As the snow melts and the days grow longer, the arrival of spring is often seen as a time of renewal and growth. Similarly, the recent meltdown of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank can be viewed as a necessary step in the process of renewal and growth. The community banking industry can be seen as a breath of fresh air, offering a much different banking model that includes personalized service, a deep understanding of the unique needs of our customers, and a focus that is rooted in local relationships with a commitment to support the communities we serve. My message this month will focus on some of the efforts that our MIB board has made to get this word out as well as an exciting and timely national marketing campaign recently announced at ICBA Live in Honolulu to shine a light on the community banking industry.

The meltdown of SVB and Signature Bank was a sudden shock to the banking system that received great attention nationally with all the bankers and ICBA staff at the ICBA Live convention in Honolulu (as the meltdown was happening) and in our local markets. To me, the biggest shockwaves were felt twice: first when the government announced it would step in to cover all uninsured deposits in those banks (it can be debated whether this was the right thing to do or not) and second when Secretary Yellen made her statement that uninsured deposits would only be covered if a “failure to protect uninsured depositors would create systemic risk and significant economic and financial consequences.” This second shockwave was the most rattling as a community banker in that it signaled to the nation’s largest depositors that their uninsured deposits would only be safe in banks that were deemed to be a “systemic risk,” in other words, a bank that was too-big-to-fail. It was this second shockwave that prompted several members of the MIB board to collectively draft a letter to Senators Tester and Daines. In that letter, we expressed our significant concern over Secretary Yellen’s damaging remarks. We also suggested that the FDIC may want to revise their ‘insurance’ to resemble more of an actual insurance product, one that would include a base coverage level for everyone but would also have an option for increased coverage limits with additional fees to those depositors over the base coverage. We will see how far that suggestion goes.

At the same time all of this was happening, ICBA was unveiling their new “BankLocally.org” national marketing campaign to educate the American public on the benefits of community banking and why their choice of bank matters. The timing of this launch could not be more perfect. I am personally very excited about this as it goes hand-in-hand with the digital marketing campaign MIB ran statewide from May 2021 through April 2022 to promote community banking. I have connected with ICBA’s VP of Marketing to start the conversation about how we as MIB can coordinate with their national campaign to rebrand it as “BankLocallyMontana.org” to specifically bring focus to our MIB member banks.

In an effort to get the word out locally about community banking and the differences from large institutions, I drafted an op-ed piece that we will be pushing out to the print media throughout the state. The piece mentions, among other things, that deposits held in Montana community banks are backed by a model of generational local ownership, quality leadership, and measured lending and investment practices. It discusses how community banks should be exempt from restoring losses to the Deposit Insurance Fund caused by a culture of “too-big-to-fail.” It also points out that there is no need for new regulatory burdens to be imposed on banks that have not contributed to the issues. It emphasizes that local community banks and their customers should not have to pay for the miscalculations and speculative practices of large financial institutions.

There has been a lot happening in our industry in the past few months, events I feel could be a fantastic opportunity for our state’s local community banks if we act. As such, I highly recommend you check out the ICBA marketing website at https://ICBA.org/national-campaign to gain more insight into this national marketing endeavor as well as to gain access to their toolkit, business insights, market research, and customizable marketing assets. Promoting community banking is crucial to the survival of the industry and all the individual banks it comprises. The disappointing response to these devastating events can only be reframed into an opportunity for renewal and growth if we here at the local level meet that call for outreach and evolution. I stand committed to answer the call. Will you join me?