Staying close to clients amid tariff-driven volatility
ABA Banking Journal Podcast
Amid tariff-related volatility, how are small and midsize businesses and the banks that serve them faring? On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by — John Buran, the president and CEO of Queens-based Flushing Financial discusses how tariff and trade policy-related volatility has compounded commercial client uncertainty based on interest rates over recent months and why uncertainty has slowed loan growth and investment. However, Buran also notes that lending has improved in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, “possibly...
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Old National's Jim Ryan on the things that really matter
ABA Banking Journal Podcast
Jim Ryan has led Old National Bank through a massive wave of growth — through major mergers and organic growth, the Evansville, Indiana-based bank has reached $70 billion in assets and a footprint that extends from Minnesota to Tennessee. The bank has grown by 250% since Ryan moved into the CEO role in 2019. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by — Ryan discusses: The bank’s growing profile, including its new marketing partnership with the . Why the bank remains committed to its hometown of Evansville, even as it grows into a more...
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What bankers need to know about ‘First Amendment audits’
ABA Banking Journal Podcast
So-called “First Amendment auditors” have long filmed themselves trying to provoke police and other public officials into stopping them from recording in public settings. Now, some auditors are targeting banks, filming for hours outside bank branches and seeking to goad bank employees into calling law enforcement. The latest episode — presented by — features tips from bankers and security professionals on how to handle a First Amendment auditor at a bank location while protecting bank employees and customers. Read more in the . from ABA’s Bank Security Committee.
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Accelerating banking for quick-service restaurants
ABA Banking Journal Podcast
As independently owned and operated small businesses, fast-food restaurant franchisees have unique business needs. They have mobile and often part-time workforces, complex inventory management and the constant challenge of managing both a small business and being the face of a major brand. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by — Wendell Bontrager talks about how Sonata Bank is working with this unique market segment. For example, “we can come in at fractional costs to provide them things like telehealth, mobile phone insurance, pet insurance,...
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How a Georgia community bank supports government-guaranteed lending nationwide
ABA Banking Journal Podcast
Government-guaranteed lending requires special expertise and back-office functionality that grows increasingly expensive for smaller banks. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by — Chris Hurn and Jeremy Gilpin of Community Bankshares, a bank holding company in La Grange, Georgia, discuss how they are tackling that challenge. “To start one of these departments is very expensive for a lot of rural banks and credit unions,” says Gilpin, “It’s very prohibitive to enter the market space if you are a rural bank or even in an urban market where...
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Quantum computing’s shakeup in payments, cybersecurity
ABA Banking Journal Podcast
Quantum computing is an of processing information, and it has the power to solve extremely difficult computational problems much more quickly than binary computers. As the technology continues to advance, the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by — explores how payments and banking might be affected by the technology. Among other topics, the episode addresses: Applications for quantum computing in liquidity management and other complex payment and settlement chains. The risks quantum computing poses to current encryption technology and the...
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Why the Fed paying interest on reserves matters
ABA Banking Journal Podcast
The payment by the Federal Reserve of interest on bank reserves may sound like an abstruse matter of economic theory, but these payments are critical to bank operations and the Fed’s conduct of monetary policy. In the latest episode — sponsored by — ABA’s Jeff Huther discusses why proposals to end or reduce interest on reserves are misguided. Among other things, Huther discusses: Why ending payments could have a destabilizing effect on the financial sector. Why, under today’s accounting practices, the federal government would see no near-term bottom-line boost from...
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Travis Hill on the regulatory agenda at the FDIC
ABA Banking Journal Podcast
ABA’s Washington Summit just wrapped up, and this episode — sponsored by — features a main stage conversation with Travis Hill, acting chairman of the FDIC. In this episode, Hill discusses: Revisions to the . Transparency in by regulators. The future of bank capital policy after the Basel III “endgame.” Ethics and operational improvements at the FDIC.
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Play ball! Financial education home runs
ABA Banking Journal Podcast
April is Financial Literacy Month, a time when bankers think creatively about how to engage young people on topics of financial wellness. Citi’s and Roads to Success’s Bashan Fernandez for a discussion of Citi’s approach to making financial knowledge fun and engaging. In this episode — sponsored by — they discuss several innovative approaches, including: Citi’s for New York City middle schoolers, to be held on Teach Children to Save Day on April 22 at Citi Field in partnership with the New York Mets and several youth-serving nonprofits. Citi’s...
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Breaking down the executive order on Treasury checks
ABA Banking Journal Podcast
In the wake of this week’s directing the Treasury to eliminate the use of paper checks for federal government disbursements (and payments to the U.S. government), ABA’s Steve Kenneally joins the podcast for a conversation on what’s next for the payments system. In this episode — sponsored by — Kenneally discusses: The role of Treasury checks in check fraud schemes. The order’s aggressive timeline, with an implementation date of Sept. 30, 2025. The significant challenges faced by different federal agencies in phasing out paper payments. The potential scope of...
info_outlineChecks have become so marginal that the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Payment Choice relegates them to a category of “other,” which, along with prepaid cards and money orders accounted for less than 9 percent of all payments in 2022. But checks aren’t entirely dead, with 11.2 billion still written in the U.S. in 2021. Meanwhile, their use by criminals as a vector of fraud has shot up. Which raises the question: The paper check won’t die. Is it time to kill it? This episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by Biz2X — sets out to answer that question, with the help of top bankers and experts in the payment space.