ABA Banking Journal - November 2008 - (Page 48)

FUTURE OF BANKING: THE NEXT FIVE YEARS What the future holds, post crisis Once the smoke clears, some familiar patterns should re-emerge—some favorable, some not—as the industry takes its first steps into the future. Five bankers offer their views W hen the bankers gathered in a windowless meeting room early one summer morning to talk over the future of banking as they saw it, it’s fair to say none of them, nor this writer, foresaw the financial market free-fall that was to occur beginning after Labor Day. They did, of course, recognize that the times were perilous. But the focus of their comments was on the fundamental business of banking and where it was heading—a challenging enough scenario at any time. And when the smoke clears from the conflagration in the money markets business will go on for the vast majority of banks and savings institutions—not exactly “as usual,” perhaps, but not totally changed either. At the macro level, the financial infrastructure may have been turned on its head, but in banking markets around the country many of the long-range, underlying trends continue. It is to these trends that the five bankers spoke. The participants are identified to the right. They represent a good cross-section of the industry. Only the very largest bank segment was not represented. Taken together, the comments present a composite of the industry’s strengths, challenges, and opportunities. Richard Anthony, chairman and CEO, Synovus Corp., $34 billion assets, Columbus, Ga. Stephen J. Gurgovits, chairman, FNB Corp., $8.5 billion assets, Hermitage, Pa. Warren K. K. Luke, chairman, president, and CEO, Hawaii National Bank, $500 million assets, Honolulu Kathleen Marinangel, chairman, president, CEO, McHenry Savings Bank, $275 million assets, McHenry, Ill. Guy Williams, president, Gulf Coast Bank & Trust Co., $850 million assets, New Orleans By Bill Streeter, editor-in-chief Small business at the core Under the heading of strengths that banks individually and collectively possess, the first to be mentioned was the small business market, where, all agreed, banks should continue to do well. Said Richard Anthony (Synovus Corp.): “The small business middle market is where relationships really mean a lot, and banks have an opportunity to become trusted advisors to privately held, locally owned businesses. We see that as our top competitive advantage. But in order to play that role, you have to have a high level of responsiveness, and have granted a certain amount of empowerment at the local level.” Adding to that, Stephen Gurgovits (FNB Corp.) said, “We offer—and will keep offering—a full array of retail prod- ucts, but most of them are commoditized. What we really focus on as a core competency is small business lending—simply because it is not commoditized. Every deal is different, every business has differ- 48 NOVEMBER 2008/ABA BANKING JOURNAL Subscribe at www.ababj.com http://www.hawaiinational.com http://www.synovus.com/index.cfm http://www.mchenrysavings.com http://www.gulfbank.com http://www.fnbcorporation.com http://www.ababj.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ABA Banking Journal - November 2008

ABA Banking Journal - November 2008 Contents Editor's Column Banking 2.0: Credit, Banking's Essence, Set for Rethinking Snapshot: The Few, the Proud, the Banks that Can Raise Capital Will Strong and Simple Banks Inherit the Business? Back to the Future ABA Resources ABA Chairman's Position Farm Lenders Must Take Care When Lending in Indian Country Pass the Aspirin Into the Breach Adventures Across A Century What the Future Holds, Post Crisis Paul Volcker: A Financial Legend Still Speaks Strong Ed Yingling: Weathering the Storm Dick Kovacevich: "Boring" Banking to Dynamic Financial Services Jim Culberson: Community Banking: What has Changed and What Shouldn't Walter Shipley: How a Chemical Reaction Helped to Mold Today's JPMorgan Chase William Isaac: Challenges and Opportunities Ahead for Banks A Hundred Years from Our Pages Eight Tech Innovations that Brought Banks into 21st Century Bank Cherokee: Third Generaton Marks 100th Year The First National Bank of Altavista: Railroad Gave Birth to a Town, a Hope Chest, and a Bank Rosedales Federal Savings and Loan Association: How a Friendly Game of Cards Turned into a 100-Year Mutual New Washington State Bank: Cooking Up the Next 100 Years Mailbox Banker's Mart To Advertise/Index of Advertisers The Economy

ABA Banking Journal - November 2008

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