Main Street Matters Blog

For $3.1 billion-asset Blue Ridge Bank, innovation is priority number one. Yet in a recent interview, the Luray, Va.-based community bank quickly pointed out that innovation is not as much about the technology investment as it is about the cultural one.

As discussed in ICBA’s first Crypto Chronicles blog post, cryptocurrency emerged from Satoshi Nakamoto’s desire to create a “purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash.”

Testimonials have long been a crux of an effective communications effort in helping to articulate and demonstrate a community bank’s value proposition to customers and its community. Here are a few tips to help community bankers make the most out of this important and effective tool for sharing their positive story.

Here's part two of a continuing conversation on faster payments, diving into Same Day ACH, competition, fraud, and strategic vision.

With the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, set to be largely discontinued in a few months, federal regulators are increasingly vocal about the need for financial institutions to be ready for the transition.

As the globe focuses on the rise of digital assets, the Federal Reserve is cautiously weighing whether to build a central bank digital currency (CBDC), which raises complex policy and technical considerations.

Microsoft is discontinuing its Internet Explorer browser in less than a year, requiring community banks and vendors to start preparing now.

Faster payments have arrived. Accelerated by the pandemic, the growth in digital and contactless payments has pushed consumer and business expectations toward the real-time movement of money.

In the past several months, bad actors have escalated their attacks against critical infrastructure and industries. These actions are bringing renewed focus to the role of cryptocurrencies in facilitating criminal activity and helping foreign governments evade sanctions and to the resultant need for heightened regulatory intervention.

According to the 2020 Global Innovation Barometer from GE, COVID-19 had a significant downward influence on innovation. However, community banks found themselves in a different category—increasing their innovative thinking during the pandemic.