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Establishing the Right Dynamic at Family-Owned Banks
Family-run community banks, like any family business, come with both strengths and challenges.
Technology Is Revamping Equipment Financing
From 3D printers to robotic feeders, equipment has shifted toward tech-savvy solutions that require community banks’ equipment financing expertise.
The Pros and Cons of Offering Trust Services
Offering fiduciary services can add depth to your wealth management offerings, but it won’t be right for every community bank. Bankers and other experts weigh in.
5 Ways to Make a Good Digital Impression on Your Bank Website
A website isn’t just for location, hours and product information. It’s often a prospective customer’s first view of your community bank.
Rebeca Romero Rainey: Communication Is Key to Mitigating Fraud
Cybersecurity and fraud mitigation remain significant priorities for community banks as attacks get more creative and targeted.
D&O, Liability and Cyber Insurance: How to Keep Up
Emerging threats make it important to update insurance coverage, whether it’s for directors and officers, cybersecurity or professional liability insurance.
How Generative AI Can Revolutionize Cybersecurity in Community Banking
As AI grows in prominence, it’s spreading across different facets of the banking industry and its operations.
Here Comes the Snow: Lending Support for Winter Businesses
Rain or shine, community banks are there to serve their communities. But how about snow? For some, the cold weather is more than welcome.
Rebeca Romero Rainey: AI, the New Frontier
If you’ve ever watched an episode of “Star Trek,” you’ve heard its famous introduction proclaiming we must “boldly go where no man has gone before.”
Powering Potential: How ICBA Membership Cultivates a Network of Support
ICBA’s reach extends from the U.S. government all the way to the smallest member bank. We hear from two community bank leaders about how their ICBA membership has helped their banks.
Independent Financial: A New Model for Expanding Healthcare Access
Independent Financial asked what its community needed most, then undertook an innovative approach to supporting public health.
40 Under 40: 2025's Community Bank Leaders
Our seventh annual 40 Under 40 community bank leaders awards shine a light on inspiring people who take bettering their workplaces to the next level.
What Makes a Leader Truly Great? Experts Weigh In
Good leadership is about much more than one individual’s impact on the bottom line. It’s about how effective leaders use these skills both internally and in the community to build a stronger bank.
Building Stronger Futures Through the Heartland Bank Community Foundation
Focused on youth development and family enrichment, Heartland Bank’s charitable foundation delivers meaningful results through strategic giving and community partnerships.
How Can Legal Expertise Smooth Succession Transitions?
Succession planning is complicated in all sorts of ways. An attorney or legal team can help iron out the issues and lay out documents that ensure long-term continuity for community banks.
Powering Potential: ICBA Welcomes Peter Nelson
In February 2025, ICBA welcomed Peter Nelson as senior EVP of member engagement. As a long-time community banker, Nelson brings with him a history of robust involvement with ICBA.
Michael Benedict: The Resilience of Agency MBS in a Shifting Financial Landscape
Agency mortgage-backed securities rise above the rest in this relative value update.
CFG Bank Uplifts Baltimore's Resilience Following Local Tragedy
From donations to innovative money market accounts, CFG Bank is supporting Baltimore as it rebuilds and recovers from the 2024 Key Bridge collapse.
Rebeca Romero Rainey: Coming Together to Address Fraud
When it comes to fraud, it takes a village. That may be in part because fraudsters continue to get more sophisticated, and fraud’s effect on banking is skyrocketing.
What Every Community Bank Needs to Fight Fraud
When it comes to fraud, everything old is new again—and then some.
What's Attracting Small Businesses to Small-Dollar SBA Loans?
Lenders are seeing an increase in small-dollar loans as demand from small business customers surges due to new SBA 7(a) program reforms and higher interest rates.
Strengthening Work Relations Through Bank Employee Surveys
Are your employees happy? Staff surveys are a great way to find out. The key, say community bankers and experts, is following up on what you hear.
Rebeca Romero Rainey: Your Advocacy Impact
Sometimes in life, we’re fortunate enough to see our labor yield results, and that’s precisely what’s been happening with our advocacy efforts.
Workplace Culture: A Make or Break for Community Bank Employees?
Culture keeps a workplace and its employees running—whether they know it or not. From values and practices to the way colleagues interact, culture drives a community bank from the inside out.
Fighting Fraud Under the USA PATRIOT Act Section 314(b)
Information sharing, permitted under the USA PATRIOT Act Section 314(b), presents opportunities for banks to work together and combat suspicious bank activity.
Bank of Zachary: Building Financial Foundations
The Bank of Zachary is equipping high school students with real-world banking skills to shape a financially literate future.
Meet ICBA’s 2025/26 Board of Directors
ICBA’s 2025/26 board members hail from all corners of the country and are ready to fight for the continued success of the community banking industry.
What Makes Customers Trust Community Banks?
Trustworthiness is integral to the success of a bank. And for community banks, it’s more than table stakes—it’s your competitive edge.
Optimize Your Community Bank's Treasury Management Offerings
These four community banks compared the costs and use cases for adding treasury management to their services and streamlining them. Now, they’re seeing the benefits.
Rebeca Romero Rainey: Amplifying the Community Bank Difference
Our 2025 Community Bank CEO Outlook survey revealed that 77% of bank executives believe their greatest opportunity this year will be differentiating their community bank from other financial firms.
Paycheck Protection Program's Impact Four Years On
Community banks went above and beyond to help customers and noncustomers alike during the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) four years ago, and they continue to reap the benefits of that service.
Rebeca Romero Rainey: A New Tool For Your Team's Career Development
As community bankers, we each wear multiple hats and have throughout the course of our careers.
4 CFPB Rules to Watch for This Year
From limitations on fee practices to personal financial data rights, these proposed and final Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rules could have a significant impact on the community bank industry.
RESPA and HMDA Violations: What to Know
In the second half of 2023, the CFPB penalized Freedom Mortgage for violating both RESPA and HMDA. Here’s what community banks need to know about complying with these acts.
Law Firm Evaluation for Community Banks
Community banks need to maintain a healthy relationship with their legal representatives, especially when it’s through a third party.
40 Under 40: 2024's Community Bank Leaders
Our sixth annual 40 Under 40 community bank leaders awards recognize an insightful group of professionals who have continuously stepped up to make a difference in their communities.
6 Ways to Deepen Small-Business Relationships
When it comes to small businesses, a personal touch is needed to develop the relationship between bank and business.
ICBA's Best-Performing Banks of 2024
These community banks hit their stride in 2024, and they intend to keep the momentum going with hard work, flexibility and the expertise they've built over their years of service.
7 Strategies for Raising Bank Deposits
Community banks must maintain a competitive edge to stay on top of their deposits.
Rebeca Romero Rainey: Why the Community Bank Story Matters in Advocacy
As we enter Community Banking Month, I am thrilled to honor the ways community banks step up to champion the needs of their communities.