Insights

Common Misperceptions: Community Banks are Beating the Behemoths

February 19, 2012 | Uncategorized

My firm constantly evaluates industry trends and happenings to formulate what we term our Industry Overview. Although a constant process involving hypothesis, research, and re-evaluation, we center our thinking annually […]


Best Book Ever on Word of Mouth and Direct Mail Marketing

February 11, 2012 | Uncategorized

I hope the title of this post compelled you to read its contents. If so, I suppose you are expecting me to offer my opinion on the most recent thought […]


Bank Super Bowl Ads 2012

February 5, 2012 | Uncategorized

First, check out this creative yet sleepy First Bank ad. If you need to go to the bathroom, feel free to do so: Amarillo National Bank puts their CSRs through […]


Let’s retake the mortgage market!

January 28, 2012 | Uncategorized

Community financial institutions are grappling with the recent and pending mortgage rules. We fear the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) and government’s tendency to fire a bazooka at an ant, […]


What Does Reviewing Strategic Alternatives Mean to You?

I recently read the following headline: “Next step for ABC Bancorp could be ‘strategic alternatives’.”  It could have read, “ABC Bancorp is out of options and should sell.”  [The name […]


Leader Selection: “He’s not ready.”

January 21, 2012 | Uncategorized

Financial institutions are currently struggling to identify the next generation leaders. Should we fall back on our old playbook, selecting highly “experienced bankers” that have been around and are likely […]


Guest Post: 4th Quarter Economic Update by Dorothy Jaworski

January 13, 2012 | Uncategorized

Before looking ahead to 2012, I can’t resist the traditional temptation to look back at the past year. The markets in 2011 were dominated by earthquakes and the tsunami in […]


Customer Service… blah, blah, blah

January 7, 2012 | Uncategorized

My family recently shopped around our homeowners and auto insurance to ensure we were getting a fair shake. We used to use an insurance agent for life, auto, and homeowners. […]


In Pursuit of Return on Equity

January 4, 2012 | Uncategorized

When performing ratio analysis to determine a company’s profitability we should remember that a ratio has at least two data points: a numerator and a denominator. It doesn’t matter if […]


Hard to Believe it’s Been 10 Years!

On November 1, 2011, The Kafafian Group (“TKG”) celebrated its 10 Year Anniversary as an independent company.  But actually, our history goes back to the early 1980’s. TKG HISTORY The […]