Community Banks Build Communities

Community banks are an integral part of Main Street; they reinvest local dollars back into the community and help create local jobs. Their relationship banking philosophy is ingrained in the way they conduct business, one loan—one customer—at a time. Local reinvestment helps small businesses grow and helps families finance major purchases and build financial security.

Community banks also are nimble in using new technology platforms, supporting emerging methods of payments and advocating tougher security standards to protect small-business owners and customers from hackers and other criminals.

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Community Banks Support Communities

Want to learn how you can support community banks?

Read ICBA's Community Focus 2020 policy platform to learn what common-sense reforms would help promote greater access to financial services and economic opportunity throughout local communities nationwide.

Read Community Focus 2020

“As high-tech, high-touch lenders that specialize in relationship banking, community banks build better communities by prioritizing and investing in the customers and neighborhoods they serve.”

— Preston Kennedy, president and CEO, Zachary Bancshares Inc., Zachary, La.

What Sets Community Banks Apart

Local Focus: Unlike larger banks that may take deposits in one state and lend in others, community banks channel their loans to the neighborhoods where their depositors live and work, which helps local businesses and communities thrive.
Relationship Banking: Community bank officers know their customers and may consider family history and discretionary spending in making loans. Megabank loan officers apply impersonal qualification criteria, such as credit scoring, without regard to individual circumstances.

Innovation: As high-tech, high-touch local financial institutions, community banks work with their customers to ensure they have access to innovative products and services while partnering with and investing in financial technology providers. A prime example of community bank innovation is showcased through ICBA’s ThinkTECH Accelerator.
Lending Leadership to Small Business: According to the Federal Reserve’s Small Business Credit Survey: Report on Employer Firms, community banks are the small business lender of choice.
- 79 percent of independent businesses that used community banks report they were satisfied with their overall experience, compared with 67 percent for large banks and just 49 percent for online lenders.
Timely Decision-Making: Community banks offer nimble decision-making on business loans because decisions are made locally. Megabanks must often convene loan-approval committees located in another state, far away from their customers.
Community Engagement and Accessibility: Community bank officers are typically deeply involved in their local communities, while megabank officers are often detached from the communities where their branches are located.

As local small businesses themselves, community banks only thrive when their customers and communities flourish. They answer to Main Street. Megabanks are driven by shareholder value and answer to Wall Street.

Often referred to as America’s Favorite Lenders, community banks:

Comprise 99% of all banks
Provide more than 60% of all small business loans
Make more than 80% of agricultural loans
Have more than 50,000 locations nationwide
Employ nearly 750,000 people

A Guide to Minority Banks

Learn more about how minority banks still play a crucial role to many minority and low-to-moderate-income communities and small businesses, often serving as the only safe option for them to do business. Without minority banks, many minorities and low- to-moderate-income customers would be susceptible to predatory practices, such as payday loans and car title loans that only keep them in debt.

Learn More about Minority Banks