Abstract: FIVE FORWARD THINKERS [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Banking faces many challenges. isn't down, it isn't out--but it is changing banker took a sip of his scotch soda put down the glass with a sigh. I've told my son not to even think about being a banker, he confessed as the waiter took the other bankers' orders. I'll keep at it, but this is no business to start out in Too much regulation, too much stress. Just a middle-aged CEO who's had a bad exam or two? He's not alone, judging by bank conference dinner conversations this fall. Some bankers feel shell-shocked don't seem to think things will get better. Perhaps you've heard such sentiments about warning off the next generation, perhaps more than once. now turn to Dan Blanton at Georgia Bank & Trust Company, Augusta. Georgia took a pounding during the Great Recession, even Blanton's $1.7 billion-assets bank took some lumps. And yet ... We have six or seven children of senior managers who grew up around this bank, says Blanton, president CEO, and they all wanted to come back to this bank to take pride that this is where they want to work. One of Blanton's children, also named Dan, is a lender there, so you know the father means it when he says, I think the future of banking is great. And there is certainly a great need for Blanton is no cockeyed optimist, he would be the last to deny that much about the industry has changed in the last five years. even that has a qualifier: The way we execute is completely different, he says of the actual business of banking. But the mission of what we do as bankers hasn't Likewise, he groans with all bankers under the added regulatory burden. as he looks ahead, he isn't throwing in the towel. It is what it is, shrugs Blanton, and it takes up a lot of our time our resources. However, he observes that what older bankers complain about, younger bankers regard as normality. It's what they are starting with, says Blanton, and you know what? They are handling Bankers are realists--any industry that makes loans has to be. Dan Blanton is not alone in seeing a strong future for banking, even with its many challenges. A business that evolves You can't blame bankers for feeling like the room is spinning: generational change, technological change, tectonic regulatory political change. bankers we spoke with for this report suggest taking a serious look at what has hasn't changed. Every business evolves, wouldn't want banking to stay the same, says Jane Haskin, president CEO, $196 million-assets First Bethany Bank & Trust, Bethany Okla. That's stagnation, that's unhealthy. In her career, Haskin says, she's seen women bankers advance to senior posts industry diversity improve, seen the advent of the banking sales culture as opposed to passive order taking, seen the system come out the other side of two crises. Beyond that, she says, banks of all sizes offer products unimagined even a decade ago, she expects nothing less looking forward: We'll be providing products tomorrow that we don't even know about today. Ask New Jersey banker Frank Sorrentino about industry change he may show you his technology--perhaps five pounds of it. He travels with several handhelds more than one computer, so he can manage anywhere blog tweet. Says Sorrentino, chairman CEO of $1 billion-assets ConnectOne Bank, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: We take deposits make loans in our local communities; yes. will those deposits continue to come in through physical branches? Will they come through a mobile phone? Will loans be made for the same type of businesses? …
Publication Year: 2013
Publication Date: 2013-12-01
Language: en
Type: article
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