As a CEO or CFO of a community bank, you are well aware that mega banking institutions are investing heavily in innovative technologies designed to take customers away from you. Having serviced the industry for over 25 years, I've seen many changes, but none as profound as outlined in two recent articles highlighting the impact of FinTech.
For #CommunityBankers who are curious
"In the 1981 film, "Raiders of the Lost Ark", one particular scene consistently brings the house down: Indiana Jones, having survived an elaborate chase through a casbah, is confronted by a swordsman whipping through a flashy routine with a scimitar. Indy initially squares off against the deadly swordsman bearing only his trademark whip in his hands; then with a look of infinite fatigue and disgust, he casually pulls out his revolver and blows the bad guy away." (Credit for text: Snopes.com)
Yep, the 90s. It was all the rage and I jumped on board like a millennial on the Grateful Dead Fare Thee Well scene – I’m not sure what it’s all about, but I want to say I was there.
Last week we covered the first half of the OCC letter requesting information from client banks on their interest rate risk (IRR) model. Along with the letter, you may have run across some forms to be filled in with results from your model. This post and the accompanying webinar are meant to clarify the letter and terminology. Separately, but related, we have produced a video and guide for completing the OCC EV IRR Data Form for Financial Compass Clients (to be released soon).
A new request list and questionnaire from the OCC is making its way around the banking community and the NCUA has issued one of its own. Regardless of who you answer to, expect more scrutiny on your asset liability management (ALM) model. For some of you this might be "old hat", but we’ve fielded calls by clients asking for interpretation of the IRR Data Collection. So, Plansmitties, and even non-Smitties, take note: there is a letter with your name on it and we’re here to help.
I’m compelled to relate planning to everyday activity – after all, just because we are bankers, doesn’t mean we don’t experience life’s little pleasures (or displeasures) any more than, say, your average commuter. Today, while legally stopped in a left turn lane, waiting for traffic to clear before proceeding to Plansmith’s office, a man honked and gesticulated wildly because I didn’t pull into the intersection and ready myself for the turn. Never mind I couldn’t make the turn anyway. Conclusion: he didn’t plan well. If he was in a hurry, he should have planned to leave earlier, thereby beating me to the turn light where he, too, would sit and wait for traffic to clear. Maybe he took a different route from home, or maybe I did, causing this situation (I did stop at the dry cleaners – HA! solved).
Almost daily we at Plansmith are asked "what are your other community bank and credit union clients doing about this and that?" or "how do most of your community bank and credit union clients do blah, blah, blah?" (I’m surprised spell and grammar checker didn’t scold me about that technical term). Frankly, we do hear a lot from our clients, and capture some of it, but with over 30 of us at Plansmith talking to you on a regular basis, it’s hard to coordinate, store and apply all of that useful information.