Plansmith Blog

Our recent blog discussed Product Profitability, or the process of analyzing your product line by looking at each asset category and adjusting its yield by adding non-interest income, and subtracting applicable loan losses and overhead. The overhead we associated with the asset was its funding liability cost less applicable service charges. This gave us a more heightened awareness of the true earning potential of each earning asset.

I’m often asked, “What are the differences between a plan, a budget, forecasting, reforecasting, what-ifs, and stress testing?” Although some of the actions are similar and often intermingled in conversation, it’s their purpose that defines them. If you’re a client, most even involve similar keystrokes using your Plansmith software navigation; yet each plays a unique role within your organization’s total planning process. Let’s discuss.

Budget

To start, everyone’s familiar with a budget, but let’s make sure we see it for what it really is. A budget is a prediction or forecast of a financial position at a set time in the future, typically one year. A budget represents a desired financial outcome and requires consent by your board of directors. Most often a Budget is primarily thought of as cost allocations, but when combined with ideas regarding new business, you will often hear it referred to as a Plan. Once approved, the Budget Plan never changes. It is ‘set in stone’ for the duration of your selected time period.

A common misconception is that planning is an annual event. Budgeting: setting targets and allocating expenses; true, but what happens next? As life goes on, rates fluctuate, new opportunities for growth appear, and your ever-changing customer expectations must be managed. Your budget, as it was initially locked in, must die and be reborn accordingly.

There are several ways to get a better handle on your financial future and get your plan back on track to meet your goals.

For many, the art of planning feels counterintuitive, as its core is not accounting-based as much as it’s a sociological experiment. We use a planning model to simulate the environment and measure the ramifications of change on the balance sheet. However, the real test is anticipating the resulting business hinging upon your customers’ changing needs.

You hear over and over again that the one thing you can always count on is change. Change is what you hope for as a financial intuition. It’s what drives business and profits. Rate change, as we all know, can be one of the most volatile components of your business, and at the same time, the very heart of banking itself.

It was only two months ago we released a blog discussing the critical role that liquidity management will play in 2023. Fast forward to now, and two financial institutions have been closed due to, at least in part, funding imbalances – the first banks in three years to fail. Although liquidity and interest rate risk often take a backseat under stable economic conditions, times like these require you to take an in-depth look into your asset liability management program to ensure you have a plan to both meet funding needs and stay in compliance with regulatory expectations.

With the increasing number of financial planning software options available, it can be difficult to determine which one is the right fit for your organization. That's why it's essential to consider several key factors before making a decision. In this blog, we'll examine how Plansmith's planning suite stands out from the competition and why it could be the perfect choice for your financial institution.

Join us as we welcome our newest Planning Advisor, Peter How! At Plansmith, we’re excited to have such an experienced community banking veteran on staff. Read on to learn about Peter’s career and how his background will add value to our clients’ planning experience.

Easily, the hottest regulatory topic of the past seven years is CECL. On top of the long-term lead up, the regulations and deadlines have changed so many times that many institutions hoped the requirement would disappear altogether. However, as of January 1, 2023, CECL is a reality. So, how confident are you in the solution and CECL reporting tools your bank or credit union have decided to implement?

About two years ago, I wrote a blog declaring the end to, or “the death of,” Surge Deposits. In that post, I had noted how at the time of, and following the 2007-2009 Great Recession, the banking industry saw a substantial influx of deposits as real estate and equity investors liquidated positions and sought safe places to store their money and ride out the storm. I further noted that as CD rates plummeted during, and following, the economic crisis, CD holders weren’t being provided with any incentive to have their money “locked” into time deposits. As time deposits matured, CD holders routinely moved their balances into more liquid non-maturity deposits (NMDs). These former CD holders were essentially temporarily “parking” their money in NMD accounts, just waiting for CD rates to return to what they believed were more “normal” levels, at which time they’d move the balances back into time deposits.

Banking is relentless in its daily demand for your time and attention to detail. We know this firsthand, as most of us are former bankers and have been in your shoes.

Stresses around day-to-day responsibilities will never be eliminated, but those associated with your budgeting can be. This is why we built Compass and why you chose us as your software provider.