When she launched her career as a certified public accountant (CPA), Ruth Christopher wasn’t necessarily envisioning a role at a community bank. But after a few years at a regional CPA firm, a partner encouraged her to apply as an internal auditor at one of their client banks, Citizens Bank of Las Cruces, N.M.

There’s been a lot of chatter lately about brand power and how brand drives an organization’s outward expression of its mission and values by being at the heart of great client and employee experiences.

Marketing programs are critical to portfolio health and expansion. The key to success is simple: get started and take action! The steps below should help you start your journey.

Banks have traditionally relied on interest income from loans and deposits, but non-traditional financial services companies are providing competition for these core products. To survive long term, banks must find alternative revenue streams and recognize the demand for innovative products and services.

With over half of 2023 now firmly in the rearview mirror, we’re hoping community banks have put our digital payments transformation resources (icba.org/digital-transformation) to good use—leveraging our whitepaper and workbook to refresh (or create) a digital payments strategy and accompanying roadmap.

With the Senate set to act as soon as this week on a resolution to block the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Section 1071 rule, ICBA is urging community bankers to urge their senators to support the measure.

A key member of the House along with major airlines and transportation unions last week announced their opposition to legislation that would impose credit card routing restrictions, which ICBA continues urging community bankers to speak out against.

The Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy this week is hosting roundtable discussions on the Labor Department’s proposal to increase the number of employees who are entitled to overtime compensation. Banks with less than $850 million in assets—which are defined as small businesses by the SBA—are invited to join.

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman encouraged community bankers to provide feedback on agency rulemakings.

ICBA continues calling on community bankers to urge their senators to oppose legislation that would impose credit card routing restrictions amid renewed efforts to attach it to government funding measures.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it is beginning a rulemaking process to remove medical bills from Americans’ credit reports.

If the FDIC reopens its policies on bank mergers, it should consider competition from credit unions and other nonbank institutions that perform bank-like functions, FDIC Vice Chairman Travis Hill said.

Several consumer groups recently petitioned the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for a rulemaking on pre-dispute arbitration.

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) today commended the House Financial Services Committee for passing ICBA-advocated legislation to restrict the ability of the federal government to introduce a U.S. central bank digital currency.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued guidance about certain legal requirements that lenders must adhere to when using artificial intelligence and other complex models.

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) celebrates this year’s FinovateFall 2023 Best of Show winner, Chimney, a member of the 2022 ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator cohort.

Another federal district court has ruled that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may not enforce its Section 1071 small-business rule until the Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the bureau’s funding structure.

ICBA and other groups expressed united opposition to efforts by Sens. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) to attach their ICBA-opposed credit card routing bill to a must-pass appropriations bill.

The Senate Banking Committee said it would meet Sept. 27 to consider ICBA-advocated legislation to establish a safe harbor from federal sanctions for financial institutions that serve cannabis-related businesses in states where cannabis is legal.

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) hosted its first ThinkTECH Solutions Forum yesterday. This forum, which was designed to foster industry collaboration in support of community bank adoption of faster payments, is the first of three such forums planned for this year.