Banking organizations have no shortage of economic factors to navigate as geopolitical tensions continue and domestic monetary policy undergoes normalization. But banks also are staring down a new strategic imperative, whether or not it is on their radar—addressing the impact of climate change.

New and existing members of ICBA’s Bank Director Program now have access to our popular Bank Director Training video series.

The Founder, Chairman, and CEO of FedEx Corp, Fred Smith, recently announced that he is planning to step down from the CEO role. We believe the way he chose to do so and some of his comments have bearing on some of the similar succession issues many of our clients face.

If bond investors (you) were running low on things to worry about for the rest of the year, I’ve got some terrific news: The $9 trillion portfolio owned by our central bank will begin to shrink. Soon. And at a feverish pace, I might add.

We have the privilege of assisting community bankers with training, coaching, and leadership development. As we work through the various stages of our training and educational workshops, the energy in the room frequently shifts when the discussion migrates from customer service to sales.

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.