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Through the Fire and Flames: The Road Ahead for Community Banks
Through the Fire and Flames: The Road Ahead for Community Banks Economic security rapidly evaporated for many households in 2020 as the coronavirus imposed an indelible mark on our nation’s...
Simple Steps to Start Saving for Your Financial Future
Simple Steps to Start Saving for Your Financial Future Studies show most Americans have too much debt and not enough savings. Being prepared doesn’t have to be a chore or a burden. With a few...
Continuing the Conversation: What You Need to Know about Today’s Credit Card Rewards Programs
Continuing the Conversation: What You Need to Know about Today’s Credit Card Rewards Programs Recently, ICBA Bancard, in partnership with TCM Bank, released the white paper, “Cultivating the...
Community Bank Innovative Solutions for Customer-Centric Experiences
Community Bank Innovative Solutions for Customer-Centric Experiences In a world where technology has made it possible for instant gratification in customer and business relationships, community...
How My Bank’s Team Delivered and Received Value from the ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator Experience
How My Bank’s Team Delivered and Received Value from the ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator Experience Last year I flew to Little Rock, Ark. to participate in the ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator program and...
A Fresh Focus on Innovative Solutions for Community Bank Back-Office Operations
A Fresh Focus on Innovative Solutions for Community Bank Back-Office Operations ICBA and The Venture Center gave particular attention to identifying innovative back-office solution providers for...
Digital Dollar Digest: What Is a CBDC?
Digital Dollar Digest: What Is a CBDC? Countries are racing to create central bank digital currencies, or so it appears from the constant stream of reports, articles, and speeches by officials....
Crypto Chronicles: What is a stablecoin and what do community bankers need to know?
Crypto Chronicles: What is a stablecoin and what do community bankers need to know? Since its debut, Bitcoin has experienced spectacular fluctuations in value. While some accept the risks that come...
Employing Financial Literacy as a Tool to Attract Gen Z Bank Customers
Employing Financial Literacy as a Tool to Attract Gen Z Bank Customers Generation Z already outnumbers millennials and baby boomers and in a matter of years they’ll become the most financially...
Regulators Discuss the Future of Community Bank Innovation at Fintech Symposium
Regulators Discuss the Future of Community Bank Innovation at Fintech Symposium Community banks’ focus on next-generation digital solutions was on full display during a recent symposium hosted by...
How Community Banks Can Help Customers Evaluate Buy Now, Pay Later Offerings
How Community Banks Can Help Customers Evaluate Buy Now, Pay Later Offerings Buy now, pay later or BNPL, is the latest cautionary payments tale for community banks. Much like digital wallets, its...
Why we need Black-owned banks
Why we need Black-owned banks Black-owned community banks have a long history of serving Americans historically left out of the mainstream banking system. Many well-established community banks...
How Community Banks Can Continue to Fight Elder Financial Exploitation and Abuse
How Community Banks Can Continue to Fight Elder Financial Exploitation and Abuse The past year has been a trying time for our nation, particularly for America’s elderly population who were...
Crypto Chronicles: Agencies Coordinate Crypto Approach Amid Ransomware Escalation
Crypto Chronicles: Agencies Coordinate Crypto Approach Amid Ransomware Escalation In the past several months, bad actors have escalated their attacks against critical infrastructure and industries....
Community Banker Perspective: The Importance of Financial Literacy for Teens
Community Banker Perspective: The Importance of Financial Literacy for Teens April may be Financial Literacy Month, but at Community Spirit Bank our focus on providing young people with a strong...
Digital Dollar Digest: Catalysts for Exploring a Central Bank Digital Currency
Digital Dollar Digest: Catalysts for Exploring a Central Bank Digital Currency What is galvanizing the world market to pursue central bank digital currencies? The factors are varied. In this...
Community Bank Guide to Managing Core Processor Relationships
Community Bank Guide to Managing Core Processor Relationships For community banks looking to strike a balance between high-touch services and high-tech capabilities, selecting the right technology...
Enhancements Community Banks Can Make To Improve Email Deliverability and Defend Against Phishing
Enhancements Community Banks Can Make To Improve Email Deliverability and Defend Against Phishing To better protect their institutions and customers from email scams, community banks can make...
The Problem with Public Banking
The Problem with Public Banking While community banks have again proven their importance to local communities as Paycheck Protection Program leaders, public banking proponents in some states and...
Crypto Chronicles: Bitcoin 101 for Community Bankers
Crypto Chronicles: Bitcoin 101 for Community Bankers The payments industry is abuzz with excitement as one topic continues capturing headlines, with profound implications for community banks:...
Digital Dollar Digest: What Central Bank Digital Currency Architecture Means for Community Banks
Digital Dollar Digest: What Central Bank Digital Currency Architecture Means for Community Banks CBDCs are taking center stage around the globe, with multiple research projects underway. As central...
Three Ways Community Bankers Can Increase Their Innovative Thinking
Three Ways Community Bankers Can Increase Their Innovative Thinking According to the 2020 Global Innovation Barometer from GE, COVID-19 had a significant downward influence on innovation. However,...
ICBA Polling on Strong Community Bank Favorability Fuels Successful Capital Summit
To support community banker meetings with policymakers on top industry issues, ICBA released new polling data affirming the industry’s strong public favorability at the state and national levels.
Expanding Interchange Price Controls Would Put Fraud Protections at Risk
Maintaining strong risk-mitigation technologies has never been more important for the banking industry, but “big box” merchant lobbyists are attempting to disrupt advances in card fraud mitigation...
How the TerraUSD Collapse Is Affecting Financial Markets
While the collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin has captured the most attention, it was not the only stablecoin to fail during the market downturn. Here’s a look at the impact of the Terra decline on...
How Four Community Banks Recognize and Celebrate Juneteenth
While Juneteenth is the youngest U.S. federal holiday after it became formally recognized in a law enacted last year, it has decades of significance—with June 19, 1865, recognized as the end of...
Three Ways Community Banks Can Respond to Generational Digital Payments Needs
When it comes to payments, the generational divide has been shrinking. While Gen Z and Millennials still lead the way in digital payments adoption, Baby Boomers and Seniors (over 76) are increasing...
BNPL and the Illogical Argument for Credit Card Interchange Fee Regulation
When a new object comes along like “buy now, pay later,” or BNPL, merchants will gladly pay higher transaction fees than they do for credit cards. But this recent surge in BNPL adoption by...
Faster Payments Have Arrived — Now What?
Faster Payments Have Arrived — Now What? Faster payments have arrived. Accelerated by the pandemic, the growth in digital and contactless payments has pushed consumer and business expectations...
Community banks must engage customers on new IRS reporting mandates
If community bankers weren’t busy enough continuing their heroic economic response to the pandemic, a proposal to impose IRS reporting mandates on customer bank accounts has become anadvocacy...
How Community Bankers Association of Illinois Partnered with ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator to Further Community Bank Innovation
Community Bankers Association of Illinois (CBAI) is no stranger to fintech collaborations, but the idea of helping shape fintech offerings tailored to community banks was too intriguing an idea to...
How to Digitize the Community Bank Relationship Model
When it comes to community bankers’ technology to-do lists, 35% view investing in digitalization as their top business opportunity. We’ve clearly arrived at a tipping point.
A Community Bank Primer on the TerraUSD Collapse
ICBA has closely watched the growth of stablecoins over the past year and repeatedly raised concerns about the risks these systems may pose. Earlier this month, those concerns manifested with the...
How the TerraUSD Collapse Affects Stablecoin Regulation and Community Banks
The collapse of TerraUSD has affected the crypto sector and broader financial markets. But perhaps even more important for community banks, the market instability is fueling the policymaker push...
Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Creating Mutually Beneficial Relationships with Community Banks and Fintechs
Engaging community bankers to think about innovation in new ways continues to be my driving force, but I’m not doing it alone. This year I’m bringing along ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator alumni
The Rise of the Super App… and What Community Banks Can Do About It
Everyone, including big tech and social media players, want a super app. That’s according to a 2022 report, which underscores that the threat is real.
How Agility Bank and Rockland Trust are Leveraging Digital Services to Cultivate Personal Relationships
Relationship banking has entered a new, digital era as confirmed by recent research from Cornerstone Advisors that concluded, “There is a human element to mobile banking.”
Why ICBA opposes flawed Marshall-Durbin Amendment expansion legislation
Despite ICBA’s persistent communications on the negative impact of Durbin Amendment interventions on payment card systems, its latest iteration furthers the misguided policies of the past that will...
How community banks can use cultural-driven engagement and continuous learning to combat the Great Resignation
Talent recruitment and professional development has always been a critical issue for community banks, but today’s job market is different. The impact of the “Great Resignation” has placed the...
Why Instant Payments Should Be on Your Digital Transformation Road Map
Even if you aren’t hearing the words “faster payments” or “instant payments” directly from your customers, trends and research show the demand is there – and rising. Recent Federal Reserve surveys...
ICBAs Reimagined ThinkTECH Accelerator to Support Year-Round Programming
Bob Dylan once said, “There is nothing so stable as change,” and I have found that to be true, particularly as we look to embrace modern technologies and the companies that enable them.
Community Bankers Prepare for Cyber Risks with CISA/ICBA Tabletop Exercises
It comes as no surprise that cybersecurity tops community bankers’ list of risk concerns. In fact, cybersecurity ranks higher than government regulation, the cost and availability of labor, and...
Innovating on Customer Behaviors: The Case for Credit and Debit Rewards Programs
The first half of 2022 has pointed to a return to pre-pandemic behaviors. In fact, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that in the first quarter of 2022 credit card balances have risen...
Striking the Right Balance: Innovation in Ag Banking
As the leading providers of agricultural loans, community banks make up 80 percent of all financing to agriculture, and opportunities exist to extend that support.
Is professional development the key to recruiting and retention in today's tight labor market?
The current worker shortage is creating real economic impacts across all industries. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, there are 3.4 million fewer Americans working today compared to...
Zelle Fraud: How Community Banks Can Respond to This Cautionary Tale
In 2020, nearly 18 million Americans were defrauded via digital wallets and person-to-person (P2P) services, according to Javelin Strategy & Research. With numbers like that, P2P solutions like...
Three Take-Aways for Community Banks from the VenCent Summit
The Venture Center, ICBA’s leadership bankers, and our ThinkTECH Accelerator cohorts demonstrated the importance of community bank-fintech collaborations at the VenCent Summit. It was an...
How Federal Regulators Can Avoid Penalizing Community Banks for Economic Measures Taken During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The consequences of uncoordinated regulatory standards at the federal level are creating an artificial problem at the local level, potentially endangering many community banks’ ability to lend to...
How Community Banks Can Leverage Strong Multifactor Authentication to Fend off Hackers
In the first half of 2022, there were 817 data breaches in the U.S., and combined with data leaks, they impacted more than 53 million people. These are alarming numbers, but they could have been...
Three Financial Technology Trends Community Banks Should Consider for 2023
When I attended FinovateFall in September, I was struck by its palpable energy. Not only was it the most attended Finovate to date, it was a collaborative conference, converting what had once felt...
Six Steps to Your Bank’s Digital Payments Transformation
To support community banks in establishing concrete next steps for their digital transformation efforts, ICBA Bancard has developed the report, “Digital Transformation: The Payments Business Model.”
How ICBA’s Investments in Innovation Are Paying Off for Community Banks
Just shy of a year ago, ICBA announced its role as one of the general partners and investment committee members in a strategic investment fund designed to accelerate technology opportunities and...
Ten ICBA Innovation Milestones for 2022
We have previously called 2021 a year of innovation, but there’s no doubt that ICBA doubled down on its position throughout 2022 to ensure that innovation is accessible, affordable, and attainable...
From the CEO: ICBA and Community Bankers Stand Together in 2022
As we near the waning days of another thrilling and unforgettable year, I remain awed by the endless energy and devotion community bankers dedicate to serving as effective advocates in Washington.
Five New Sessions to Advance Your Digital Transformation - ICBA ThinkTECH Innovation Series: Digital Transformation Demystified
Digital customer engagement has risen as a top priority for financial institutions in 2023, according to new research from Anna Kooi, financial services industry leader at Wipfli LLP, a top...
How to Dive into Innovation in 2023
When it comes to innovation, big picture ideas crystalize into concrete plans. Having the vision and enthusiasm for fresh solutions is just the start and drives the community bank journey to...
National Campaign Videos Connect with Target Audience
Video assets were one of the most significant production investments ICBA made for the ICBA National Campaign — an effort to elevate community banking in the hearts and minds of America’s consumers.
Building a Concrete Roadmap for Your Digital Transformation
According to a recent survey, 99.8 percent of community bankers feel the adoption of new or emerging technologies to meet customer demand is at least somewhat important, with 64.7 percent labeling...
ICBA Continues Fighting to Differentiate Community Banks from Large, Risky Bank Closures
ICBA and community banks have been on a rollercoaster since the March 10 failure of Silicon Valley Bank, but we have once again proven to be strong and resilient.
Digital Dollar Design Specifics Community Bankers Should Know
Digital Dollar Design Specifics Community Bankers Should Know As the globe focuses on the rise of digital assets, the Federal Reserve is cautiously weighing whether to build a central bank digital...