At ICBA Securities, we provide community bankers the tools to grow their investments.
Powered by our exclusive broker/dealer The Baker Group, ICBA Securities connects community bankers to investment portfolio and balance sheet management tools, as well as education resources.
Learn How ICBA Securities Can Help Your Community Bank
Reach us by phone at 866-843-4222
Upcoming Events
Events coming soon.
ThinkTECH x CAFE Fintech Showcase: Advancing Financial Equity Through Innovation Webinar
Join us for an exclusive showcase event presented by ICBA Innovation in conjunction with the Center for Accelerating Financial Equity (CAFE) Fintech Accelerator. CAFE, a valued member of our accelerator network, who’s dedicated focus is on advancing financial health and wellness, particularly for low- to moderate-income (LMI) communities.
Unlike our broader accelerator programs, CAFE’s mission centers on this important and specific topic. This event is an excellent opportunity for anyone interested in how innovative technology can help better serve these important customer segments.
Discover how fintech is transforming financial wellness for LMI communities and learn from leaders at the forefront of inclusive financial innovation.
What to Expect:
Meet Innovative Fintech Founders: Engage directly with entrepreneurs who are developing technologies aimed at expanding access to capital, enhancing financial literacy, and promoting economic mobility.
Discover Practical Solutions: Explore fintech innovations that can be integrated into your bank's operations to better serve underserved populations and drive community growth.
Featured Startups Include:
DocuGuardian : Intelligent Legacy Infrastructure platform that helps families securely organize, govern, and clarify life-critical financial and legal information, creating a trusted system of record for continuity.
iTuring.ai : Helps financial institutions deliver more personalized, inclusive, and affordable financial services that expand access to credit and financial guidance for LMI people.
Remynt : Digital collections partner for financial institutions, employing an omnichannel strategy and integrated psychology and financial literacy to help individuals regain financial control.
Sail : Makes healthcare more affordable by identifying Health Savings Account (HSA) spend on any credit/debit card, eliminating the need to take photos of receipts, and increasing utilization of tax-advantaged benefits.
Spheros : Accelerates client and vendor onboarding for financial institutions by enabling clients to upload their data once and share it securely with any institution on demand.
Valusync : AI-powered digital toolkit that helps community banks personalize member interactions, streamline operations, and drive deeper financial engagement.
Vroombrick : Platform that helps people buy and sell homes on their own with guided software and support from lenders and closing attorneys.
Zolidar : AI platform for owners, advisors, and SMB programs to navigate the $5T small business succession cliff - from initial modeling of any exit path, through scaled employee ownership (EO) transitions and long-term operations.
Why Attend
This showcase is an opportunity to witness firsthand how fintech innovations are being leveraged to promote financial wellness. By attending, you'll gain insights into emerging technologies that can help your institution better serve LMI communities, stay competitive, and further fulfill your mission of community banking.
Research - Best Practices for Community Banks
Move beyond guesswork with this session on effective research methodologies. Learn how to conduct customer and employee surveys, trade area research, and more to gain reliable insights. Discover how quality information can shape decisions, enhance experiences, and build a thriving bank culture. Empower your management team with the tools to lead confidently.
Learning Objectives:
- Learn how to conduct customer and employee surveys, trade area research, and other methods to gather reliable insights.
- Use quality information to shape organizational choices, enhance customer and employee experiences, and strengthen bank culture.
- Equip management teams with research-driven tools.
Duration: 60-minutes
Presented live and recorded on 05/27/26.
ThinkTECH Alumni Showcase Webinar
Experience demonstrations of the latest solutions from several of our ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator companies from previous years. Learn about how these companies are helping community banks flourish and see how our companies continue to evolve to meet your bank’s needs.
Thanks to the continued support of ICBA member banks, these companies have enhanced and expanded their products and services to better meet the needs of today’s community banks.
Posh is building the AI agentic workforce for financial institutions—improving customer service while transforming employees into “super agents” through AI assistants and continuous learning from real interactions. Trusted by 125+ financial institutions with 250+ deployments, its purpose-built platform spans voice, digital, training, and knowledge channels to drive self-service, employee enablement, and operational efficiency at scale.
Agent IQ :
Agent IQ provides an AI-powered relationship banking platform that helps financial institutions grow by turning digital interactions into lasting relationships. By combining intelligent engagement with responsible AI, Agent IQ enables banks and credit unions to scale human connection, improve efficiency, and deliver trusted digital experiences.
LemonadeLXP is an AI-powered, all-in-one learning and knowledge platform for community banks. It accelerates staff training, frontline enablement, and customer education by delivering instant, accurate information in the flow of work—combining learning, content, and support in one powerful platform.
Don’t miss this chance to witness the impact of collaboration and innovation in action.
Duration: 90-minutes
Presented live and recorded on 5/28/26.
ICBA Securities Overview
ICBA Securities Corporation (ICBA Securities) was founded in 1989. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the ICBA, the nation’s largest trade association for community banks.
ICBA Securities has a commitment to return its profits to the industry. It does so in the form of royalties, sponsorships, or dividends. It has reinvested over $50 million back to its affiliated state/regional partners or to support advocacy at ICBA.
Endorsements
We are proud to be endorsed by 34 state community banking associations.
ICBA Securities provides investment portfolio and balance sheet management tools through The Baker Group, our exclusively endorsed broker/dealer.
About The Baker Group
Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Oklahoma City, The Baker Group is one of the nation’s largest independently owned broker/dealer, specializing in investment portfolio management, interest rate risk management, balance sheet strategies and education for community banks nationwide. The firm is committed to providing honest, insightful, and client-focused solutions to help community banks manage balance sheet risks and achieve high performance.
Education Opportunities Through ICBA Securities, powered by The Baker Group
Through The Baker Group, ICBA Securities provides an education platform tailored to the needs of community banks. Representatives from The Baker Group attend and speak at numerous state community banking conferences, seminars and meetings, conducting an average of 50 educational events per year.
ICBA Securities and The Baker Group also offer speakers who can cover a range of topics pertinent to community bank audiences. See below for a summary of the topics currently available:
Note: The speaking calendar may fill up early and therefore speaking requests cannot be guaranteed. Please note that all speaking requests are filled as resources are available.
Speaking Opportunities
2026 Economic Overview and Fed Policy Outlook
With the Federal Reserve delivering a total of 175 basis points of rate cuts starting in late 2024 and resuming in late 2025, the Fed now faces inflation above 2% and a slow labor market.
The Fed is divided between those that see employment as the greatest risk and those that see inflation as the greatest risk. In this presentation, we will take a look at the macroeconomic environment, including the key data points the Federal Reserve monitors to set monetary policy.
Investment Portfolio Strategies for Today’s Rate Environment
In today’s dynamic rate environment, a disciplined investment process is more critical than ever. With the yield curve steepening in 2025, driven by the Fed cutting interest rates 100 basis points in the later part of 2024 and an additional 75 basis points in late 2025, community banks have a unique opportunity to optimize their portfolios.
This session explores current investment trends and proven strategies to build a portfolio that enhances net interest margins while aligning with your bank’s broader asset/liability management objectives.
State of the Industry and Regulatory Hot Topics
Since the pandemic, the banking industry and regulatory landscape have been anything but stagnant. An aggressive rising rate environment set the state for declining margins and bank performance alongside liquidity challenges.
More recently, Fed rate cuts have allowed banks to reduce cost of funds, increase asset yields and see margin expansion. This session will examine the most recent community banking trends using the latest call report data as well as a dive into the hot topics from the regulatory agencies.
Playbook for the 2026 Rate Landscape
There is a relative consensus that we are nearing the end of the rate-cutting period begun in 2024. Whether there are zero, two or four rate cuts this year, the likely terminal rate for Fed Funds will be higher than historical norms.
This has myriad implications for community banks, both balance sheet and income statement. We will provide an update on the market expectations and suggest some strategies to take advantage of the likely shape of the yield curve.
Today’s Liquidity Management Best Practices
Liquidity risk management remains a top priority for regulators and a critical focus area for banks. This session examines best practices related to Liquidity Risk Management including liquidity cash flow forecasting, liquidity stress testing, and contingency funding planning. In addition, the discussion will cover current liquidity trends and pressing hot topics in today's banking landscape.
Asset/Liability Management in Today’s Environment
In 2022, the Federal Reserve launched an aggressive tightening cycle to combat post-pandemic inflation, reshaping the economic landscape.
As we move through 2026, the banking industry faces fresh challenges amid stabilizing yet elevated interest rates, policy shifts, and growing concerns about a potential economic slowdown.
Senior management continues to navigate an environment marked by elevated interest rates and the looming threat of an economic downturn. This session will examine and discuss all these concerns and present strategies to better prepare your institution for the uncertainty ahead.
Today’s Interest Rate Risk Management Best Practices
Interest rate risk management has transformed over the years from a mere compliance exercise into a sophisticated, dynamic, and ongoing process.
This session explores the best practices in Interest Rate Risk Management including key assumption development and documentation, back testing, and sensitivity testing of critical assumptions.
Participants will also gain insights into prevailing interest rate risk trends and emerging hot topics shaping the current environment.
Board of Directors: Demystifying Your Bank’s Investment Portfolio
In an era of heightened regulatory scrutiny, board members are required to have a better understanding of their bank’s investment portfolio.
This session will dive into the following: bond basics, why banks have investment portfolios, regulatory expectations of the bond portfolio, basic bond accounting treatment, and types of bonds owned by community banks and board reporting.
Board of Directors: Interest Rate Risk Management 101
Effective board oversight is the cornerstone of sound risk management. The board is responsible for overseeing the bank’s interest rate risk management program.
This session will educate board members on the basics of interest rate risk including interest rate modeling concepts, key modeling assumptions and the regulatory expectations of a sound interest rate risk program.
Baker Seminars
ALM and Investment Strategies Seminar
Springfield, IL
Illini Golf and Country Club
Baker In-Person Schools:
Baker Virtual Education Series:
Board of Directors
Aza Bittinger
Community Bankers Association of Ohio
Columbus
Ohio
Thomas Bates, Jr.
President & CEO
Legends Bank of Clarksville
TN
Brenda Foster
Chairman
President and CEO