2025 Pub. 13 Issue 1

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In our work with business clients across the country, one consistent theme emerges in conversations with owners and leaders:
“How do we transition our business to the next generation or plan an exit strategy that maximizes our return for the time, blood, sweat and tears we’ve poured into it?”

2025 March 11-14 ICBA LIVEGaylord Opryland HotelNashville, Tennessee March 21 Washington, D.C., Advocacy Scholarship Application Due April 25 MIB/CBM Board MeetingSacajawea HotelThree Forks, Montana April 30 Graduate Banking School Scholarship Application Due  May 12-15 ICBA Capital SummitWashington, D.C. June 6 MIB Young Banker Award Application Due  July 16-18 MIB Convention and Trade ShowBig Sky ResortBig

Three Rivers Bank of Montana is the 2024 Kalispell Chamber’s Large Business of the Year award winner! Congratulations to the team at Three Rivers Bank of Montana. Way to make our state proud.

Over the past year, we have seen at least 27 Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) enforcement actions from an array of financial institution supervisory agencies. Banks of all sizes, including community banks, continue to be hit with cease and desist (C&D) orders, formal agreements, consent orders and even civil money penalties (CMP). Five of these actions involved monetary penalties of some sort totaling nearly $4 billion — all but about $109 million coming from one case with four federal agency actions against one bank, and one $100,000 CMP imposed against an individual for BSA noncompliance. These enforcement actions remind us that even community banks and thrifts must have thorough and well-managed BSA compliance programs.

I recently read a new book called “Same as Ever,” which has a unique twist to the typical management book. The thesis is that it’s much more important to study the things that never change instead of spending time trying to predict the future.

On Jan. 7 and 8, MIB joined with the MBA to host the biannual Montana Community Bankers Day at the state Capitol.

As a proud member of the Montana Independent Bankers for over 20 years and a participating annual conference member, we at Pinion consider ourselves a true partner with the MIB’s mission to help community banks flourish.

Most representatives of the broker-dealer industry have been suggesting to their customers, especially community banks, that their collection of bonds could be situated to perform pretty well in 2025. You can be forgiven for rolling your eyes if you’ve heard this. And I get it: Persistently stubborn inflation forced the Federal Reserve to hike rates, and now to keep them elevated, for the foreseeable future. This, of course, has kept the market values of your portfolio depressed for what is going on three years now.

The start of a new year brings with it opportunities, and as we enter 2025, we do so with an eye toward the potential that awaits. For years, we’ve been seeking balance across a number of areas, encouraging regulators and legislators to initiate more proportionate rulemaking, embracing innovation for our banks to become nimbler and more efficient, and engaging in education to expand our knowledge in today’s banking environment. This year, we’ll see results through focused strategy and hard work.

2025 marks my 13th year as executive director of the MIB. Looking back over the last decade-plus, I am heartened by how far the Association has come. Together, MIB has achieved much, including increasing its associate membership to nearly 60, growing annual convention participation, expanding member services and strengthening our partnership with ICBA. Thanks to the hard work and diligence of the MIB board, the Association has bucked the national trend by expanding at a time when many state financial services associations are contracting.