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The K-shaped recovery has dominated the news in recent months, but the main question is whether this drastic contrast in a post-COVID U.S. will dominate the economy the same way it occupied the media.
Every two years, WBA is proud to document the advocacy efforts accomplished on behalf of its membership. WBA’s priority through advocacy is to ensure there are no legislative, regulatory, or judicial obstacles barring you from serving your customers to the best of your abilities. This year’s advocacy report is now available and features several victories for the Wisconsin banking community.
As more and more customer interactions shift to virtual, e-signatures have become central to some banks’ operations. With this shift, questions about the technology still remain.
Faced with low interest rates, an abundance of deposits, and a pandemic-induced slowdown in business lending, many Wisconsin banks are wrestling with net interest margin (NIM) compression.
While NIM compression is a long-term trend in banking, the effect of the still-spreading novel coronavirus on the economy has heightened concern over net interest margin.
At a time when many banks have plenty of money to lend, the appetite for borrowing by good businesses is diminished and there’s not a lot of room for banks to further trim how much they pay depositors.
Banking is about relationships. As a leader in your bank, many times you are making connections between different businesses and people to help them reach a common goal. It’s about leveraging those relationships for the greater good.
WBA has done the same thing throughout the years in its approach to advocacy to help achieve successes for the industry. Over the last few years, the WBA Board has encouraged staff to continue and grow our coalition building efforts to maximize the impact of our advocacy initiatives. For instance, late last Spring, WBA built a coalition of 34 different Wisconsin business groups urging SBA and Treasury to simplify the PPP loan forgiveness process. That effort placed WBA among the most successful state banking trade associations in that campaign and helped move the needle for so many businesses and banks.
In today’s business world, no company is entirely self-sufficient. Niche expertise and product specialization have created a competitive landscape where interdependencies lead to growth and efficiency. In order to reach your bank’s strategic goals, you rely on third-party providers for a growing list of products and services so that you can focus on being there for your customers.
While you’re busy being there for your customers, WBA Associate Members will be there for you.
Dedicating energy, time, and resources to improving employee engagement will yield dividends. Banks who make engagement a priority will enjoy a competitive advantage over not only other financial institutions but also other employers with whom they compete for top talent. In order to achieve that advantage, however, bank leadership need to understand what “engagement” truly means.
Winthrop & Weinstine serves Wisconsin banks and financial institutions regarding any issue banks encounter, from bank-specific issues such as governance and regulatory issues, to more general business matters like mergers and acquisitions, employment, or vendor agreements. Their attorneys work closely with banks to learn and understand the intricacies and aspects that make each situation unique […]
Preparation is fully underway among Wisconsin’s banks for the new CECL standards, which were issued by FASB on June 16, 2016 and fundamentally change how banks estimate losses in their allowance for loan and lease losses (ALLL). Among other considerations, banks must develop or purchase new systems and/or processes to conduct those calculations. One hotly debated question: whether or not banks can utilize a simpler solution than software, namely an Excel spreadsheet.
The answer: banks can use Excel, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they should.
With 2017 just around the corner, many banks are deep into their annual budgeting process. However, projecting loan growth and interest rates is not as simple as it used to be, operational costs continue to rise, and interest margins continue to shrink… along with the budget’s margin for error.
