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 percent of branch deposits, and further sorted by “direct” profits and “fully-absorbed” profits. The results were not surprising to me….
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 financial meltdown and produced results in an economy that is regaining its footing, albeit at a “frustratingly slow” pace. The…
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 to ensure we properly debate, debunk, and determine where our industry is moving. As part of the process, our staff…
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, causing tremendous collateral damage. New rules aside, we were not that significant in the mortgage market anyway. Aggressive mortgage brokers…
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. I place value in having an agent because they have access to a number of insurance companies (if an independent…