an interview with Rob Titterington, a bank recruiter with Highland Consulting Group. Rob and I discuss the current landscape of artificial intelligence and how it is affecting financial services. We cover job applications, hiring, AI skills, will jobs go away, potential job augmentation and increased capacity caused by AI. A link to Highland Consulting Group’s website is included b...

This episode is an interview with Jim McCarthy founder of McCarthyHatch. McCarthyHatch is at the forefront of innovation in the consumer financial industry, driven by their groundbreaking FSAi technology. Jim and I discuss the business, his background, how the company aids their clients in real-time risk prediction, the FSAi technology, and what the current regulatory landscape looks like. A link...

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 episode is a book review for John Jacob Astor and The First Great American Fortune by Alexander Emmerich. This biography traces Astor’s rise from a German immigrant to the wealthiest man in American. The first modern ‘millionaire’. Astor created the template for what we now think of as entrepreneur, businessman, investor, real estate developer, and philanthropist. He created businesses, creat...

This episode is a book review for Millionaire: The Philanderer, Gambler, and Duelist Who Invented Modern Finance by Janet Gleeson. Imagine ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ but the story takes place in 1716. This is the wild story of John Law and the birth of modern finance. Law was able to remake the French economy in a time when the government teetered on the brink of bankruptcy, making him one of the m...

This episode is a book review of The Greatest Trade Ever: The behind-the-scenes story of how John Paulson defied wall street and made financial history by Gregory Zuckerman. In 2006, John Paulson ran a small, middling hedge fund on Wall Street. He saw the housing crisis coming and figured out a way to bet against the market. While all the ‘professionals’ doubted him, John Paulson pulled off the gr...

This episode is a book review of Trump: The Art of the Deal by Donald J. Trump and Tony Schwartz. This book is a business classic and gives you a peak into the day-to-day life of a real estate developer. This book follows Trump through his early years and goes through various real estate projects completed in the 1970’s and 1980’s.