The Banker Next Door

Kentland Federal Savings Loan Association (KFS) located in Kentland, Indiana and Small Business Bank (SBB) located in Lenexa, Kansas are the 3rd and 4th bank failures of 2026. KFS was closed on Friday, July 10th by the OCC after its capital position became critically undercapitalized. KFS had $3.73 million in assets at the time of its closing. Nearby (but unrelated) Kentland Bank was appointed receiver by the FDIC. SBB was closed on Friday, July 17th by Kansas state regulators after the bank was deemed to be significantly undercapitalized. SBB had $73 million in assets at the time of its closing. The Farmers State Bank agreed to assume all of SBB’s deposits and purchase some of its assets according to the FDIC, who is acting as receiver. The deposit insurance fund will incur small losses from both bank failures according to the FDIC. This episode examined multiple articles from S&P Global Market Intelligence and Banking Dive.

This video is a clip from BND: Strategy Room Live Stream on July 18, 2026. While the overall economy remains decent, there is a segment of the American consumer that is starting to show signs of stress. This video covers a series of articles that delve into consumers trends. Consumers are turning to buy now, pay later for essential expenses, they are cutting back on purchases at grocery stores due to the increasing costs, an increasing number of U.S. families are taking on debt and dipping into savings to meet food needs, credit card delinquencies are at the highest rate in 15 years, and housing affordability slipped for the fifth straight month. As the economic outlook weakens for the lower end of the consumer segment, this reality is coming to the doorstep of Republicans and President Trump.  This episode covered a series of articles from The Epoch Times, The Wall Street Journal, and CNBC.

This video is a clip from BND: Strategy Room Live Stream on July 18, 2026.
Here is my summer reading list for 2026:
1) Suicidal Empathy by Gad Saad (2026)
2) Reshore: How Tariffs will bring our jobs home plus revive the American dream by Spencer Morrison (2025)
3) The Repo Market: Shorts, Shortages, and Squeezes by Scott E.D. Skyrm (2023)
4) Crisis and Leviathan: Critical episodes in the growth of American government by Robert Higgs (1987)
5) The Banker Who Made America: Thomas Willing and the rise of the American Financial Aristocracy by Richard Vague (2026)
6) Steve Jobs in Exile: the untold story of NeXT and the remaking of an American visionary by Geoffrey Cain (2026)
7) 1873: The Rothschilds, the first great depression, and the making of the modern world by Liaquat Ahamed (2026)

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 the best of BND: Interviews. A discussion with Allan Burkley about the failure of Heartland Tri-State Bank in Kansas and the fraud that was committed by their CEO Shan Hanes. This story is fascinating from many angles including internal controls, separation of power, checks and balances, who should serve on the board, the effect of a dominant CEO, internal fraud at banks, and how a bank’s failure can affect all stakeholders. This episode examined an article from Bank Director titled “Victim or Perpetrator?” A link to the article is included below.
Link: https://www.bankdirector.com/article/magazine-exclusive-victim-or-perpetrator/

This is the best of BND: Interviews. A discussion 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. We also discussed Mac’s background and why he decided to start White Clay. A link to White Clay’s website is included below.
Link: https://www.whiteclay.com/

This is the best of BND: Interviews.  A discussion with Greg Smith, Curriculum Director for the Stonier Graduate School of Banking. Stonier is a banking school, which is run through the American Bankers Association (ABA) and has a partnership with the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Stonier has been around for 91 years and was originally founded by Dr. Harold Stonier in 1935. Listed below is a link to the Stonier website with information about the program.
Link: https://www.aba.com/training-events/schools/stonier-graduate-school-of-banking/about-stonier

This is the best of BND: Interviews.  Continuing the discussion with Bob Newman from Chatham Financial. Chatham is a global advisory and technology firm focused exclusively on financial risk management. Chatham has expertise in the debt and derivatives markets. The conversation here is based around an example of a “vanilla” derivative transaction, that can help a bank turn mismatches in assets and liabilities on their balance sheet into matches.
Link: https://www.chathamfinancial.com/

This is the best of BND: Interviews. A discussion with Bob Newman from Chatham Financial. Chatham is a global advisory and technology firm focused on financial risk management. Chatham has expertise in the debt and derivatives markets. The conversation focuses on derivatives and how banks can effectively use them to hedge the risk on their balance sheet.
Link: https://www.chathamfinancial.com/

This is the best of BND: The Lords of Easy Money. Dr. Thomas Hoenig is the former Governor of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank and Vice-Chairman of the FDIC. Dr. Hoenig is the main character in the book The Lords of Easy Money by Christopher Leonard. Dr. Hoenig became famous for his dissenting votes during FOMC meetings in 2010 along with his warnings about prolonged easy money policy.