One of the subtle, constant pleasures in the work I do for you involves providing a brief welcome for the many education events created, organized and/or facilitated by our talented VP, Katharine Garner. In preparing a recent welcome for the bankers taking part in our popular Essentials of Banking program, it struck me that the purposeful dissemination of knowledge illuminates the darkness in two significantly different ways. Or maybe I’m looking at two sides of the same coin.
On one side, there’s the time-tested axiom, “What you don’t know can hurt you.” When I think about challenges to community banking that we are sometimes too focused on or too busy to recognize or address, I think of the many entities “out there” that are making constant efforts to siphon off your current and future customers.
How many mega-companies and entrepreneurs “out there” provide financial services without the rigorous compliance oversight that bankers offer and consumers deserve? I think primarily here about Industrial Loan Corporations (ILCs), whose charters give them wide leeway without accountability on a level with your bank. VACB and ICBA are fully engaged on this front, defending you and your customers by championing legislation in Congress that would reign in the ILCs. Several of your fellow bankers engaged with our congressional delegation on this issue during the ICBA Capital Summit in early May.
But on the other side of the coin, it is equally true that what you don’t know can also help you. It’s why we constantly seek knowledge. At VACB, we sense there are a growing number of fintechs that have products and services to greatly benefit your bank and your customers while preserving your customer-focused foundation, but there is difficulty in connecting quality providers with busy bankers.
Again, VACB is active on your behalf in this key area. We are co-sponsoring a VACB-ICBA ThinkTECH Virtual Day on June 28, to provide valuable information, in a most accessible way, to the right people in your bank. And it will be the first of several upcoming opportunities where you will be able to access information to make your bank better, and your customers happier.
We are grateful for the opportunity to engage on your behalf in these two major areas. If we focus on clearing the road in front of you from obstacles, and providing you with higher octane fuel for the journey, your path through the uncertain future can be much brighter.
