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Main Street Matters Blog

Find out what's happening in communities across America, from grassroots advocacy efforts, to fintech innovations and everyday successes of Main Street banks.

Main Street Matters

Energy and influence

Sep 15, 2020
Academic studies have shown that making yourself smile can actually boost your mood and that a warm smile can help convince other people of your competence. Smiling is also contagious.

ICBA Bancard tool helps community banks assess their small business payments readiness

Sep 10, 2020
From having to adapt to retail closings, diminished staff and customer capacities, a new work-from-home infrastructure, and more, the nation’s small businesses have reacted quickly in the wake of the pandemic.

Green Grass and High Strides: A Story of Resilience and Commitment in Community Banks’ Latest Performance Numbers

Sep 4, 2020
Second-quarter FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile statistics are not just evidence of community banks’ resilience in times of economic hardship, but an attestation to the resilience of their commitment to Main Street as a guarantor of essential financial services.

SimplyBank’s Take on Fostering Community Bank Innovation

Aug 25, 2020
In an environment where innovation needs to be continual, how can community banks succeed? Blake Swafford, senior innovation officer at SimplyBank, sums it up well. “It’s about being really committed to innovation."

Continuing the ThinkTECH Accelerator Journey

Aug 21, 2020
Growth is the synthesis of change and continuity, which is why we recently kicked off its application period for our third ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator cohort--to maintain the program's momentum and ongoing quest to identify technology solutions that solve for community bank pain points.

Brave New Housing Market: Challenges and Opportunities for Community Banks

Aug 18, 2020
While policymakers continue debating new approaches to mitigate the coronavirus' ongoing impact, one issue has attracted newfound scrutiny as the pandemic’s economic consequences unfold: How will these financial pressures affect the U.S. housing market?

When Fintech Meets Regtech

Aug 12, 2020
Unless you have been living on a desert island for the past few years, you would be hard-pressed to miss the technological revolution that is sweeping our nation’s financial system and the larger global economy.

7 Tips for Mitigating Synthetic Identity Fraud Risk

Aug 11, 2020
Catching synthetic identity fraudsters remains difficult, and the fall-out of not detecting it, is substantial. AI company Coalesce estimates that synthetic identities account for more than 20 percent of losses in a loan portfolio, and for credit, they average 4.6 times the typical loss.

Strengthening Small-Business Relationships with Payments

Aug 5, 2020
Community banks have long served the small-business market, but given the pandemic impact, new opportunities have emerged to support these customers’ payments needs and address areas of friction.

Customer Data Sharing: What you (and your customers) should know

Jul 28, 2020
When I think about customer-permissioned data sharing, I am reminded of the scene from the movie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off where Ferris and his best friend, Cameron, leave the keys to a Ferrari with an attendant only to discover later that the valet has taken the luxury sports car out for a joy-ride.