It may be a gross oversimplification to say this, but in many ways, community banks deal with their favorite broker the same way you deal with your dry cleaner. For one thing, there’s repeat business; we’re not a durable goods vendor that you visit every three years. For another, fixed-income brokers sell a set of …
If you ultra-busy community bankers have been able to catch some of our policymakers commenting on the waves of fiscal and monetary stimulus rushing toward the U.S. consumer, what you heard essentially translated into an elaborate game of Kick the Can. Please note that I said “elaborate” and not “elegant.” Here are some popular sound …
Kicking The Can: Congress and the Fed are on a spending spree. Read More »
The safety of our school attendees is a top priority for the Barret School of Banking. Our staff continues to track developments regarding Coronavirus, following the guidelines set by the federal government and public health officials. We will share any changes as they come. Community banks are now more important than ever in towns across …
COVID-19 statement from Barret School of Banking Read More »
Attention bond portfolio managers: Raise your hand if you were expecting a 100+ basis-point bond rally accompanied by a corollary rate cut by the Fed in about a two-week period. Just as I suspected—none of you. You can, for the record, count your correspondent among the crowd. But, since it’s happened, let’s use this …
Not all bonds are created equal: Fierce rally highlights different risk/reward profiles Read More »
If your community bank’s bond portfolio looks like the rest of the industry’s, you own more mortgage-backed securities (MBS) than ever. There are a bunch of reasons for this, most of which you’re aware of, but some you may not be. The MBS that community banks tend to own are a small piece of the …
Mortgage bonds keep gaining fans: Community banks add weighting to loan surrogates Read More »
It was 20 years ago today More precisely, it was 20 years ago this year that community banks, and their investment portfolios in particular, were enduring a period of extremes. Many of the readers of this column were in charge of their bond portfolios then, and were, proverbially, “Riders on the Storm”, which involved: …
As you may/may not know, we offer quarterly online Roundtables covering topics in Digital Marketing, Compliance, and Senior Lending. This week, we had our Senior Lender Roundtable facilitated by Richard Hamm and he had some great information on the industries that many community banks serve. I thought it would make a good free webinar for …
3Q 2019 Update on different industries you may be banking… Read More »
We talk a lot on the blog and the podcast about reaching out into our communities to help grow them and grow the bank. I also think it’s important to remember that there are many in our communities that don’t have the same access to information. We take our connectivity and access to information for …
It’s that time of year again. A time when we think we know more than the experts. We solicit advice from total strangers on issues we know nothing about in order to dominate our competition. The money is irrelevant. The ego runs rampant. Relationships we thought to be indestructible are tested and frayed. It is …
Building a Champion: Fantasy Football and On-Boarding Read More »
A best-selling book from the 1990s, “Why Things Are,” took a humorous look at curiosities originating from everyday existence, with the modest goal of answering “every essential question in life.” This column has a more ambitious purpose: to clarify a few of the phenomena surrounding your investment in bonds. So, put on your seat belts …
Why Bonds Are Riddles, enigmas and other investment mysteries Read More »
Barret School of Banking • 650 East Parkway South, Memphis, TN 38104
Phone: (901) 321-4000 • barret@barret.ws