The world is turned upside down and inside out as we confront the unexpected challenge of a pandemic. None of us has been here before and confusion is rampant. Yet, as business leaders expected to carry on for the survival of our companies, the World War II expression, Keep Calm and Carry On, seems applicable today.

At Plansmith, we communicate with hundreds of financial institutions like yours across the country who are affected by this crisis. We understand that you face even greater challenges ahead as you try to adapt. We know you have to assess the financial impact of lost wages, increased unemployment, low interest rates and a fragile economy and we ask ourselves, “How can we help?”

First and foremost, we can reassure you that Plansmith’s software contains the tools needed for just such events. Designed for testing potential stress environments, within minutes you can:

• Evaluate your organization under current conditions
• Forecast changes in interest rates
• Anticipate balance sheet changes
• Test alternative environments including rate changes and new product offerings
• Produce comprehensive comparison reports
• Prepare for recovery

Now more than ever with Plansmith’s software you can be confident that you have the tools to evaluate your plan under different possibilities. In terms of interest rate changes, you can choose from one of the three pre-loaded rate forecast scenarios provided monthly or customize your own interest rate predictions to measure the impact on margin. Concerned about negative interest rates and how they may affect your earnings? Wondering if you should go long in search of yield, but questioning if that extension risk is worth the short-term benefits? It’s easy to quantify those conditions with Plansmith.

Some of our clients have thrown out their current budgets and begun building new plans. Some have already examined different growth or no-growth scenarios from their current balance sheet to determine income impact. They are testing how loan extensions or draws on credit lines will impact liquidity. How deposit migration from CDs to non-maturity deposits will affect their cost of funds. How higher mortgage loan prepayments will impact the balance sheet and income. Whatever your scenario, Plansmith can provide the quantitative results needed for development of new and changing actions plans.

We are all aware that the best defense is a planned offense. Eliminate fear of the unknown, not just by contemplating the possibilities, but by understanding the consequences. Plansmith’s here to help with easy to use planning tools, expert individualized support and advisory services.

We are currently preparing a webinar based on questions and concerns shared by our customers. Please, won’t you plan to join us to learn more about planning in crisis conditions?

In the meantime, we encourage all to share concerns or topics you would like us to highlight in this or subsequent presentations as we strive for a continuing conversation directed by you, the financial institutions we serve.

Sincerely,