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One Size Does Not Fit All
One Size Does Not Fit All The community bank business model is nothing like the Wall Street business model. So why would we want Wall Street firms or mortgage banks to speak for us any more than...
New Report Sheds Light on Wall Street Inequity
New Report Sheds Light on Wall Street Inequity I highly encourage community bankers to read this week’s report from Bloomberg Markets Magazine on the financial assistance provided by federal...
Outrage
Outrage Wall Street Gets the Gold; Main Street Gets the Shaft! We all suspected this, and now it is public. More than 1,000 community banks suffered severe damage as a result of their GSE preferred...
Underdog Champs as Gritty as ICBA
Underdog Champs as Gritty as ICBA Anyone who knows me knows that I am a fanatic St. Louis Cardinals fan. So I was in baseball heaven last Friday night. And it got me to thinking about the Cardinals...
Is this Justice?
Is this Justice? A recent New York Times article exposes the double standard in regard to enforcement actions between community banks and too-big-to-fail institutions. The article finds that...
Fines, Penalties and Settlements—Oh My!
Fines, Penalties and Settlements—Oh My! Or, How the Smalls Pay for the Sins of the Bigs A quick check of the records reveals that since the financial crisis began in 2008, Bank of America has been...
Time for a Divorce?
Time for a Divorce? In a recent edition of the American Banker “Bankthink” section, Mr. Robert H. Smith, former chairman and CEO of Security Pacific Corp., wrote an opinion piece titled “Community...
It’s About Community Banks
It’s About Community Banks Do you all recall the now-iconic Bill Clinton 1992 campaign slogan—“It’s the economy, stupid!”? Well, at ICBA, it’s the nation’s community banks, and it always will be....