April - Community Banking Month

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Happy April everyone! We’ve had some early glimpses of spring after a very mild winter, but now we need some of those April showers for the May flowers. I’ve had numerous discussions with member bank ag lenders over the past several weeks. There are some pretty consistent themes across the state. First, most producers are better off right now than they were a year ago. And second, while it varies slightly, it’s too dry everywhere. Hopefully, Mother Nature provides some relief on the latter point.

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Speaking of April, its designated as Community Banking Month so I hope you take some time to celebrate and recognize the critically important role you, your co-workers and your bank play in your communities. You will be seeing more from ICBND and ICBA during the month highlighting the virtues of community banks across our country. To give a bit of a preview though, I thought I’d pass along some interesting and impressive factoids:

  • Community banks back rural America and are four times more likely to operate offices in rural counties and hold the majority of banking deposits in rural counties and small cities.
  • Community banks empower small businesses and were the predominant Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) lenders funding 2.8 million PPP loans and distributing 58 percent of all PPP loans.
  • Community banks provide for consumers, generating $900 billion in mortgage loans in 2019, or roughly one-third of market originations.

So, kudos to you all! You should be proud to be a community banker serving families, farms and local businesses when it matters the most. Until our next edition, have a great spring!

Barry

Endorsed Members