The Banker Next Door

Episode 171: Banking Update 7-7-2024

This episode provides a weekly update on U.S. banking industry news.

Episode 170: Banking Update 6-30-2024

This episode provides a weekly update on U.S. banking industry news.

Episode 169: Banks still relying on high-rate CDs

This episode examines an article from S&P Global titled “Depositories banking on rate cuts, but growing number marketing high-rate CDs” by Thomas Mason. The article details how banks and credit unions are positioning themselves for rate cuts from the Fed by favoring short-term deposit products. The main ones being premium money market accounts and 6-to-12-month CDs. APY’s on these products peaked in the 4th quarter of 2023 at 5% and have settled into the 4% range.

Episode 168: Review of 2024 Compensation & Talent Survey

This episode examines Bank Director’s 2024 Compensation & Talent Survey. First, we review an article titled “Compensation & Talent Survey: Developing Leadership Potential” by Laura Alix. Second, we review the key findings of the survey. Links to both are below.
Link:  Compensation & Talent Survey: Developing Leadership Potential | Bank Director
Link: 2024CompensationReport-Open-final.pdf (bankdirector.com)

Episode 167: Conversation with Allan Burkley

This episode is a conversation with Allan Burkley about various banking topics that include fed holding interest rates steady, Saudi Arabia and the petrodollar, the effect on the treasury market, Synapse bankruptcy, Open Banking, BOI update, and the cultural issues at the FDIC. This is the second conversation with Allan. A link to our first meeting is below.
Link: Episode 124: Conversation with Allan Burkley. Podbean: https://joeberq.podbean.com/e/episode-124-conversation-with-allan-burkley/, Rumble:  https://rumble.com/v4ta1sk-episode-124-conversation-with-allan-burkley.html, YouTube: https://youtu.be/-POJCS-aY00

Episode 166: Banking Update 6-23-2024

This episode provides a weekly update on U.S. banking industry news.

Episode 165: 2024 midyear review of U.S. bank M&A market

This episode looks at the U.S. bank merger and acquisition market for the first half of 2024. The market is very tepid through the first six months of the year as bond portfolios, regulation, higher-for-longer interest rates, higher funding costs, CRE portfolio worries, and the Presidential election cycle weigh on potential transactions. Several articles are examines reviewing global M&A, U.S. bank M&A transactions, and a spotlight on the M&A activity in the state of Georgia.

Episode 164: Update on U.S. bank bond portfolios

This episode provides an update on the current situation of unrealized losses in bank bond portfolios. Several articles are reviewed, which address available-for-sale (AFS) securities, held-to-maturity (HTM) securities, accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI), and adjusted tangible common equity (TCE). The current situation is not great, and banks are beginning to consider alternative strategies such as sale leaseback transactions on their existing branches to cover the losses sustained from the sale of underwater securities.   

Episode 163: Japan's Norinchukin Bank dumps U.S. government bonds!

This episode looks at the major decision this week from Japan’s Norinchukin Bank to dump $63 billion of low-yielding U.S. and European government bonds due to major losses in its bond portfolio. Norinchukin is the 5th largest bank in Japan with $357 billion in assets. The banks decision to sell its bonds also coincides with the Japanese governments current action in reducing government bond purchases due to the higher-for-longer interest rate environment. A link to the article from Yahoo Finance is included below.  
Link:  Japan's Century-Old Bank Sends Warning to World on Higher-for-Longer Rates (yahoo.com)

Episode 162: What challenges does CRE growth bring to your loan portfolio?

This episode examines an article from Bank Director titled “CRE growth brings added challenges” by David Ruffin. The article considers challenges that arise when a bank increases its commercial real estate portfolio, such as concentration risk and loan loss reserve ratio. The article goes on to recommend multiple ways to address these issues. A link to the article is listed below.
Link:  CRE Growth Brings Added Challenges | Bank Director