The Banker Next Door

BND: Strategy Room Bonus - Fed & REPO market update

This is a clip from the BND: Strategy Room Live Stream from 11-29-2025. This clip provides an update on the Federal Reserve and the current liquidity issues in the REPO market.

Review of CSBS research showing community banks pay more for compliance

This episode examines a research report from CSBS titled “Too small to scale: What 10 years of data say about community bank compliance costs.” The report found that smaller banks reported spending 11% to 15.5% of their payroll on compliance tasks, compared with 6% to 10% for the largest banks. Data-processing costs consume 16.5% to 22% of small banks’ budgets versus 10% to 14% for larger banks. Consulting costs diverged the most, at roughly 50% to 64% for the smallest banks compared to 19% to 30% for the biggest banks. A link to the report is included below.   
Link: Too Small to Scale: What 10 Years of Data Say About Community Bank Compliance Costs | CSBS

Review of Bank Director 2026 Bank M&A Survey

This episode examines Bank Director’s 2026 Bank M&A Survey. Bank Director found that “the gap between buyers’ and sellers’ pricing expectations may be closing as potential acquirers look for ways to add low-cost deposits.” Some of the key findings revolve around boardroom discussions, angling for a better price, mixed plans on subordinated debt, organic growth drivers, limited interest in Crypto, and optimism on the economy. Links to the Bank Director article and the survey are included below. 
Link:  2026 Bank M&A Survey: Improved Pricing Brings Sellers to the Table | Bank Director
Link: MA-Report-2026-Open.pdf

Review of Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Working Paper on Tariffs

This episode reviews a recent working paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco titled “What is a Tariff Shock? Insights from 150 years of Tariff Policy.” The main finding of the report is that Tariffs are deflationary! “We find that a tariff hike raises unemployment (lowers economic activity) and lowers inflation.” With all the focus on Tariffs this year, this report is a must see! A link to the report is included below.   
Link:  What is a Tariff Shock? Insights from 150 years of Tariff Policy

BND: Strategy Room Bonus - Retail sales & Black Friday update

This is a clip from the BND: Strategy Room Live Stream from 11-29-2025. This clip reviews recent retail sales data and takes a look at how sales are performing on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday.

BND: Strategy Room 11-29-2025

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.

Our food system is in serious trouble. One farmer has a plan!

America’s farm system is in trouble. Parts of it are collapsing in real time. Over regulation is crushing small farmers. An Idaho farmer named Steve Jarvis has a plan. It entails wiping out every farmer’s debt! Very radical, but he might be on to something. Any bank or banker that is involved with agricultural lending should listen to this episode. If your state is highly dependent on agriculture, you should listen to this episode. This episode examines an article from The Epoch Times (subscription required) titled “The farmer with a war plan to save America.”  

BND: Strategy Room Bonus - Update on mortgages and housing

This BND: Strategy Room Bonus episode is an update on mortgages and housing. This clip is from the BND: Strategy Room Live Stream from 11-15-2025.

Will envy be the doom of capitalism?

Envy is one of the seven deadly sins. Envy is defined as the intense desire to have an item or quality that someone else possesses. Envy is at the very heart of socialism. The recent creep in the U.S. toward socialism politically is very troubling. The U.S. has been here before in the 1930’s during the great depression. History has proven that socialism does not have the answers to economic problems that society seeks. Envy is a powerful vice, as is pride, greed, lust, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. In times of great economic turmoil, we all must be on guard not to be seduced by envy’s siren song. This episode examines an article from The Epoch Times (subscription required) titled “Envy: The corrosive moral rot at the heart of socialism.”

Does how we dress have an overall effect on society?

The way we dress conveys a message about how we see ourselves and others. Seeing people ‘dressed up’ is becoming increasingly rare. At the same time, the clothes we wear speak volumes about us.  In business, clothes are essential to how you appear to others. How you carry yourself, how other people view you, how seriously you are taken. In society, clothes give us many clues into the mental health of the country. This episode examines an article from The Epoch Times (subscription required) titled “Are we dressing to the lowest common denominator?”