The School of Banking

 E010- Jerry Walker: the Future of Independent Community Banks How Jerry sees the situation for Community Banking Jerry is the President/CEO of the Independent Community Bankers Association of New Mexico located in Aztec, New Mexico His responsibilities include Strategic and tactical management responsibilities and oversight of government relations, education and training, and membership development and retention for the association. Jerry Walker can be reached on LinkedIn or  at the  Independent Community Bankers Association of New Mexico This podcast is brought to you through the sponsorship by the Hurdle Group, the creator of PULPS™, the ultimate commercial loan pricing model. Your hosts:  Alan Lee and Phill Rowley The post E010-Jerry Walker: The future of Independent Community Banks appeared first on The School of Banking.

Helping companies help kids!  E009- Victoria Bradford: Trends of local schools working with banks Change is everywhere, but students still need help from bankers Victoria Bradford is the sole proprietor of Comfort Interiors in Vancouver Washington. Even more important is her role on the Evergreen School District where she has served for over sixteen years, having been its chairperson on several occasions. Victoria explains how the Evergreen School District has created a skill center whereby the students can select classes that focus on various areas in which they may have interest. As part of this a student may take classes related to the financial industry to include banking. The school district has also created an actual bank branch where the students take on the various functions within a branch, all the way from teller to branch manager. This branch has also extended its operations to the high schools with ATM’s in each of them. These ATM’s are also maintained by the students. Victoria mentions that a way banks can work with the school districts in their area is to become a partner with the district. This can be done through an effective mentoring program. By becoming a mentor, a banker can help educate the students to develop a set of “life-skills”. These are skills missing in many of the students today. As it pertains to banking, the students often have very little interaction with a bank, hence their not knowing what careers are available to them in that financial sector of the market. Specifically, Victoria points out three things how bankers can be a part of the educational process by working with their local school boards. Becoming that business partner educating students as to the careers available to the students Bring students to their banks for field trips Establish internships for senior students Changing the theme of the podcast, Victoria discusses the changing role of the education system to help address generational disparity. She uses the example of her school district where many of the students’ exposure to the financial world is through payday loan operations. They do not understand the banking industry. It is only through the programs she mentioned prior that they become aware of what a bank is and how it operates. Through this process, the students will come to understand that by working hard, it is not just to survive, but to succeed. Another way bankers can assist school districts is to assist the boards in understanding the financial side of the district. An example presented by Victoria is the idea of financing short-term assets with short-term funding, rather than obtaining long-term funding for those short term needs. This is something the Evergreen School District is currently looking into with the assistance of a financial advisory committee made up of business leaders in its district. A final question of Victoria is the educational status of the United States versus the world. Oftentimes it is said the United States is trailing the advanced countries. In her response, she points out that the measurement of that success is oftentimes flawed and is not a true comparison. In the podcast, she explains why she believes this to be the case. Victoria Bradford can be reached on LinkedIn or  at the Evergreen School District in Vancouver, Washington. This podcast is brought to you through the sponsorship by the Hurdle Group, the creator of PULPS™, the ultimate commercial loan pricing model. Your hosts:  Alan Lee and Phill Rowley The post E009- Victoria Bradford: Trends of local schools working with banks appeared first on The School of Banking.

E008- Jim Thomas- how Bankers can Negotiate to Win Negotiating to improve loan profitability James C. Thomas, Jr. is a Professional Negotiator; Author; Attorney; CEO, Common Ground; Negotiating Skills Speaker, Trainer, Consultant and Coach Jim  shares tips and strategies for better negotiations in banking. For additional information concerning these topics, feel free to reach out to Jim via LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you through the sponsorship by the Hurdle Group, the creator of PULPS™, the ultimate commercial loan pricing model. Your hosts:  Alan Lee and Phill Rowley   The post E008- Jim Thomas- how Bankers can Negotiate to Win appeared first on The School of Banking.

E007 – Joel Regier discusses trends in community bank commercial lending. Learn how one community bank grew Joel Reiger is a senior vice president at American Chartered Bank in Schaumburg, Illinois.  The bank is a $2.8 billion institution specializing in commercial lending.  Joel spent over 10 years of his career in a large regional bank having moved to the American Chartered in just the past few years. One of the unique aspects of his move is that American Chartered requires that senior management become a somewhat substantial owner as part of their employment contract.  Per Joel, this instills in the individuals an even greater sense of pride and entrepreneurial spirit in management.  He describes it as being part of a beneficial self-selection process.  Also, because of that ownership, the turnover in the bank at the executive level has been lower than that of its peers. This past year Joel entered into a loan agreement with a customer that is a little different than your every day commercial loan.  He explains that the borrower is in his marketplace but has substantial assets in Mexico.  Because the assets are in Mexico, perfection of the collateral was a challenge which he, along with legal assistance, was able to accomplish. Joel also explains the benefits of the SBA programs available to provide long-term fixed rate financing to his customers. Another method of providing long-term, fixed rate financing has been to give the customers a floating rate loan and then selling the customer a “floating to fixed rate swap” which in essence gives the customer a fixed rate loan.  Joel explains why this is beneficial to the customer and why it is better for the bank to handle the swap in this manner rather than the bank booking a fixed rate loan and then the bank being the counterparty to a swap with an external third party. For additional information concerning these topics, feel free to reach out to Joel via LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you through the sponsorship by the Hurdle Group, the creator of PULPS™, the ultimate commercial loan pricing model. Your hosts:  Alan Lee and Phill Rowley The post E007 – Joel Regier discusses trends in community banking. appeared first on The School of Banking.

E006- Dr. Ramon Benedetto: Character Based Capitalism The huge impact of character on an organization’s performance In this podcast, Dr. Benedetto provides some excellent examples of just what is meant by character based capitalism. He talks about a large catering company in the Chicago area that was faced with a typical family owned business issue of turning the company over to the next generation. Dr. Ramon L. Benedetto is the show host of Make More Money, a senior faculty member in the University of Phoenix MBA program, and is the president of GuideStar, Inc.. “Dr. Ray“ also completed a distinguished military career, during which he served in numerous leadership and staff assignments with the United States Air Force and the Department of Defense while attaining the rank of Colonel. He has been involved in the formulation of policies and programs concerning wellness and health promotion, public and environmental health, healthcare management systems, telemedicine and infrastructure development. He has served as faculty and guest lecturer for numerous Department of Defense, U.S. Air Force and civilian courses and symposia as well as a faculty member of the University of Phoenix graduate program. He also an author and public speaker dealing with character based capitalism. The latest is “It’s My Company too”. As part of the solution to many of the companies is that they have to have an alignment of the core values of the company in management and the employees of the company. He emphasizes that the companies should always be moral and just in their decisions. Another key essential is that the companies should have a commitment to be a great organization. As part of that, the company should let the personnel do what they do best and allow them to be part of the decision making process. By doing this, the morale of the company will remain high. Dr. Benedetto points out several ways a bank wanting to make a loan to a company can identify the character of a company. Character, which is a key component of a credit decision, it is also a major part of human capital. In this podcast, he delves into how this human capital can be identified in a given company. He provides 3 values that can be looked at when measuring this human capital. Simply put, human capital drives productivity. Dr. Benedetto explains how the lowest level of the organization drives the company. He likens it to a teller in a bank, who is the first contact with the customer and how that teller sets the standard of human capital within the company. Other areas that can be looked at when measuring human capital within a company are employee retention rate, promotion rate and customer referral rates. Other stories to assist in understanding the pattern of behavior of employees in a good performing organization are discussed in his book. A couple of comments that will stay with the listener are: “managers tell, leaders ask” and “An employee needs to not only be satisfied, they need to be engaged”. For additional information concerning these topics, feel free to reach Dr. Ray via the contacts us page on  guidestarinc.com This podcast is brought to you through the sponsorship by the Hurdle Group, the creator of PULPS™, the ultimate commercial loan pricing model. Your hosts:  Alan Lee and Phill Rowley The post E006-Dr. Ramon Benedetto-Character Based Capitalism appeared first on The School of Banking.

E005- Brad Williamson- Insights from a Bank CEO-President Get the insider views of Islanders Bank CEO and President Brad shares tips and strategies for running a community bank For additional information concerning these topics, feel free to reach out to Brad via LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you through the sponsorship by the Hurdle Group, the creator of PULPS™, the ultimate commercial loan pricing model. Your hosts:  Alan Lee and Phill Rowley The post E005- Brad Williamson- Insights from a Bank CEO-President appeared first on The School of Banking.

E004 – David H. Reid – Bank Executive Staffing Trends in 2015 In the banking executives job market,  hiring is up in 2015 David Reid, Executive Search Professional / Recruiter David H. Reid is a past senior banking executive of 24 years and is the sole proprietor of David H. Reid & Associates specializing in executive recruitment, specializing in the financial services industry. He mainly works with community banks assisting them in locating middle to executive level employees. Dave’s overall assessment of the job market for banking executives is that banks are now hiring again on a senior level, but are being very selective in the process. Because of this selectivity, the process is taking longer than has been typical in the past. Frustration exists due to the lack of bankers available at that level. This is a result of many bankers leaving the market in its last downturn beginning in 2008. Many of the banks have moved to hiring contractors, rather than filling the positions with permanent, full-time employees. This uptick of hiring began in 2012, slowed down a little in 2013 and took off in 2014. Some of this is dependent upon the geographical workplace with the Southwestern and Southeastern markets lagging the rest of the country. In the mid-1990’s banks were trending toward bringing non-bankers into the executive levels of banking to bring in that external marketing experience. This is not necessarily the case in today’s market. Banks are looking to hire individuals with banking experience with specific industry knowledge. The hiring banks are approaching it with the “How are you going to help solve my issue?” question in their mind. One of the key areas brought out by Dave is the lack of bank training, specifically credit training. Although there are some places to get that training, it is very limited to what it has been in the past. Dave discusses his views on resume structure. He points out that since there are so many resumes received in the hiring process that something needs to be in the resume that grabs the attention of the reader. The resume needs to literally “sing to the reader”. Resumes today need to be accompanied by a very succinctly written cover letter. That letter should not be overly lengthy (2 to 3 pages) and should point out how the candidate can meet the needs of the organization they are applying to. It is his feeling that professionally prepared resumes are not necessary, but that the resume should be clear and to the point. Networking is still a major component in the hiring of bank executive personnel. It is a relatively closed market for executive bankers, all of who know each other. When asked if there are interesting, creative ways of candidates presenting themselves to potential employers, Dave says there is more creativity on the part of the employer than there is by the candidates. In the interview process, so banks have gone to simulations, problem solving questions and panels to determine the qualifications of the candidates. Also, there has been a trend to using technology, such as Skype as part of the interview process. In a change of subject, Dave talks about how “fierce” the market is for good, quality executive management. He says this is especially true in the wealth management area of banking. Education is an important issue for the bankers being hired. There is not necessarily a need for a doctorate degree, but there is more a high preference for an undergraduate degree, with a masters a plus for young individuals seeking a banking career. Dave is asked about the fun and ugly things of his job. He begins by saying if it was all ugly he wouldn’t be doing it. The fun thing is when he can find a job that is a “career enhancer” to the candidate and that it works out for both parties. It is always fun talking to happy people. The ugly is when a person is accepted into a job and it doesn’t work out. That doesn’t take place very often, but when it does it is not fun at all. Dave gets into some story telling that is very much to the point and is interesting to the listener. Dealing with the migration of bankers from one market to the other, Dave says the higher up in the organization, the more the organization wants to hire within their own marketplace. He uses Arizona as an example. Many bankers may want to semi-retire from their jobs in other parts of the country and move to Arizona. There is a reluctance on the part of the Arizona banks to hire, desiring instead to hire within the market individuals that have local connections and community involvement. Dave Reid can be reached at Dreidassoc@aol.com or can be googled at David H. Reid & Associates. This podcast is brought to you through the sponsorship by The Hurdle Group, the creator of PULPS™, the ultimate commercial loan pricing model.   The post E004 – David H. Reid – Bank Executive Staffing Trends in 2015 appeared first on The School of Banking.

E003 – Dr. Stephen Happel on the state of the economy What the demographic economic treads tell us Dr. Stephen Happel is is a professor emeritus at Arizona State University, world-wide speaker and continues to be a popular lecturer at various banking schools. His particular field of study is in the area of demographic economics. In this podcast, Steve provides insight into many areas of economics plus an added bonus of his perspective on the college students of today. Steve begins by giving a broad overview as to what he thinks the state of the economy is today. Although he feels the economy is not in as good a shape as is reported, he does believe the bigger issue is that of the international economy. He explains why in the China versus the United States discussions on their economies may not be as accurate as the press releases would lead the readers to believe. Also, the direction the Chinese economy is heading may not be sustainable. A lot of this difference can be attributed to the demographic differences in each of the countries. Although the stock market is not his direct area of expertise, Steve comments on some of the economic issues of today that have an effect on that particular market. A lot of the emphasis in the market deals with interest rates which he discusses in terms as why rates are where they are today. Toward the end of the podcast, he provides his forecast for both short- and long-term rates. Steve discusses the value of the dollar as it relates to the rest of the world. The strength of the dollar is due to the turmoil in the rest of the world. This in turn makes the dollar a currency residing in a relative “safe haven”; hence of greater value than other currencies. The Federal Reserve is a topic of discussion in this podcast with Steve accepting the need for the Fed policies (not necessarily all of them) and that the Fed under the new Chairperson, Janet Yellen, will continue to pursue a policy of low interest rates. Under the policies of Ben Bernanke, the overriding premise was to control inflation while Yellen’s policies are more directed toward unemployment. The direction of the podcast then turns to college education and Steve’s perspective on it. He is extremely optimistic toward the attitude of the students he sees in his classes. When asked if there are issues with the students being distracted with other media available to them such as cellulars, etc. in the classroom, he does not see it being a big issue because of the students being engaged in the class. It was pointed out that this may be due to his teaching method, but he believes it to be the nature most students today. He does feel that there is some lack of depth in their understanding of history as it relates to economics. Therefore in his classes, as well as other college classes, that the information be kept current and relevant to the students. Steve speaks to the different generations and points out that the most prolific age in the United States is now 23 years old. In the podcast, he discusses how this will relate to the future economics of the country. This is a must-listen portion of the podcast. Finally, Steve presents his current top ten list that will amuse and intrigue the listener. The post E003 – Dr. Stephen Happel on the state of the economy appeared first on The School of Banking.

E002 – Dean Duelke on cash flow and credit analysis Essential concepts for building a good credit culture Dean Duelke is currently a commercial loan credit training expert having taught at major banking schools across the country. He is an expert on cash flow as it relates to credit analysis. In this podcast Dean lays some foundation as to the needs of a bank from a potential borrower. He feels that culturally there are three different types of lending; real estate, investment banking and commercial lending. In the presentation he distinguishes between the three and the needs of each. He addresses where the problems were for the banks in the 2008 to present time period relative to credit. Dean also points out that banks prior to 2008 had turned to loan to value rather than cash flow which exacerbated the problems which began in 2008. Deans feels that one of the other factors that led to the 2008 demise was banks tending to “silo” their personnel. That is defined as placing personnel in distinct functions within the bank, limiting their ability to view the entire relationship of a given borrower. He talks about the skills of the lenders of today. Banks, in cutting expenses, have also contributed even more to loans becoming more transactional in nature. This has cause banks to be more focused on the current transaction rather than looking at a holistic view where a person takes responsibility for each individual credit. This, along with more emphasis on volume, has created less of a look at the total customer relationship. Also, the reward system didn’t reward the credit skill side of the borrower analysis. In the mid-1990’s, more emphasis was put on volume by paying for portfolio loan growth. Since time was spent on growth, the banks began to use more tools for credit scoring alleviating time for the lenders to obtain more loans. Dean speaks to how many small banks in the past have gotten trained lenders from large banks. That is still the case today with many small bank relying upon automation, or credit scoring to manage the lack of credit skills when they can’t get trained lenders. In talking about where banking schools fit today in the banking area, Dean speaks to the intensity of the schools. Because he has taught at many schools, his insight is interesting in that he feels that intensity depends on the economy. Asked what can be done to solve credit training issues, he feels higher salaries is not the solution. Better training is needed. This does not just mean credit training but also training in other areas of the bank. Dean has developed a training tool utilizing a funnel. He discusses this method to follow the cash flows through a borrowing company. Working capital assets and the cash flow from those assets pays the creditors. He points out that profits pay the bills and that operational cash flow pays the current portion of long term debt. Understanding these concepts is essential for building a good credit culture within a bank. In discussing what type of training is best for potential credit personnel, he feels that the best sessions are those that pick up the technical credit issues. He calls it a “brain to soul” issue that is needed to truly understand the craft. He is also big on the need to have a visual understanding, hence the funnel concept. When asked about the issue of multi-tasking (texting, e-mail, etc.) in classes he teaches, Dean feels that it is up to the individual participants in the class need to be made self-aware of their respectfulness. When asked if shorter, more frequent sessions would be better, Dean senses that for subjects such as his, the participants need to stay focused and be intense to gain the experience he has to offer in his classes. On the subject of the condition of banks, Dean feels the credit issues are pretty well in hand, but that overregulation is more of an issue than the lack of regulation. At the same time, he thinks that since we are a worldwide economy, controlling the credit issues will continue to be an issue. The post E002 – Dean Duelke on cash flow and credit analysis appeared first on The School of Banking.

Episode: E001 – About Us: Who are we and what we are doing at the School of Banking podcast Get to know Alan and Phil in this episode Alan Lee and Phill Rowley are the co-founders of The School of Banking.com. This episode is an introduction to The School of Banking – why it has been formed and what can be expected in future podcasts. If you are interested in learning more about banking, this is the place.  The  people we interview give you their insights on banking issues.  Alan and Phill talk with bankers regularly and wanted to share what we are hearing. The School of Banking podcast provides insights and interesting information for bank executives.  Books are written concerning all areas of banking.  However, much of the information is topic specific without addressing the general banking situations that many banking executives come up against.  Here, you will receive current and practical information that can be used in day-to-day banker’s activities.  These sessions include discussions and opinions of leaders in their field with extensive backgrounds in their areas of expertise.  This material is also meant to be a supplement to graduate banking schools.  The school of banking  recognizes industry leaders and celebrates their accomplishments Some current areas in banking that are current hot topics and we will cover into future podcasts  at The School of Banking are listed below in the show notes Education is important for bankers for both them and the banks.  All bankers need continuing education. Big banks have relatively large budgets to provide training and information to their employees – community banks do not.   The bankers and experts interviewed on the podcasts can give current insights, not covered in banking text books. Phill’s bio includes: Having started in banking in 1970, I have been closely aligned with banking education having first been a student in what used to be the old AIB. From there I attended the Business of Banking School and then on to graduate from Pacific Coast Banking School in 1978. At that time I began instructing at Pacific Coast Banking School as well as others over the years. This past year marks my 36th year at PCBS. Alan  started in banking and went on to the world of Sales Automation. Alan is a sales and marketing automation expert focused on CRM and Data Migration Projects. For over twenty-five years, Alan Lee has helped organizations effectively use technology to reach their sales and marketing goals. He was the Midwest’s first Salesforce business partner as well as a SalesLogix® and ACT! certified consultant. A Microsoft Certified Professional, Alan is a founding member of the Chicago Computer Society and the Complete CRM Solution. Mr. Lee works on various CRM systems daily including: ACT!, Salesforce, Infusionsoft, Swiftpage, and OAK!Merge. Alan founded E Tech Systems in 1988 to specialize in automating sales forces and has helped 1000’s of organizations improve their sales and marketing and migrate data from one CRM to another. OAK!Merge, owned by E Tech, is the leading data import/export tool for ACT! www.oakmerge.com.  In December 2011, Fort Knox Data Migration Services was organized to focus on converting CRM databases into Salesforce. Alan is also the founder, President, and Chief Technology Officer for The Hurdle Group. The Hurdle Group provides online and on-premise Loan Pricing models, for commercial loans. Prior to E Tech, Mr. Lee was the Director of Sales for VMX, Inc., where he helped invent and patent the original “voicemail” system; and a Systems Engineer and Sales Engineer at Data General. Alan earned an MBA from Michigan State University. Episode 1 – Show notes: Welcome to The School of Banking What’s Up and Coming  This introduction begins with a brief discussion where the podcast is headed. Phill Rowley explains why he got into banking ad how that has led to a desire to provide practical banking to today’s bankers. The overriding theme of the podcasts is for bankers to provide banking information to bankers. Historically much of the training to bankers has come from often out-dated material. Although that material can provide a good understanding of how banks have operated in the past, more current information is needed. These podcasts are meant to put an emphasis on practical experience. Alan Lee relates that although he began his business career in banking as an internal auditor for a large bank, he returned to graduate school and became more marketing and technical oriented. He has a passion for marketing and how it can be used in banking as well as other industries. His expertise in the area of social media, which combines both marketing technical expertise, will add a widened perspective of the subject to listeners of The School of Banking. Alan also agrees that the large banks still provide some good training for their employees while the budgets of the smaller banks limits that exposure. That being said, a lot of the training is transactional in nature and is therefore somewhat less than adequate for the employees receiving the education. There should be a commitment on the part of all bank personnel, not just senior management, to make money given different levels of risk. Alan went on to say that sales training budgets in all industries, including banking, has dropped in recent years. There is a need for banks to increase their investment in their staff but reversing this trend. At the same time banks should not be asking the question as to whether they should use social media more for marketing or not, but should be asking how to do it. As time goes forward, there is a need to enter that market if they haven’t already done so. Social media is widely used in other sectors of business. One of the primary reasons is it is a Method of acting quickly to the customer’s needs. Some large banks are big on social medial while community banks have been a little slower to adapt. The introduction goes on to introduce future episodes to include: Asset/liability management topics. This being Phill’s expertise and area of teaching experience, the topics of interest rate risk/opportunity, liquidity, capital adequacy will always be on the table for discussion. BASEL I, II, and II. One of the leading experts on the various phases of BASEL will discuss the pro’s and con’s of the concepts behind the rules. Personnel recruitment. A recruiter who works mostly with bankers will cover a number of topics dealing with bank personnel – all the way from what the market is like today to what are banks looking for in their prospective employees. Credit management. If cash flow is important, this guest will provide the listener with the basics behind cash flow and give a perspective as to how that took second stage in the past economic slowdown. Was asset based lending the problem, or was it the economy – or both? The art of Negotiation. One of the principal negotiators in the SALT talks during the Reagan era will talk about the skills needed for negotiation. This is a skill that as a banker, whether you be on the lending or deposit side of the bank, is an essential. The stories of this art are interesting and beneficial to your organization.   The post E001 – About Us: Who are we and what we are doing at the School of Banking podcast appeared first on The School of Banking.