January/February 2014
Wisconsin Community Banker
17
Secretary/Treasurer: Past
Chairman Jim Tubbs,
State Bank of Cross
Plains
I foresee the out-
look for 2014 to be
very much the same
as we ended 2013.
Over the last three
years, many banks
had a tremendous
amount of focus on
problem loans and working out of these
issues. Over the course of time, many of
these issues have been resolved and are
now a distant memory. With that said,
community bankers have concentrated
on the greatest aspect that sets us apart—
high quality customer service. We truly
believe in the difference between Main
Street and Wall Street. Our customers’
local deposits are reinvested in our local
communities.
Even with some tail wind in our
sails, there is plenty of head wind that
needs to be properly addressed. The
two greatest concerns I believe com-
munity bankers will have to face in
2014 are further compression of our
interest margin and additional regula-
tory burden. With interest rates being
so low for so long, our cost of fund-
ing is no longer receiving the benefits
of declining rates, and our interest
income continues to decline with the
re-pricing of existing loans and the
competitive environment for new
loans. In addition, new regulations
will be impacting a substantial part of
what makes community banking so
great—hometown residential mort-
gage lending. With new rules that will
be in place in early January, banks will
be forced to stay informed on how to
appropriately comply with these new
rules. This is just one example of many
changing regulations we will be faced
with.
ICBA Director: Rick
Busch, Royal Bank, Gays
Mills
One can’t dwell
on the current
regulatory environ-
ment as most times
it is too confusing
and painful. This
year will provide
challenges with
margin compression and continued
low rates. However, with loan port-
folio quality being better than in the
past and a more optimistic environ-
ment, opportunities will present
themselves to work with our local
customers to help them and our banks
grow together.
ICBA Director:
John Slatky, Bank of
Luxemburg
Community
banking has a
bright future and
I believe we will
continue to see
improvement in the
financial viability
of community
banks in 2014. The greatest challenge
continues to be the increasing regula-
tions. As community bankers, we need
to be heard in Madison and Wash-
ington D.C. We need to have the ear
of our legislators and let them know
the excessive regulation does not help
our customers and their constituents.
We can’t let someone else dictate our
future.
Tom Armstrong, The
First National Bank of
Park Falls
The outlook
for community
banking in 2014
continues to be
challenging with
the local economy
continuing to
struggle and the
regulatory environment continuing to
absorb many work hours with con-
tinuing rising costs. In our local area,
there are some areas of improvement
in the health industry as our aver-
age age rises in what I would term as
a retirement area. Retail shops and
restaurant/resort businesses are not
seeing the customer traffic they need
to thrive. In fact, I think in many
respects we are in the middle of the
recession still without any real opti-
mism in sight. As far as the regulatory
environment, employees are trying to
keep up with the avalanche of regula-
tion with hope of some relief on the
way. However, this does not allow for
the time to solicit new business or
spend the desired time with current
customers.
Mary Bomkamp,
Highland State Bank
As banks adapt
to the new mort-
gage rules, I think
community banks
will find new ways
to continue to dif-
ferentiate ourselves
from the other
players in the market and service the
needs specific to our communities.
With little change expected in interest
rates in 2014, interest margins will be
similar to 2013, while compliance and
technology costs continue to rise.
Dennis Doyle, Great
Midwest Bank,
Brookfield
Community
banks will continue
to battle margin
compression and
regulatory bur-
dens in 2014. We
are fortunate to
have the CBW and
ICBA lobbying for regulatory relief
on our behalf, so that we can focus on
banking. Community banks have an
opportunity to increase market share
by differentiating ourselves from the
large banks.
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