Category: Bank Regulation

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Guest Post: Variety is the Spice of Life

As promised, a special guest author for this Friday’s column: Bank Director magazine’s Managing Editor, Naomi Snyder.  Having shared my key takeaways from our annual Bank Audit & Risk Committees conference on Wednesday and Thursday, I invited Naomi to share her post-conference thoughts on my blog.  So this morning’s title is as much about truth in advertising as it is an invitation to learn what my friend and colleague deemed timely and relevant.

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At Al’s request, I’m going to step in and give a quick recap of Bank Director’s Audit and Risk Committees Conference in Chicago this week.  As you can tell from this picture, nearly 300 people attended our conference at The Palmer House hotel and they got a lot of frightening news about risks for their financial institutions, including cyber risk, interest rate risk, compliance and reputation risk in the age of social media.  I’m going to address three of those points today.

Interest Rate Risk

Many banks are extending credit at a fixed rate of interest for longer terms in an effort to compete and generate much-needed returns. This will be a problem for some of them when interest rates rise and low cost deposits start fleeing for higher rates elsewhere. You could assume the liability/asset equation will equal out, but will it? Steve Hovde, the president and CEO of the investment bank Hovde Group in Chicago, is worried about a bubble forming, saying he has seen credit unions offer 10- or 15-year fixed rate loans at 3.25 percent interest. “I’m seeing borrowers get better deals with good credit quality than they have ever gotten in history,” he says.

Reputation Risk

In an age of social media, anyone can and does tweet or post on Facebook any complaint against your bank. Cyber attacks, such as the one that befell Target Corp., can be devastating and cost the CEO his or her job. Rhonda Barnat, managing director of The Abernathy MacGregor Group Inc., says it’s important not to cater to TV news, such as telling a reporter that your employee’s laptop was stolen at a McDonald’s with sensitive customer information, prompting a visit by the camera crew to the McDonald’s. Not disclosing how many customer records were stolen could keep you off the front page. Focus on the people who matter most: your customers and investors and possibly, your regulators. They want to know how you are going to fix the problem that impacts them.

Compliance Risk

Regulators are increasingly breathing down the necks of bank directors, wanting evidence the board is actively engaged and challenging management. The official minutes need to reflect this demand, without necessarily going overboard with 25 pages of detailed discussion, for example. Local regulators are increasingly deferring questions to Washington, D.C., where they can get stuck in limbo. When regulators do give guidance, it is often only verbal and can cross the line into making business decisions for the bank, says Robert Fleetwood, a partner at Barack Ferrazzano in Chicago. In such an environment, it’s important to have good relations with your regulators and to keep them informed.

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About Naomi: Prior to joining our team, she spent 13 years as a business reporter for newspapers in South Carolina, Texas and Tennessee. Most recently, she was a reporter for The Tennessean, Nashville’s daily newspaper. She also was a correspondent for USA Today. Naomi has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in Journalism from the University of Illinois.  To follow her wit and wisdom on Twitter, follow @naomisnyder.

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The Bank Audit & Risk Committees Conference – Day Two Wrap Up

With all of the information provided at this year’s Bank Audit & Risk Committees conference(#BDAudit14 via @bankdirector), I think it is fair to write that some attendees might be heading home thinking “man, that was like taking a refreshing drink from a firehose.”  As I reflect on my time in Chicago this week, it strikes me that many of the rules and requirements being placed on the biggest banks will inevitably trickle down to smaller community banks.  Likewise, the risks and challenges being faced by the biggest of the big will also plague the smallest of the small.  Below, I share two key takeaways from yesterday’s presentations along with a short video recap that reminds bankers that competition comes in many shapes and sizes.

The Crown Fountain in Millennium Park
The Crown Fountain in Millennium Park

Trust, But Verify

To open her “New Audit Committee Playbook” breakout session, Crowe Horwath’s Jennifer Burke reinforced lessons from previous sessions that a bank’s audit committee is the first line of defense for the board of directors and shareholders.  Whether providing oversight to management’s design and implementation with respect to internal controls to consideration of fraud risks to the bank, she made clear the importance of an engaged and educated director.  Let me share three “typical pitfalls” she identified for audit committee members to steer clear of:

  1. Not addressing complex accounting issues;
  2. Lack of open lines of communication to functional managers; and
  3. Failure to respond to warning event.

To these points, let me echo her closing remarks: it is imperative that a board member understand his/her responsibility and get help from outside resources (e.g. attorneys, accountants, consultants, etc.) whenever needed.

Learn From High-profile Corporate Scandals

Many business leaders are increasingly aware of the need to create company-specific anti-fraud measures to address internal corporate fraud and misconduct.  For this reason, our final session looked at opening an investigation from the board’s point-of-view.  Arnold & Porter’s Brian McCormally kicked things off with a reminder that the high-profile cyber hacks of Neiman Marcus and Target aren’t the only high-profile corporate scandals that bankers can learn from.  The former head of enforcement at the OCC warned that regulators today increasingly expect bank directors to actively investigate operational risk management issues.  KPMG’s Director of Fraud Risk Management, Ken Jones, echoed his point.  Ken noted the challenge for bank executives and board members is “developing a comprehensive effort to (a) understand the US compliance and enforcement mandates — and how this criteria applies to them; (b) identify the types of fraud that impact the organization; (c) understand various control frameworks and the nature of controls; (d) integrate risk assessments, codes of conduct, and whistleblower mechanisms into corporate objectives; and (e) create a comprehensive anti-fraud program that manages and integrates prevention, detection, and response efforts.”

A One-Minute Video Recap

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To comment on this piece, click on the green circle with the white plus (+) sign on the bottom right. If you are on twitter, I’m @aldominick.  P.S. — check back tomorrow for a special guest post on AboutThatRatio.com.

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Three Thoughts on Banks and Risk

I’m heading out to Chicago and Bank Director’s annual Bank Audit & Risk Committees Conference.  The agenda — focused on accounting, risk and regulatory issues — aligns with the information needs of a Chairman of the Board, Audit and/or Risk Committee Chair and Members, Internal Auditors, Chief Financial Officers and Chief Risk Officers.  Before I welcome some 300 attendees (representing over 150 financial institutions from 39 states) to the Palmer House, I thought to share three things that would keep me up at night if I traded roles with our attendees.

The Bean

(1) The Risk of New Competition

For bank executives and board members, competition takes many forms.  Not only are banks burdened with regulation, capital requirements and stress testing, they now have the added pressure of competition from non-financial institutions.  Companies such as Paypal, as well as traditional consumer brands such as Walmart, are aggressively chipping away at the bank’s customer base and threatening many financial institutions’ core business — a fact made clear by Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, at a shareholder meeting this February.

“You’d be an idiot not to think that the Googles and Apples  .  .  .  they all want to eat our lunch.  I mean, every single one of them.  And they’re going to try.”

To this end, I find myself agreeing with Accenture’s Steve Culp, Accenture’s senior managing director of Finance & Risk Services, when he writes “banks need to keep developing their risk capabilities, skills and talents, and align these skills with their agenda around future growth. If they don’t align their growth agenda with their risk capabilities—building a safe path toward growth opportunities—they will miss out on those growth opportunities.”  While I plan on diving much deeper into this topic following the conference, I definitely welcome feedback on the issue below.

(2) The Risk to A Reputation

While the Dodd-Frank Act requires publicly traded banks with more than $10 billion in assets to establish separate risk committees of the board, and banks over $50 billion to additionally hire chief risk officers, I’m seeing smaller banks proactively following suit.  Such additions, however, does not absolve directors and senior managers of financial institutions from preparing for the worst… which is easier said then done.   In some ways, a bank’s reputation is a hard-to-quantify risk.  Anyone can post negative comments online about an institution’s products, services or staff, but one only needs to look at Target’s financial performance post-cyber hack to realize that revenue and reputation goes hand-in-hand.

(3) The Risk of Cyber Criminals

Speaking of Target, earlier this year, Bank Director and FIS collaborated on a risk survey to pinpoint struggles and concerns within the boardrooms of financial institutions.  As we found, tying risk management to a strategic plan and measuring its impact on the organization proves difficult for many institutions, although those that have tried to measure their risk management program’s impact report a positive effect on financial performance.  What jumps out at me in the results of this research are the concerns over cyber and operational security.  Clearly, the number of “bad actors” who want to penetrate the bank’s defenses has increased exponentially, their tools have become remarkably sophisticated, and they learn quickly.  I read an interesting piece by an attorney at Dechert (sorry, registration required) that shows the analytical framework for cyber security is very similar to what most directors have focused on in their successful business careers: people, process and technology.  But theory is one thing, putting into practice a plan to protect your assets, entirely different.

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To comment on today’s column, please click on the green circle with the white plus sign on the bottom right. If you are on twitter, I’m @aldominick. Aloha Friday!

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Good is the Enemy of Great

Jim Collins once wrote “good is the enemy of great,” opining that the vast majority of companies “never become great, precisely because the vast majority become quite good – and that is their main problem.”  I have heard many use the title of today’s piece to explain the unexpected; most recently, while talking with a friend about Jurgen Klinsmann’s decision to exclude Landon Donovan from his 23-man World Cup roster (hence today’s picture c/o USA Today).  While I’ll steer clear of any soccer talk until the U.S. takes the field against Ghana in a few weeks, Collins’ statement sparked the three thoughts I share today. Indeed, being “just good” will not cut it in our highly competitive financial industry.

usatsi_7848706_168380427_lowres Let’s Be Real — Times Remain Tough

In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, Robin Sidel and Andrew Johnson began their “Big Profit Engines for Banks Falter” with a simple truth: “it is becoming tougher and tougher being a U.S. bank.  Squeezed by stricter regulations, a sputtering economy and anemic markets, financial institutions are finding profits hard to come by on both Main Street and Wall Street.”  Now, the U.S. financial sector and many bank stocks have “staged a dramatic recovery from the depths of the financial crisis;” as the authors point out, “historically low-interest rates aren’t low enough to spur more mortgage business and are damping market volatility, eating into banks’ trading profits.”  While I’ve written about the significant challenges facing most financial institutions – e.g. tepid loan growth, margin compression, higher capital requirements and expense pressure & higher regulatory costs — the article provides a somber reminder of today’s banking reality.

Still, for Banks Seeking Fresh Capital, the IPO Window is Open

Given how low-interest rates continue to eat into bank profits, its not surprising to hear how “opportunistic banks capable of growing loans through acquisition or market expansion” are attracting investor interest and going public.  To wit, our friends at the Hovde Group note that seven banks have filed for initial public offerings (IPOs) already this year, putting 2014 on pace to become the most active year for bank IPOs in a decade.  Based on the current market appetite for growth, “access to capital is becoming a larger consideration for management and boards, especially if it gives them a public currency with which to acquire and expand.”  If you’re interested in the factors fueling this increase in IPO activity, their “Revival of the Bank IPO” is worth a read.

Mobile Capabilities Have Become Table Stakes

I’m on the record for really disliking the word “omnichannel.”  So I smiled a big smile while reading through a new Deloitte Center for Financial Services report (Mobile Financial Services: Raising the Bar on Customer Engagement) that emphasizes the need for banks to focus more on a “post-channel” world rather than the omnichannel concept.  As their report says, this vision is “where channel distinctions are less important and improving customer experience becomes the supreme goal, no matter where or how customer interactions occur, whether at a branch, an ATM, online, or via a mobile device.”  As mobile is increasingly becoming the primary method of interaction with financial institutions, the information shared is both intuitive and impactful.

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To comment on today’s column, please click on the green circle with the white plus sign on the bottom right. If you are on twitter, I’m @aldominick.  Aloha Friday!

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Acquire or Be Acquired – Sunday Recap

The most successful banks have a clear understanding and focus of their market, strengths and opportunities.  One big takeaway from the first full day of Bank Director’s Acquire or Be Acquired Conference (#AOBA14 via @bankdirector): it is time for a bank’s CEO and board to reassess their strategic opportunities.

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thanks to Keith Alstrin of Alstrin Photography

90 Second video recap

Looking for profitability cures

From the strategies and mechanics behind transactions to the many lingering questions regarding industry consolidation, economies of scale, regulatory burdens and how to build long-term value, today featured some pretty fascinating presentations.  One of the common themes from the afternoon sessions: most bankers are looking to cure profitability challenges through some kind of M&A activity.

How much are you worth
Whether buying, selling or simply growing organically until it’s time for a transaction, a bank’s leadership team needs metrics in place to know and grow its valuation.  As we heard today, valuation is a controversial and complex subject.  To wit: it requires an in-depth understanding of a company, its market and competitors, financial and non-financial information.  In addition, factors such as the legal and regulatory environment proves quite a challenge.

Trending topics
Overall, the issues I took note of where, in no particular order: margin compression, deposit funding, efficiency improvements and business model expansion in the context of the current environment. Also, keep an eye on the the Northeast and greater Atlanta area this year for increased merger and acquisition activity.

More to come from the Arizona Biltmore tomorrow…

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Can Banking Be Right-Sized?

Size matters?
Size matters?

Although its been said many times, many ways, I can’t tell you what size really matters in banking today. Pick a number…  $500M in asset size?  $1Bn?  $9.9Bn?  Over $50Bn?  7,000 institutions?  6,000?  3,000? Less?  As a follow-up to last week’s guest post by Bank Director magazine’s editor, I spent some extra time thinking about where we are heading as an industry — and the size and types of banks + bankers leading the way.  What follows are three things I’m thinking about to wrap up the week that shows that size matters; albeit, in different ways.

(1) Not a single de novo institution has been approved in more than two years (astonishing considering 144 were chartered in 2007 alone) and the banking industry is consolidating.  Indeed, the number of federally insured institutions nationwide shrank to 6,891 in the third quarter after this summer — falling below 7,000 for the first time since federal regulators began keeping track in 1934, according to the FDIC.  Per the Wall Street Journal, the decline in bank numbers, from a peak of more than 18,000, has come almost entirely in the form of exits by banks with less than $100 million in assets, with the bulk occurring between 1984 and 2011.   I’ve written about how we are “over-capacity;” however, an article on Slate.com takes things to an entirely different level.  In America’s Microbank Problem, Matthew Yglesias posits America has “far far far too many banks…. (that) are poorly managed… can’t be regulated… can’t compete.”  He says we should want the US Bankcorps and PNCs and Fifth Thirds and BancWests of America to swallow up local franchises and expand their geographical footprints.  He sees the ideal being “effective competition in which dozens rather than thousands of banks exist, and they all actually compete with each other on a national or regional basis rather than carving up turf.”  While I have no problem with fewer banks, limiting competition to just the super regional and megabanks is a terrible thought.  Heck, the CEO of Wells Fargo & Co. wrote in the American Banker this August how vital community banks are to the economy.  So let me cite a rebuttal to Slate’s piece by American Banker’s Washington bureau chief Rob Blackwell.  Rob, I’m 100% with you when you write “small banks’ alleged demise is something to resist, not cheer on” and feel compelled to re-share Mr. Stumpf’s opinion:

…we need well-managed, well-regulated banks of all sizes—large and small—to meet our nation’s diverse financial needs, and we need public policies that don’t unintentionally damage the very financial ecosystem they should keep healthy.

(2) To the consolidation side of things, a recent Bank Director M&A survey found 76% of respondents expect to see more bank deals in 2014.  Within this merger mix exists strategic affiliations.  While the term “merger of equals” is a misnomer, there are real benefits of a strategic partnership when two like-sized banks join forces.  Case-in-point, the recent merger between Rockville Bank and United Bank (which will take the United name).  Once completed, the institution will have about $5 billion in assets and be the 4th largest bank in the Springfield, MA and Hartford, CT metropolitan area.  According to a piece authored by  Jim Kinney in The Republican, United Bank’s $369 million merger with the parent of Connecticut’s Rockville Bank “is a ticket to the big leagues for both banks.”  In my opinion, banks today have a responsibility to invest in their businesses so that they can offer the latest products and services while at the same time keep expenses in check to better weather this low interest rate environment.  United Bank’s president-to-be echoed this sentiment.  He shared their “dual mandate in the banking industry these days is to become more efficient, because it is a tough interest rate environment, and continue to grow… But it is hard to grow and save money because you have to spend money to make money.”   Putting together two banks of similar financial size gives the combined entity a better chance to this end.

(3) In terms of growth — and by extension, innovation — I see new mobile offerings, like those from MoneyDesktop, adding real value to community banks nationwide.  This Utah-based tech firm provides banks and credit unions with a personal financial management solution that integrates directly with online banking platforms.  As they share, “account holders are changing. There is an ongoing shift away from traditional brick & mortar banking. Technology is providing better ways for account holders to interact with their money, and with financial institutions.”  By working directly with online banking, core and payment platforms, MoneyDesktop positions institutions and payment providers as financial hubs and offers marketing tools that dramatically impact loan volume, user acquisition and wallet-share.  As technology levels the playing field upon which institutions compete, banks that leverage account holder banking information to solidify relationships bodes well for bank and customer alike.

Aloha Friday!

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What you learn at a puppet show

Hank Williams "walking" the red carpet in Nashville

I wrapped up a fairly intense period of travel with a day trip to NYC on Monday and a subsequent overnight in Nashville on Tuesday & Wednesday. While in the Music City, our Chairman invited me to join him at a puppet festival (yes, you read that right). The show, a musical chronicle of the history of country music, benefitted the Nashville Public Library Foundation and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Laugh if you will, but I will tell you, it was amazingly creative. As I mingled with various benefactors of both institutions, I found myself engaged in conversation with the former managing partner at Bass, Berry & Sims. Having led one of the preeminent law firms in the Southeast, his perspective on how dramatically the legal profession has changed in the last fifteen years struck a nerve. The parallels between his profession and the banking space were immediately apparent. So with Patsy Cline playing in the background, we talked about the future of banking, professional services firms and relationship building in general. As we did, I made a mental note to share three thoughts from this week that underscore how things continue to change in our classically conservative industry.

(1) First Republic’s founder and CEO, Jim Herbert, shared some of his Monday morning with me while I was in NYC. Jim founded the San Francisco-based bank in 1985, sold it to Merrill Lynch in 2007, took it private through a management-led buyout in July 2010 after Merrill was acquired by Bank of America, then took it public again this past December through an IPO. For those in the know, First Republic is one of this country’s great banking stories. Not only is it solely focused on organic growth, it’s also solely focused on private banking. While my conversation with Jim was off-the-record, I left his office convinced its the smarts within, not the size of, a bank that will separate the have’s from the have not’s in the years ahead. Clearly, as new regulations and slim profit margins challenge the banking industry, the skills and backgrounds of the employees who work in banking must change.

(2) Speaking of successful banks that have successfully navigated recent challenges… KeyCorp’s Chief Risk Officer, Bill Hartman, joined us last week for Bank Director’s annual Bank Audit Committee Conference in Chicago. Bill is responsible for the bank’s risk management functions, including credit, market, compliance and operational risk, as well as portfolio management, quantitative analytics and asset recovery activities. While I shared some thoughts about that program last week, I thought to elaborate on how KeyCorp divides the roles and responsibilities of its Audit and Risk Committees. Some still think you “retire” to the board; as he showed, that is definitely not the case – especially not at an institution that counts 2 million customers, 15,000 employees and assets of $89 Bn. In terms of Key’s Audit Committee, members oversee Internal Audit, appoint independent auditors and meet with the Chief Risk Officer, Chief Risk Review Officer, and of course, for financial reporting, the CFO. I thought it was interesting to note their Audit Committee met 14 times in 2012 — twice as often as the institution’s Risk Committee convened. With many smaller banks considering the creation of such a committee, let me share the focus of their Risk Committee. Strategically, it is responsible for:

  • Stress testing policy;
  • Dividend and share repurchases;
  • Modeling risk policy;
  • Asset and liability management; and
  • Setting tolerances, key risk indicators and early warning indicators

For those thinking about introducing a Risk Committee into their bank, take a look at what some of our speakers shared leading up to last week’s Audit Committee conference for inspiration.  For a recap of the event, our editor shares his thoughts in today’s Postcard from the Bank Audit Committee Conference.

(3) Yesterday, I was pleased to learn that ConnectOne’s CEO, Frank Sorrentino, agreed to participate in our annual Bank Executive & Board Compensation Conference in November. In addition to being one of the more active bankers I follow on Twitter, I’ve written about his bank going public in a previous post. Today, it’s a WSJ piece that shows U.S. regulators grilling banks over lending standards and “warning them about mounting risks in business loans” that has me citing the NJ-based bank. This particular article quotes the CEO of the Englewood Cliffs, N.J. bank in terms of lending standards (yes, a subscription is required). He reveals that regulators recently asked what he is doing to ensure he isn’t endangering the bank by making risky loans. His response: “the bank is trying to offset the lower revenue from low-interest-rate commercial loans by cutting expenses.” While I get the need for oversight, I do wonder how far the regulatory pendulum will continue to swing left before sanity/reality sets in at the CFPB, FDIC, OCC, etc. I’ll stop before I say something I regret, but do want to at least encourage a Twitter follow of Frank and his “Banking on Main Street” blog.

Aloha Friday!

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Swimming without a bathing suit?

A full house in Chicago
A full house in Chicago

A busy week in Chicago… one highlighted by Bank Director’s annual Bank Audit Committee at the JW Marriott that kicked off on Wednesday morning and wrapped up about a few hours ago. For those that missed the event, today’s title comes from a conversation I had with the CEO of Fifth Third before he took the stage as our keynote speaker. Without going into too much detail, it refers to a line favored by our former publisher (and head of the FDIC) Bill Seidman. At conferences like this one, Bill was fond of saying when times are good, no one sees what is happening under water. But when things get tough and the tide goes out, well, you see who has been swimming without a bathing suit. In that spirit, what follows are three things I heard while hosting 350+ men and women, an audience representing 150 banks from 38 states.

(1) To kick off the conference, we invited the head of Hovde Financial to present on “Navigating Complex Financial, Strategic and Regulatory Challenges.” While we welcomed attendees from institutions as large as SunTrust, Fifth Third and KeyCorp, Steve Hovde’s presentation made clear that while larger banks like these continue to increase in size, many smaller community banks are fighting for survival in today’s regulatory and low-interest rate environment. Case-in-point, mobile banking technology is already in place at larger banks, fewer options are available to smaller banks to replace declining fee revenue (which could offset declines in net interest margins) and increased regulatory burdens favor large banks with economies of scale.

All of this suggests M&A should be hot and heavy. However, Steve pointed out that 2013 has not started out strong from a deal volume standpoint. In fact, only 59 deals were announced through April; annualized, this will result in significantly less deals than in 2012. Naturally, this leads many to think about building through more organic means.  To this end, he suggests that bank boards and management teams focus on questions like:

  • Is adequate organic growth even available today?
  • Are branches in urban markets more important than rural markets?
  • How much expense base would need to be added to fund the growth compared to the revenue generated by new loans?
  • Are we better off deepening penetration of existing markets or expanding physical premises into neighboring markets or both?
  • What steps can we take to enhance web and mobile platforms?

(2) In the spirit of asking questions like these, it strikes me that everyone has something to learn as we come through one of the deepest recessions in history. As businesses and regulatory agencies debate what could have been done differently, everyone is looking for an answer to avoid the next one, or at least, minimize its impact. Clearly, as directors and officers search for ways to manage future risks, they need to understand how to work together without impeding the organizations’ efficiency of operations while preparing for unexpected events.

Accordingly, we opened this morning with a session to explore this unique balance of corporate governance. The session included Bill Knibloe, a Partner at Crowe Horwath, Bill Hartmann, the Chief Risk Officer at KeyCorp and Ray Underwood, the Bank Risk Committee Chairman at Union Savings Bank. Together, they emphasized the need for both management and the board to understand current initiatives, future initiatives and various risks embedded in each to design plans for various oversight roles. For me, “plan to manage, not eliminate” stuck out in their comments.  If you were with us in Chicago, I wonder what was yours?

(3) Think about this: ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­it might be easier and safer today to rob banks with a computer than with a gun. While banks design their internal controls to help mitigate risk, our final session of the day looked at how an audit committee needs to properly address cyber risk as more and more attempt to attack an institution through the web. Here’s a link to a piece authored by our Managing Editor, Naomi Snyder, entitled Five questions to ask about cyber security; short, sweet and to the point. I hope to have more on this topic early next week as it kept the room full (I took the picture above just a few minutes before the close). Until next week…

Aloha Friday!

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Standing Out on a Friday

Fenway Park's red seatComing off of last week’s Growth Conference, I found myself planning for next year’s program. As we recognized Customers Bank, State Bank & Trust and Cole Taylor Bank for “winning” our annual Growth rankings, I spent some extra time looking at other banks that performed exceptionally well this past year. So today’s Friday-follow inspired post shares a few thoughts and conversations I’ve had about three very successful banks.

(1) While easy to frame the dynamics of our industry in terms of asset size, competing for business today is more of a “smart vs. not-so-smart” story than a “big vs. small.” During one of my favorite sessions last week — David AND Goliath — Peter Benoist, the president and CEO of St. Louis-based Enterprise Financial Services Corp, reminded his peers that as more banks put their liquidity to work, fierce competition puts pressures on rates and elevates risk. My biggest takeaway from his presentation: we all talk about scale and net interest margins… but it’s clear that you need growth today regardless of who you are. It is growth for the sake of existence.

(2) During the afore mentioned presentation, the participants all agreed that you cannot compete with BofA on price. Consequently, the ability to introduce new products (e.g. increasing deposit platforms) is key for many banks today. So from diversification to differentiation, let me turn my attention to San Francisco-based First Republic. Their story is a fascinating one. While not with us in New Orleans, I heard a lot about them yesterday while I was in NYC visiting with KBW. Subsequently, our editor wrote me with some background: Jim Herbert founded the bank in 1985, sold it to Merrill in 2007 for 360% of book, took it private through a management-led buyout in July 2010 after Merrill was acquired by Bank of America, then took it public again in December through an IPO. First Republic is a great bank: it finished 3rd out of 80+ in the $5-$50 billion category in Bank Director magazine’s 2012 performance rankings. But not only is it solely focused on organic growth, it’s also focused solely on private banking.

(3) Finally, as we move our attention from growth to risk in advance of our annual Bank Audit Committee conference, I started to think about the challenges facing banks of all sizes. Admittedly, I started with Fifth Third as their Vice Chairman & CEO will be joining us in Chicago as our keynote speaker. Yes, I am very interested to hear his perspectives on the future of banking. Quite a few small bank deals have recently been announced, and I have to believe many sales came together thanks to escalating compliance costs and seemingly endless regulation. For larger institutions like Fifth Third, it will be interesting to see what transpires over the next few years and where he thinks the market is moving for banks of all sizes. If you’re interested, take a look at our plans for this year’s event.

Aloha Friday!

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About today’s picture:

I’m a die-hard Boston RedSox fan, and for anyone whose been early to, or stayed late at, Fenway Park, you’ve probably seen one red seat in the right field bleachers (Section 42, Row 37, Seat 21). Did you know it signifies the longest home run ever hit at Fenway, one struck by the great Ted Williams on June 9, 1946? While a nice chance for me to share my love for the RedSox, I thought the visual made a lot of sense when writing about standing out from the crowd… -AD