December 11, 2020

I vividly remember a story shared with me early in my banking career. The CEO, chief credit officer, and senior loan officer of one of our markets go out one day to check a few projects. They pull up to a construction site and find the house is near completion, a good sign since the loan is close to fully funded. Then the senior loan officer realizes this is not the house securing their construction loan. The LOT securing their loan is next door, with a “house” that barely has a completed foundation. The loan is almost fully funded and the bank’s security is nothing but a lot and the foundation of a house. I can’t imagine the feeling that senior loan officer had when he realized the situation, but it could not have been good.

In sitting down to write this article, I am reflecting upon what a year 2020 has been. We know 2021 will be different from 2020 but cannot predict the highs, the lows, and the challenges coming our way next year.

It may be a gross oversimplification to say this, but community banks deal with their favorite broker the same way you deal with your dry cleaner in many ways. For one thing, there’s repeat business; we’re not a durable goods vendor that you visit every three years. For another, fixed-income brokers sell a set of relatively fungible products. For another, since there are plenty of us out there, we’re obliged to stay pretty much on-market with our prices.

2020 can be adequately summed up with the Grateful Dead’s song “What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been.” Beginning with the pandemic that stopped us all in our tracks in March, to the PPP loans that community banks deployed at a lightning-fast speed, to the bitter battle for the presidency and everything in between, 2020 is one for the record books. Zoom became a noun and a verb as companies, associations and people flocked to this platform to conduct meetings and keep in touch with family and friends as we grappled with social distancing and stay-at-home orders. VACB’s training followed suit, going live and virtual successfully, and like most of our counterparts across the country, we eventually opted for a virtual convention, too.

I can think of no better message to share with you than to add my perspectives on the foundation of gratitude that motivates so many leaders to those presented so clearly by our new Chairman, Mike Thomas, in his first column.

As we enter the season of being thankful for the many blessings in our lives, it can be difficult not to let the current environment shift our focus from being grateful to being filled with uncertainty or anxiety.