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.
IRA Beneficiary Distributions Part 2 Webinar
Building on the foundation from IRA Beneficiary Distributions – Part 1, this second session takes a deeper, more practical look at beneficiary rules under the SECURE Act and proposed RMD regulations
We’ll move beyond the basics into a hands on exploration of key operational requirements, including year of death obligations, beneficiary portability, and separate accounting rules. You’ll also gain clarity on critical deadlines for beneficiary determination and the reporting requirements that ensure compliance.
Designed to complement Part One, this session equips you with the tools to confidently navigate complex beneficiary scenarios and apply the rules in real world situations.
Learning Objectives:
- Gain hands-on experience on how to handle beneficiary distributions.
- Understand the year-of-death requirements for IRA beneficiaries and their impact on distribution timing.
- Identify and meet the beneficiary determination deadline to ensure compliance with IRS regulations.
Duration: 60 minutes
Presented live and recorded on 06/03/26.
Stronger Together: How Community Banks Are Co-Investing to Navigate Rapid Change in Technology Webinar
Community banks face increasing pressure to identify, evaluate, and adopt the right technologies; often without sufficient time or resources to navigate an increasingly crowded and fast-moving fintech marketplace. This session addresses that challenge by examining a collective, strategic approach to technology decision-making designed specifically for community banks.
Leaders from ICBA and BankTech Ventures, alongside innovative community bankers, explore how a shared investment and due-diligence model helps banks make smarter, faster, and more confident technology decisions. Participants will gain insight into how BankTech Ventures evaluates emerging fintech solutions, aligns innovation with community bank needs, and supports long-term competitiveness, while also offering potential financial returns through strategic investment.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand how a collective investment and due-diligence model supports more confident technology decision-making.
- Evaluate the role of BankTech Ventures in identifying and assessing emerging fintech solutions.
- Recognize how peer collaboration enhances visibility into technology trends and risk considerations.
- Assess how participation can position their bank alongside innovative community banking peers.
- Identify strategic benefits of aligning technology adoption with long-term competitiveness.
About BankTech Ventures
Founded by leading bankers, ICBA, and financial technology entrepreneurs, BankTech Ventures exists to help community banks thrive in an era of rapid change. Over the past five years, the BankTech Ventures team has met with more than 5,000 companies—demonstrating a deep commitment to advancing the future of community banking. It’s already creating measurable impact for your peers—now’s the time to see if it’s the right fit for your institution.
Duration: 60-minutes
Presented live and recorded on 6/3/26.
ICBA Bank Director Forum - Session 2
Offered quarterly in half-day sessions, each of the ICBA Bank Directors Forums will cover a unique topic, such as cybersecurity, enterprise risk management, corporate governance and more. No two sessions will be the same.
Register for all four Bank Director Forums and save $200!
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