Battling fraud in today’s environment resembles the itsy bitsy spider climbing up the waterspout: just as you think you’ve reached a point of effective mitigation, a new scam emerges, dousing you in a new attack approach that can wash you out. And then you have to start that risk-mitigation ascent all over again.

My colleague Rhena Leitermann, treasury management operations manager at Citizens Bank of Las Cruces, and I recently sat down to discuss the state of fraud at our bank, in our market, and around the country. While I knew the level of sophistication had risen dramatically, it’s alarming to hear the lengths fraudsters are going through to obtain personal information. We now have seen fraudulent texts followed up with a FaceTime call to get a screenshot of the customer’s face and a snippet of their voice.

ICBA and community bankers have long warned about the dangers of tax-exempt credit unions acquiring tax-paying community banks, a concerning trend that peaked last year and has continued in 2025.

In just a few short weeks, the fixed-income market’s expectations for monetary policy have done a virtual about-face. This is not to say that investors are fickle. Some of this change in sentiment is data driven; some is Trump administration officials’ cajoling; and some is Federal Reserve Board chairman Jay Powell’s comments in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on August 22. Regardless, market indicators have shifted from zero or one rate cuts for the rest of 2025, to as many as four.

Did you know that employee training records within ICBA stay with the employee? This means if an employee worked at another financial institution that subscribed to ICBA’s online training, they already have an ICBA account, and their Current Enrollments and Completed Courses will appear when they log into the LMS.

Every great leader has a moment when they’re called to step up—to lead with clarity, purpose, and excellence. For the next generation of community bank leaders, that moment is now.

I hope the readers of this column will excuse the lack of decorum in the title, but in reading and listening to the words of the Federal Reserve Board’s members over the past month, I hear a lot of hedging. And far be it from me to second guess the respective governors and regional presidents of our central bank.

Artificial intelligence is here to stay, whether it’s generative AI, part of your bank’s neural network or both. That’s why having an AI policy is important—but how you go about writing it depends on how you plan to use this technology.

Data-driven personnel assessments have become a key part of how many banks and financial institutions enhance their human resources strategies and mitigate employment-related risks and liability. Although personnel data analyses offer many benefits, they can also generate risks if implemented or used without due care.

While the financial services industry continues to rapidly evolve, banking policy often struggles to keep up or suffers from ill-considered changes that miss the mark.