Hang with me as I pose a series of my own questions relating to community banks, which I hope you will view as more helpful than trivial. Even better: Your author supplies the answers.

The housing starts number for October was recently released. Based on higher interest rates and overall supply considerations, the number was supposed to moderate from the big September results. In September new starts increased by a whopping 7%.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has come a long way, advancing from single-use tools to sophisticated systems that can analyze mountains of data and even drive cars (albeit with some drawbacks). As AI continues to expand and be used in more organizations and more applications, remember the associated risks, and need for guardrails.

This time of year, we often take stock of our accomplishments and look ahead to the possibilities and opportunities awaiting us in the coming year. Certainly, when it comes to blazing ICBA’s innovation path for community bankers, we’ve upped the ante significantly in 2023.

Connection is at the heart of what community bankers do. That’s one of the reasons that the social networking platform ICBA Community was created. And it’s not only creating online connections, it’s helping bankers build relationships with each other outside of the forum.

As interest rates and property asking prices continue to rise, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for young adults and growing families to afford a home. Recently, the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage topped 8%—the highest since 2000.

Did You Know? We value your input on course content? We’ve already begun updating course content for 2024 and now is a great time to share your wish list items for content updates, new course topics, or improvements.

As payments has evolved, so has ICBA Bancard, and with that came the opportunity to rebrand who we are in light of our why. I’m proud to introduce ICBA Payments.

As ICBA and our industry continues to differentiate and evolve, we are excited to announce the next stage of our journey as we rebrand from Community Banker University to ICBA Education.

We have been experiencing an acceleration in innovation since the start of the pandemic. MuleSoft reported that in 2022, 72 percent of customer interactions occurred over digital channels—nearly double that of 2021—proof that we are living the digital-first experience.