When ICBA Community launched in 2023, it was the first time ICBA had offered an online platform where community bankers could easily communicate with their peers.
Three years on, Community is a growing forum of like-minded community bankers sharing their successes and seeking feedback about the challenges they face as smaller financial institutions.
David Kreiman, senior vice president and chief experience officer at $867 million-asset Liberty Bank for Savings in Chicago, has been an active user of ICBA Community from day one. He says Community is a valued resource when the bank’s leaders ask him for ideas on how to do something.
“I’ve been in banking for 35 years, so I have my own ideas, but it would be silly of me not to either search for a thread on the ICBA Community to see if that topic's been discussed or to pose a question to see if anyone has some fresh ideas,” says Kreiman. “It's just smart.”
Larissa Carson, director of compliance and BSA officer at $975 million-asset Potomac Bank in Charles Town, West Virginia, has used ICBA Community since the beginning.
“I like to see what topics other bankers are exploring and to provide feedback on what our bank is doing to help other community bankers make decisions for their processes,” says Carson. She adds it is helpful to see other bankers’ perspectives, particularly with the range in banks’ asset sizes.
Valuable peer-to-peer interactions
What makes ICBA Community stand out from other ICBA resources is that it’s a purely banker-to-banker platform, says Vanessa Hanson, digital and social engagement director for ICBA. It’s not a place where bankers go to hear from ICBA.
“Community bankers can come on and ask something so specific that only another community banker would be able to understand and relate to,” she says. “I’ve heard from one of our bankers at an event that there’s never a day that goes by that a community banker doesn’t have a question about something. The fact that now you can just reach out and another peer from across the country, across the street, wherever, can respond … it’s pretty incredible.”
Community bankers particularly value the subgroups within ICBA Community, where users can discuss specific topics, such as fraud, compliance, marketing and human resources. The process is democratic, too: Bankers can suggest ideas for new subgroups, and if there is interest from at least 50 other users, ICBA’s team will create it.
“If 50 people are asking for [a specific topic group], then we’ve basically determined that there is a demand for it,” says Hanson. “Letting the bankers decide has been really reflective of how successful the community has been.”
Kreiman says these subgroups are especially helpful because most community bankers “wear a lot of hats.”
“Whether we’re the head of marketing, we’re also very involved in compliance and we’re very involved in fraud,” he says. “So, to be able to have groups that are dedicated to those types of topics is very helpful for getting to the right people, who hopefully have the right information that you’re looking for.”
Community is growing
A secure place for questions and feedback
3 most popular ICBA Community subgroups
- Fraud
- Compliance
- Marketing
Hanson describes ICBA Community as a safe space for community bankers to ask questions, from
small things such as what type of printer another bank uses to print flyers, to branch opening checklists, questions about bank security and broader fraud issues.
“When bankers share resources, that really demonstrates partnership in community banking,” says Carson. “Banks have shared training documents, reports made to committees, notices to clients, fraud prevention tips and others.”
Kreiman says he often puts the insights and information gleaned from ICBA Community into practice at Liberty Bank. In May, he posted in ICBA Community’s Fraud group asking for examples of scam prevention flyers his bank could have customers read when they’re withdrawing large amounts of cash or wiring a large amount of money.
He says several bankers offered to email him examples of their own bank’s indemnification forms, and while they were all similar to his bank’s current form, one banker shared one that was exactly what he was looking for.
“Theirs was more of an attractive-looking brochure form that said what I want to say to the customer when they’re at the teller window looking to take out a large amount of cash,” says Kreiman. “Hopefully, as they read it and they put yes or no to the questions, maybe the situation they’re in is listed there, and it’ll stop them from making this transaction.
“It was helpful to get something like that,” he adds, “because it showed me exactly what ... I had wanted to create.”
When cannabis became legal in Minnesota, Anita Drentlaw, president and CEO of $190 million-asset New Market Bank in Elko New Market, Minnesota, says she turned to ICBA Community for guidance about cannabis banking.
“When we were first looking into getting into cannabis banking, I posed a question [in ICBA Community] that turned into an introduction from a banker who knew another banker who was already doing it,” says Drentlaw. “It was really valuable to connect with him and learn about his program in a different state, since they had been doing it for a while.”
Joanne Wills, vice president of compliance and CRA officer at $681 million-asset Thumb Bank & Trust in Pigeon, Michigan, said she finds herself responding to other bankers’ posts more often than she poses questions herself.
After the federal government’s most recent Regulation CC changes regarding check hold amounts, one banker asked in ICBA Community whether anyone had an example of a check hold grid to share. Wills quickly replied and shared a PDF of the matrix the tellers at her bank use.
“I will answer or post a comment on what we’ve seen [at Thumb Bank] and what’s going on or how we handle things,” she says.
A growing online community
So far, almost 8,000 community bankers have joined ICBA Community. The platform has seen a significant increase in users year over year, going from 2,200 members a year after it launched to 4,700 by 2025 and increasing by more than 66% from 2025 to 2026.
But Hanson says there’s still work to do. She estimates about 9% of ICBA member banks have at least one ICBA Community user, a number she would like to see grow.
ICBA tries to spread the word about ICBA Community at in-person events, like ICBA LIVE and Capital Summit, as well as state presentations. Some of the best marketing, though, remains word of mouth from bankers who find the platform useful.
ICBA Chair Alice Frazier, for one, is a “huge cheerleader” for ICBA Community, says Hanson.
Kreiman encourages other community bankers to join and use ICBA Community, because “you don’t have all the answers, and at some point, you’re going to need some feedback from someone outside the walls of your bank.”
“It’s too valuable not to participate,” he adds. “And I’ve always felt that the more you participate and give feedback, the more you’re going to get answers and feedback when you have a question.”
Carson adds that ICBA Community allows bankers to “gain insight from peer banks on your own time. Bankers are busy, and this is an available avenue to connect with bankers across the nation.”