July 27, 2021

This past month, discussions about inflation have been commonplace. People are offering opinions on what lies ahead, and the topic seems to be everywhere in the headlines.
Historical context is critical to understanding the current situation. Dropping back about 18 months, global economic issues included advanced countries having the most debt ever recorded in modern history, aging populations (one of several key demographic shifts), and the slowing of the European Union economy. The EU was hit hard due to the deceleration of their manufacturing giant, Germany. Manufacturing suffered because China slowed purchases of imports. In the United States, there exists an amazingly high amount of government debt, consumer debt, and business/corporate debt. Business debt was the highest on record a little over a year ago, 60% of which would be junk bond status if we had an economic disruption.

August WEDNESDAY, AUG 4, 2021  10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.The TRID Dirty Dozen: Navigating the Landmines WEDNESDAY, AUG 4, 2021  2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. New Accounts Series: Regulatory Alphabet for Deposit Accounts THURSDAY, AUG 5, 2021  2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Comparing Regulation E with Visa & MasterCard Rules FRIDAY, AUG 6, 2021  10 a.m. –

Region 1 Carroll County Trust Company – Ethon & Emily GoettingCommunity Bank of Pleasant Hill – Jasmine BrownBank Northwest – Malachi McBee (Not Pictured) Region 2 Exchange Bank of Nemo – Breanna GibbonsBank of Monticello – Zoe PorterThe Callaway Bank – Ashlyn JarmanAlliant Bank – Natasha Jenkins (Not Pictured) Region 3 Bank of Billings –

Businesses within the financial industry are among the safest and most secure companies in the world. They must be because they house and protect their clients’ most valuable assets. While physical bank robberies continue to decline, the financial industry has become the #1 target for cybercrimes. Criminals would rather use ransomware instead of a weapon, and for good reason. According to Forbes, half of all businesses will pay a ransom, with the average cost being nearly $112,000. That does not include financial and business losses from a ransomware or cyberattack downtime, which lasts about two weeks on average. For most banks and financial institutions, cybersecurity is already top of mind, and in reality, cybersecurity is critical.