Community bankers are nothing if not predictable, and I mean that as a compliment. They are bright, enterprising, have a nose for the risk/reward dynamic and a sense of duty and loyalty to their customers and staff. They’re also deathly afraid of rising interest rates.

According to Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, the metaverse is the future of life as we know it, where all activities will happen in a virtual reality world. To many community bankers, the idea of banking in the metaverse seems closer to laughable than it does to reality.

With inflation running hot, the Federal Reserve Board has recently begun accelerating its tapering program. In addition, the latest dot plot for the median Federal Funds rate show that short-term interest rates could increase three times in 2022.

If your bank is average, your credit portfolio will contain a concentration of over 70% in real estate loans. While you might have the best intentions for underwriting real estate loans with the utmost of care, doing what you can to maintain the credit risk, may not be enough.

I’ll let you in on a secret: sometimes your columnist runs out of new ideas to cover. A dearth of new products, no new regs, a stable rate environment—all of these can cause a writer to run aground while sailing the financial seas in search of material.

The 20 online training courses that are included in your Bank Director Program subscription are a great tool to onboard new bank directors while also ensuring your seasoned directors are up-to-speed on topics ranging from the Bank Secrecy Act to fair lending.