2024 Journal of Community Bank Case Studies

2024 COMMUNITY BANK CASE STUDY COMPETITION

bank. By posting about recent employee accomplishments or bank celebrations on social media, INB shows how it values its employees as people. Through this, INB shows that they value treating employees and depositors as people worth focusing on. Unlike larger banks, which post about interest rate increases or recent branch successes, INB uses social media to show how it serves customers and the community. Conclusion INB has achieved earnings and asset growth above the average of their peers despite the pandemic and the challenges of rising interest rates. Their conservative and disciplined approach to liquidity management by keeping investments short served them well in the rising interest rate environment. Their foresight in seeing the benefits of the IntraFi system worked to their advantage in the aftermath of the bank failures. This service gave existing customers peace of mind and brought in new ones as depositors sought a safe shelter for their funds.

With the steadfast support of their board, they have expanded into new markets to diversify their investments and income streams. They continue to seek diverse revenue streams to reduce their reliance on investment income which will make them less subject to associated risks. This will benefit INB in the future as they seek to navigate the pressures of the current economic environment and the inverted yield curve. While banks in this environment may see their NIM compressed, banks like INB that keep short-term maturities on their assets, including loans that reprice more quickly to the market, will do better in this environment that those that do not (Board Implications ). Since its rebirth in 1999, the vision of the founders of INB for a community-focused bank has guided the decisions and practices of the INB management team. The disciplined, conservative approach that they take to banking ensures that they will be around to serve their customers and the community for years to come.

Endnotes i. Custom Peer Group (FRB ID—RSSD): 44647,201834,248240,428547,397531,382649,454676,3437483,3404207,3 280625,2970657,3216017,1459717,2298995,2624400,2339795,804338,771140,887340,890742,930442,856243, 595430,671334,716833,925037 1. Total of interest and non-interest income 2. For our analysis, we used interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing bank balances and US Treasury securities (excluding mortgage-backed securities) from the UBPR as cash and cash equivalents. Works Cited Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Implications of U.S. Yield Curve Flattening or Inversion for U.S. Banks . 18 January 2018. https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/files/FOMC20180118memo03.pdf Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Review of the Federal Reserve’s Supervision and Regulation of Silicon Valley Bank . April 2023. https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/review-of-the-federal-reserves-

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