Pub. 4 2016 Issue 2

6 The Community Banker www.mibonline.org Executive Director’s Report W elcome to 2016, and welcome to the first edition of The Community Banker for this new year. Pursuant to the Chinese calendar, 2016 is the Year of Red Fire Monkey. For those who wish they were living in the past, your wish has come true. The calendar for 2016 is exactly the same as was the calendar for 1994. For Montana’s community banks, let’s hope it is the year of regulatory relief and economic prosperity. As the reader knows, for the banking community, 2015 went out like a lion, or per- haps it went out like a lamb (depending on your per- spective) with the Fed finally ending, at least for now, an almost decade long Zero-In- terest-Rate Policy (ZIRP). In December, the Fed raised interest rates for the first time since 2008. Taking the glass half full position, let’s hope the interest rate increase evidenc- es better economic conditions for Montana’s banks and for the nations’ economy. At the time you are reading this article, the Association will have mailed out its member- ship and associate member- ship renewal packets for 2016. If you have already submitted your member dues for 2016 I thank you; if you have not, I hope you plan on renewing your membership soon. Our Association member dues are the primary source of revenue the Association uses to pro- vide benefits to our members and to advocate on behalf of Montana’s community banks both in front of the Montana Legislature and in Washington D.C. Since I was hired to serve as the Association’s Director in January of 2012, my highest priority has been to provide value for your membership dollars. We here at the MIB un- derstand that your institution’s dollars are limited, and we do our best to ensure your mem- bership dues are put to the highest and best use. And, I am pleased to write that since I took the reins, the MIB has increased its already value to Montana’s independent banks and bankers. This has been done in the following ways: MIB offers professional development opportunities, and we have increased those opportunities by expanding our educational sessions and training. By participating in training programs offered by MIB in partnership with Finan- cial Education & Development and Young & Associates, you are increasing your Bank’s competitiveness and staying on top of industry trends, technologies, and regulation. In addition, MIB has in- creased and raised its public policy advocacy profile both at the national and state level. We work hard on your behalf to affect policy that bene- fits your institution, and the Association allows its individ- ual members to have a larger influence on those who make laws and regulations govern- ing the banking industry. In terms of impacting public policy, it is much easier for our multi-member organization to affect beneficial change than it is for our individual member banks to do so on their own. MIB’s partnership with Young & Associates, Inc. to offer the extremely popular Community Bankers for Com- pliance Program has proved