Insights

Banking School: The ivory tower could be yours.

May 21, 2012 | Uncategorized

I am sitting at Gate 124 in Orlando waiting for my ride home from a long journey. Prior to Orlando, it was Dallas. In Dallas, I taught bank profitability and […]


Risk Adjusted Return on Capital (RAROC) for Financial Institutions

May 8, 2012 | Uncategorized

How do you measure the profitability of lines of business, products, or customers? The simplest form is in dollars. But does that measure the profits against the investment required to […]


Is branch profitability out the window?

May 2, 2012 | Uncategorized

About 10 years ago my firm analyzed the hundreds of branches in our profitability database to determine exactly what is “critical mass”. We sorted by pre-tax profit contribution as a […]


Strategic Management of the IT Function

Most bankers would intuitively agree that information technology (IT) is a strategic function in the banking industry.  It is increasingly important to interact with customers over the web and via […]


Banker Quotes: As Told to Me v3

April 21, 2012 | Uncategorized

I learn a lot from bankers as I visit their offices, speak to them on the phone or at industry events. Occasionally they will offer an insight that I think […]


Do We Care About Leadership?

April 15, 2012 | Uncategorized

On a recent plane ride I sat next to the Commander of the NCO Academy at Fort Jackson, South Carolina (see picture from one of last year’s classes). He is […]


Guest Post: First Quarter Economic Update by Dorothy Jaworski

April 5, 2012 | Uncategorized

The Fed Goes Too Far First, let me say, we owe the Federal Reserve our gratitude. Their actions to ease in many ways during and after the financial crisis averted […]


What is it about Midwest Financial Institutions?

March 24, 2012 | Uncategorized

SNL Financial LP does an annual ranking of best performing banks using six core financial performance metrics that focus on profitability, asset quality and growth for the 12-month period ended […]


Vblog: The Benefits of Niche Profit Reporting with David Acevedo

March 20, 2012 | Uncategorized

I regularly attend industry conferences and occasionally will particpate as an exhibitor. One of the benefits of spending long hours in the exhibit hall is to take advantage of the […]


Bank Cost Structures: Mostly Fixed

March 10, 2012 | Uncategorized

I recently taught Bank Profitability to a Washington Bankers’ school. As part of the curriculum, we discussed the cost structure of financial institutions and how it impacts decision making. True to […]