October 4, 2021

I was very fortunate to have a great experience growing up. While Independence had a population of about 100,000, it felt like a small town. My family lived in town, but they owned farmland and my grandparents and extended family all farmed. I spent a lot of time in the country. My parents were both educators. My father was the former basketball coach at the high school I attended and was an administrator in the school district in addition to teaching drivers’ education. My mother taught home economics in another high school in Independence.

In one sense, it feels like a decade ago that Congress started working on the CARES Act. At the same time, it feels like only a few weeks ago, we discussed the formation of the PPP programs and the SBA’s new, outsized role in the government’s response. I’ve written about that role several times in this magazine, and many of us have spoken in person about it a few times over the last 18 months.

A 2020 U.S. Government Accountability Office report concluded that a “very small” community bank could spend up to 2.4% of operating expenses on Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) work alone. And costs are rising, with more than half of compliance officers expecting to make an increase in their budget. This doesn’t seem to match up with what makes community banking different. Being relationship bankers, we pride ourselves and our industry on going the extra mile — or miles, as proven by the heroic efforts during the Paycheck Protection Program — to serve our customers and communities.

When I consider what differentiates us as community bankers, I’m immediately drawn to the legacy of good we create. We care for those in our communities not because we have to but because they are our friends, neighbors and relatives. It’s our responsibility to help make our communities better places to live, to help pull people out of poverty and address issues they’re facing. And, we build a long-lasting positive impact because that’s what community banking is all about.

We entered 2021 filled with hope that our economy would rebound swiftly after the COVID shut down of 2020. The federal government provided more stimulus in the first quarter, but the lack of workers, material shortages, rising prices and the additional regulatory burden has created a cloud over our economy.