FI Tip Sheet: You Can Hang Your Hat On It
It’s been a while since I last called Dallas home; still, the white shirts & gray shorts of St. Mark’s proved a welcome and familiar site during a trip to the Texas city earlier this week. A flashback to my freshman year of high school? Absolutely. Dare I reminisce before diving into today’s post with a few random fun facts. Heck yeah. Did you know Dallas lies in a large prairie running…
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#Bank One #Citi #Dallas #Ignite Sales #Raymond JamesA few weeks ago, to begin “The Innovator’s Dilemma,” I shared the need for banks to think differently or risk becoming obsolete. This morning’s column builds on that idea by looking at some of the characteristics of top performing publicly held banks based on a research piece shared by Raymond James. I studied this list and realized quite a few of the “winners” leverage design trends, the second point in today’s post, to differentiate their messaging. My third and final point looks at technology expertise making its way into a bank’s boardroom — and provides an excuse to post a number of pictures from my time in Nashville last week.
Top of the (Performance) Pack
Recently, Raymond James presented its second annual Community Bankers Cup. This “award” recognizes the top 10% of community banks based on various profitability, operational efficiency and balance sheet metrics culled from a pool of 302 publicly traded community banks with assets between $500 million and $10 billion. What we see in the firm’s recap is superior financial accomplishment drives superior stock price returns. These 30 banks (e.g. Eagle Bancorp, First Financial, etc.) demonstrated exceptional results “on a relative basis in one or more of the following measurements of financial performance and stability: non-performing assets to loans and real estate owned, five-year average core deposit percentage, net interest margin, efficiency ratio, return on average assets, and return on average tangible common equity.” If you are looking for examples of strong + healthy banks that have taken creative ideas to build a business, and subsequently monetized them, take a look at what the Raymond James team writes about these 30 institutions.
Ahead of the Curve
Since the beginning of the most recent global financial crisis in 2008, Getty Images has been tracking the changes in imagery used by financial services providers to represent their brand. In their words, “gone are the depictions of aspiration and conspicuous wealth as financial services brands try to re-establish trust with their customers.” In their place comes creative uses of community support ”set-up for the long-term to demonstrate their responsibility for local businesses, communities and the environment.” Take a look at this “visual trends in financial services marketing” to get a truer sense of what’s working for bank marketers today.
Surprisingly Staffed
Last week, our team welcomed 117 bank officers and directors to the Hermitage in Nashville. At this spectacularly Southern hotel, we went a bit old school and put pen + paper in front of these decision makers to ask five technology-specific questions. I don’t normally equate technical proficiency with a bank’s officers and directors; however, the vast majority of attendees shared that their executive team has at least two people with strong technology understanding/experience. While a small sample size, more then 50% of these key leaders responded to our query… and the results underscore, in my opinion, the importance being placed on technology at community banks. In addition, I did hear from several Chairmen that they are adding outside directors with an understanding of issues like cyber security risk and how to oversee vendor management. If you’re interested to see what an event looks like from my POV, here’s a look (photos courtesy of Don Wright Designs & Photography)
Aloha Friday!
FI Tip Sheet: Positive Trends http://wp.me/s3ajpF-trends A few weeks ago, to begin “The Innovator’s Dilemma,” I shared the need for banks to think differently or risk becoming obsolete.A Pop Quiz on the Future of Banking
I was not planning on a sixth consecutive column focused on non-bank competition; however, as I prepare to present at Moss Adams’ 14th Annual Community Bankingconference in Huntington Beach, California on August 26, a “bonus” post that serves as number six. As you will see, today’s piece builds on the premise that many community bank leaders have real opportunities to expand what banking means…
A fundamental truth about banking today: individuals along with business owners have more choices than ever before in terms of where, when and how they bank. So a big challenge — and dare I suggest, opportunity — for leadership teams at financial institutions of all sizes equates to aligning services and product mixes to suit core customers’ interests and expectations.
By Al Dominick // @aldomini…
Since You Can’t Own a Car Dealership
As my colleague Jack Milligan writes in our 2nd quarter issue of Bank Director magazine, just because a bank can’t own a car dealership doesn’t mean there isn’t “enormous flexibility in determining a bank’s strategy.” Curious what this means? Read on.
A Sneak Peek at the Core Revenue Champs
Each year, Bank Directormagazine looks at all U.S. banks and thrifts to identify the strongest growth…
PayPal is Eating Your Bank’s Lunch
Part two of a five piece series on emerging threats to banks from non-financial companies. To read part one, “For Banks, the Sky IS Falling,” click the hyperlinked title.
I am not big on scare tactics, so apologies in advance of my next sentence. But when HP’s chief technologist for financial services, Ross Feldman calls PayPal“the poster child of new technology,” adding, “they are the No. 1…
Before I head out to California to speak at Moss Adams’ annual Community Banking conference, a look at the principal growth strategy for banks: mergers and acquisitions.
Over the last few years, bank advisers have made the case that consolidation should increase due to significant regulatory burdens, lack of growth in existing markets and aging boards and management teams that are “fatigued” and…
Giving Thanks http://wp.me/s3ajpF-thanks
Winston Churchill once said, “a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” I believe we all aspire to see the proverbial glass as half full — so this quote is one I thought to share as we…
Joining me on stage this year were Steve Hovde, the President & Chief Executive Officer @ the Hovde Group, Ron Janis, a partner at the law firm of Day Pitney, Doug McClintock a Partner at Alston & Bird and Michael Mayes, Managing Director, Raymond James. A tip of my cap to each of them; all four did a tremendous job sharing their thoughts within the 2 minute window with relevant stats, anecdotes and outlooks that benefited the audience.
Let me share the takeaways from this 50-minute session. While my first statement – that the primary obstacle to increased M&A activity in 2012 will the unrealistic price expectations of sellers – split the room vote, things started to get interesting with point #2. Yup, the vote trended towards a “disagree” position when I said “banks that are thinking about selling would be better off waiting until 2013 when valuations will be higher than they are likely to be in 2012.”
By statement #3 – “Increased bank and accounting regulation will be a driving factor in why many community banks consider selling” – the vibe in the crowd began to trend toward more disagreement than agreement from the crowd. But nothing like the forth point – one that had the crowd voting in mass against my statement that M&A will be the only way for to grow in 2012. Almost 90% took the side of the cons. So while we wait for the seemingly inevitable wave of consolidation, it seems to me that this year sets up nicely for all those companies looking to help banks explore organic means to grow their franchises.
(*Here’s how this session works: two attorneys and two investment bankers have 2 minutes per statement to argue their position. After that, I open things up to the audience to decide if they agree or disagree with the statement, weighing in via an automated response device that tabulate 500+ votes in near-real time.)
The Buying and Selling of Banks
I think I know what’s around the bend…
As we wind down the dog days of summer, I quickly audited my…
3 Challenges That Comes With Technology
In this brief video, I share three major areas of risk facing financial institutions today. Filmed during yesterday's
