At the Business Journal Banking Roundtable on Nov. 26 – conducted at The Courtyard by Marriott in Canfield – three banks and four credit unions participated: Matthew Bellin, senior vice president of Middlefield Banking Co.; Josh Toot, Mahoning Valley market president of Premier Bank; Mark Wenick, senior executive vice president and chief wealth management officer, Farmers National Bank; Christine Blake, CEO of Cardinal Federal Credit Union; Sandi Carangi, CEO of Mercer County Community Federal Credit Union; John Demmler, CEO of 717 Credit Union; and Mike Kurish, CEO of Associated School Employees Credit Union.
Business Journal: What is fintech? And how is it disrupting local banking? Are online banks cutting into the market shares of local banks and credit unions?
Mark Wenick, senior executive vice president and chief wealth management officer at Farmers National Bank: Fintech is financial technology. And it’s driven by outstanding technology, which has blossomed into a payment system. It affects our bank in terms of people who are rate shopping.
A lot of individuals look for opportunities to get a better rate on their deposits. That’s why they reach out to fintech companies.
Obviously, there’s a place for fintech. We explore it to use vendors. It’s very important in international banking, people that do international business, foreign exchange. It’s done a wonderful job in the technological aspects.
Has it hurt our business? A lot of customers use fintech for deposits. We find the deposits come back to the Mahoning Valley in a lot of cases.
Josh Toot, market president, Premier Bank: When fintech entered financial services, a lot of banks panicked that they would lose market share on the consumer side with mortgages and online checking accounts. I think we started to.
Not so much on the commercial side. Fintech doesn’t have a product to replace our relationships with customers. Now, fintech is almost like a partner with banks. It fills the gaps for efficiencies where it opens accounts quicker. Anything to do with mobile banking.
When they come out with the technology, the banks acquire it via third party. Fintech is making banks much more user-friendly to that younger generation of people capable of online banking or who want the online banking and the mobile banking. So fintech has become more of an ally than taking market share from us.
Business Journal: How does it affect credit unions?
Sandi Carangi, CEO of Mercer County Community Federal Credit Union: Same thing here. As both gentlemen said, fintech – financial technology – is a partner with a lot of vendors. It helps us to move forward.
We have benefited by being able to offer a lot more technology. It almost pushed us to what members wanted and the public wanted us to offer.
In recent years, technology has exploded in the financial services industry. Credit unions and people have embraced it. It’s amazing how much people depend on mobile banking and doing everything online.
But what sets us apart – as far as I agree that we’re not competing – at the beginning, everybody thought, “Oh, yeah, all these fintech companies. Everybody’s going to go to them.”
But we all have something unique here in that we have that personal relationship that people so want. And that makes us [more valuable in] that we’re offering these financial services online but also personally. So we can do both, which helps us.
John Demmler, president and CEO of 717 Credit Union: Fintechs have accelerated the transformation in service delivery for financial institutions.
When we look at the transition of banking from the checking accounts as writing a check as a payment to a delivery mechanism to the digital transfer of money (digital payments) and everything from the Apple Wallet and Venmo and all the online checking accounts, the service expectations of consumers has been elevated to where fintechs have become integrated into banking and provide a better service.
What may have started out as a disruption for the industry was more of an awakening, telling us we that have to provide the right digital solutions and the right service and value delivery to our members. That’s what fintechs have done. It’s elevated the game for financial institutions and fintechs since have become a great partner.
Matthew Bellin, senior vice president, commercial relationship manager of Middlefield Bank: I agree with everything said so far. It’s kind of a double-edged sword. In one respect, it has allowed banks and credit unions to operate more efficiently, deliver better serv-ice to clients at a lower cost. And frankly, meeting the expectations of today’s consumer. Definitely on the consumer side I think it’s more of a disrupter.
People shop rates for deposits as well as loans. It gives consumers more options. The other side of that sword: It’s new competitors that have entered the market and can operate even more efficiently than us.
We have bricks and mortar to pay for. The overhead of the fintechs that we’re competing with do not. Bricks and mortar are something community banks and credit unions have to deal with. So good and bad for us as far as the financial technology has impacted us.
Christine Blake, CEO of Cardinal Credit Union: I’d like to highlight two things that people have said. One is the integration of technology and we look at fintech as a way to partner that enables us to bring services and experiences to our members that we would not be able to otherwise.
First, for fintech lending, our fintech partner in the lending arena allows us to be completely online. So now, if a member wants a loan, he does not have to come into the bricks-and-mortar branch if he chooses not to. He can open it online. It gives options we didn’t have along with the security and compliance we need.
Second is the investment arena. We have a new fintech that we’re partnering with. It’s called Bits of Stock. One of its new products allows you to have rewards points on your debit card. Then you can use those reward points to buy stock. We’re going to roll this out to our student branches.
We teach in eight high schools. Students are learning about lending and investments without putting their own money at risk. It’s a really neat product we offer with the fintech that brings an experience to the youth that they may not have otherwise. And that’s just a good example of a fintech. So much so that we’re also going to invest in the fintech.
When you look at how fintechs have disrupted, that disruption also allows us the opportunity to invest in fintech.
Many products on the market help teach financial education, whether it’s credit score or how to improve your finances. So with our new digital platform, one of the fintech partners we easily integrated is called Savvy Money. It is similar to something that you’ve seen anywhere. It can give you your credit report on the spot, give you tips for improvement on the spot.
So if you want to do it only online, you can or you can come in and meet with one of our financial counselors. They’re available as well.
Mike Kurish, president and CEO of Associated School Employees Credit Union: When you get to this point, a lot’s been said. I agree with everything that has been said. In its purest form, you’ve said it. Fintech is financial and it’s technology. And financial institutions have been exposed to technological changes for many years.
Back into the ’70s, ATM cards were made available to individuals that changed the way individuals conducted their financial activities.
We have seen the transition where employers have used ACH [automated clearing house] to make deposits into financial institutions, which have changed the behavior of consumers where they no longer have to go to the financial institution on a Friday to make their deposits.
That’s improved their lifestyles and it’s given time back to consumers. The fintech that we talked about today, the digital platform is doing the same thing. It’s causing financial institutions to evolve.
It’s causing us to have to innovate and the consumer is the winner. He has more choices. Our competitors are no longer the bricks-and-mortar institutions down the street.
Consumers have the opportunity to have the financial products delivered to them by individuals or firms that live across the country, maybe even out of the country. And it gives them 24-hour access to their finances. It gives them more control. It allows them to customize their finances.
Business Journal: What’s next? And we know that a big part of fintech is cybersecurity. How are we going to bank in the future? What’s your crystal ball show? Are we going to have as many branches?
Demmler, 717: Yeah, branches are very important in serving our communities. And fintechs will [also serve and help] in the digital transformation of banking. We will all be banking on our phones more. Even banking online or on a computer is almost antiquated.
The ability to check your balance by opening up your cellphone, to transfer money, make payments – all of that – is so convenient. That will be a dominant form of banking.
But the branches serve a different purpose. 717 Credit Union has 13 branches. We’re looking to nearly double the number of branches over the next six years. So we’re making a significant investment into our branch network because we view branches not as transaction centers but as launching pads to serve our communities.
One reason why people will use branches more and more is for consultative conversations. We look to expand our wealth management and insurance brokerages. When you’re looking to make major decisions, sometimes it’s helpful to come in and talk to someone when you’re looking to buy a home, to save for retirement. Those are big decisions. And I think branches will serve our members well in the future.
Wenick, Farmers: Mike [Kurish] mentioned ATM cards earlier. In 1981, they were supposed to be the demise of branches.
So you think branches are always on life support? I would challenge that. Some of the largest banks in the country are starting to expand. One is adding 500 branches, another one 200 branches. In their expansions of branch networks, that may not be a big number. I agree with John[Demmler]. A branch is a place for more than a transaction.
It’s important to understand our demographic here in the Valley, primarily, and in most of our markets at Farmers, where we still have customers who love to come into the branch. It’s more of a social event. But now, for the younger generation, mobile banking seems to be the most popular entrée into our bank.
There’s still an opportunity to come in and sit down and plan or even discuss retirement, whatever, so we can offer the full menu of services that Farmers offers.
No longer is it your father’s or grandfather’s branch. It can’t be or you won’t survive.
Branch optimization is very important, though. We’re entrusted with our shareholders and our customers’ [best interests]. If you decide to shutter a branch for any reason, you have to backfill and go de novo and put a branch where you think it makes sense.
Josh Toot, Premier: Advances in technology come quickly. And if you’re not five years, 10 years ahead of them, you’re going to be passed by. But the other side of technology is you remove some of the service to your customer that banks and credit unions give. So branches will always be extremely important.
Because everything’s easy online until you have a problem. Suddenly, [the customer’s] on the 1-800 number and he can’t get a hold of somebody. His concern has something to do with his mortgage and the bank is not accepting his payment. Any customer wants to sit and talk to someone with a familiar face that you can go back to.
There’s always going to be an aspect of customer service with fintech, and we dilute that by saying, “Oh, it’s going to be the end of branches.”
Three times in my 23-year career, I’ve been told that branches are going to shrink. Every year, people go through your branch, see your transactions, see if it’s what your community needs. Sometimes you pull two branches together. Maybe there’s a better location. But I don’t see the world of branches going away any time soon.
Kurish, ASECU: There will always be a need for bricks and mortar. Individuals like the stability it represents compared to what they see with fintech.
A lot of the fintech activity you see with online banking is individual secondary accounts. It’s where they go to. It’s not their primary financial institution.
Branches are going to change. Each of us is familiar with a walk into old banks and seeing a line of teller windows. You see some older ones that have 10 teller cages. Compare them with a new branch where only two of them are used.
It’s probable that branches are going to become smaller and more efficient. They’re going to take on a different footprint as there’s less and less person-to person activity with financial transactions.
Carangi, Mercer Credit Union: I agree with everything said but also that branches support the technology. So you have all this technology that people use. And then they rely on having a place where they can go for financial counseling or education.
Branches support that technology. The difference is: Technology has exploded when you look at the transaction volume.
The branches still are growing as far as transactions. But it’s very slow.
It’s been amazing the large number of people who use the technology. But it’s the branches that support that. I agree that when you have a problem, you want to be able to talk to somebody.
The other thing is the trust. The branches give a sense of trust that you can go somewhere and you can talk to somebody. When you’re working with a financial institution that’s only online, there is no person that you see.
Another thing that’s really important for branches is being part of the community and involvement with a lot of the things happening there and connecting with people.
Christine Blake, Cardinal Credit Union: That’s almost exactly what I was going to say. The only thing I’d add is that is very similar to other industries, parallel that same mindset.
Studies that came out in the retail industry along those same lines show that when there’s a bricks-and-mortar store, even though it may not have the size and item that you need, you’re more likely to shop there, [more than] online, because of the trust factor.
It’s very similar to the banking industry where we are serving our communities. You have to be there so when your members, your customers, need you, you’re present.
Bellin, Middlefield: One other aspect of bricks-and-mortar: the new branch versus having these with 10 or 20 teller windows and this multimillion dollar office that needs to be built. That should reduce a lot of barriers to entry for a bank to open a new branch office. We can pop an office in a plaza. We can build a drive-thru much more quickly, much more efficiently than before.
Demmler, 717: Christine [Blake] talked about retail and how retail is a great example of how they blended the physical and digital. And you see that with Best Buy, Target, Walmart, that had huge physical footprints but integrated with online shopping – where you order your groceries online and go pick them up
That type of integration between the physical and digital has been illustrated in the retail space and is what we can learn in banking and do the same thing. We add more value for our members that way.
Business Journal: This is the first time we’ve had a banking roundtable where we had both banks and credit unions. You’re in the same business – accepting deposits and making loans – but operate under different rules. Where are we headed with bank and credit union consolidations? Obviously we’ve got a big consolidation coming up. Josh [Toot], do you want to tell us what’s happening with Premier Bank?
Toot, Premier: Premier was acquired by WesBanco. This will be my 12th merger or acquisition in my career on either side of the table. Sometimes it’s necessary. This was a great opportunity for us and a great opportunity for WesBanco. There’s almost zero overlap. Coming from Sky Bank I’m very familiar with the WesBanco folks. A lot of them left and went there instead of going to Huntington.
It’s a great fit for us. But what it does is gets us over that $10 billion hurdle and all the regulatory expense that comes to it. And it makes us a stronger bank but still able to operate in the community.
Will there be more consolidations and acquisitions? Absolutely. It’s necessary in certain instances. Because we all answer to shareholders and you have to show enough growth. And there are times in the economy, like we just hit, where things slow down. You have margin compression and the opportunity stretches out too many years to get back to where you wanted to be.
So you have opportunities come up – it’s too good to pass up.
Business Journal: How soon are we going to see WesBanco signs denoting the acquisition?
Toot, Premier: Signs: a different story. You’ll see legal Day One in January when we have regulatory approval and we move forward as one institution. You’ll see the conversion probably closer to May.
We’ll do a systems conversion, which is great, because we use the same system, which is rare. All of our systems are identical. You’ll see closer to mid-year all the signs and everything start to switch.
Blake, Cardinal: It’s our industry overall. Banks and credit unions are both going to merge over time. That’s how we came to be here. We had Ohio Edison, Tri-County, and Youngstown, three credit unions that we put together. That’s how Cardinal entered the area. You get a lot of efficiencies as well.
We look at mergers more as a partnership so that we can provide to the same community our philosophy of people helping people. It helps us to provide these branches in a much more efficient way. We’re getting ready to open a new branch right here on [U.S. Route] 224 and that merger and partnership has allowed us to be in that position to do that.
Kurish, ASECU: There’s a certain scale that exists within our industry and there are costs of regulation that we have today that weren’t borne by financial institutions in years past. It’s expensive – investment on our part just to comply with regulations that exist.
We have new technologies and they are costly. And every time you make access to financial information easier to the consumer, you also make it easier for the bad guys to get. So there’s an increased cost to security.
Used to be you had to protect only your door. Now, you’ve got to protect the online access from the cybercriminals. The economies of scale to run an institution is rising, which is causing consolidations. Small institutions can’t afford the cost of existing. So they find a merger partner. In some instances, it’s almost merge or be merged.
Wenick, Farmers: I agree with Josh [Toot] that consolidation is here and is always going to be here. And to your point, that is one of the differences between credit unions and banks. We do have shareholders. They do expect growth.
Analysts expect growth. And we look at growth not just for the sake of growth. When you have the opportunity to merge or partner with another institution, it’s important that there are synergies not only in terms of the efficiency but also the culture. And in any successful merger, there’s always similar cultures. You benefit from that.
The other part of mergers – and I speak from experience – is the fee business side. We’ve been very successful at Farmers in acquiring insurance agencies, third-party administrators, and we’re looking at some other opportunities in fee revenues to grow.
Banks and credit unions are spread business. And with rates the way they have been, it’s been difficult to make the spread between what we pay for deposits and what we earn on loans – loan yields. So fee income has become very important to us.
When you look at the Premier-WesBanco deal, I would bet that the fee income of the combined bank will be significant.
Again, consolidation is not a bad thing. The thing is maintaining an identity, too, where you maintain that culture that’s allowed you to succeed.
Business Journal: The community often feels that they’re losing something in a consolidation.
Demmler, 717: Last November, 717 merged with Youngstown City Schools Credit Union. And one of the things that we tried to do with that merger was adopt their mission: to support Youngstown, provide financial services to the school districts.
We wanted to use the scale of 717 to amplify their voice. So rather than Youngstown City Schools merging into a larger institution and fading away, we wanted to take that in a different direction. And so with that, we’re expanding our commitment to Youngstown. That was driven by that merger.
Because we don’t have shareholders, our mission is simply to help people live better lives financially and support the communities we serve. We’re not boxed into shareholder expectations. Our expectation is simply to deliver great value to our members and to our communities.
Mergers with credit unions might take a different philosophy. It’s not about trying to increase fee revenue. It’s not about return to the shareholders. We want to have a strong positive impact in the community.
Carangi, Mercer: I agree. I want to go back to what Mike [Kurish] said. A credit union is different. We’ve also had mergers. It’s about continuing to serve those new members. And a lot of it has to do with smaller credit unions and the technology, cost of technology, being able to keep up with all that, and the burden of the regulations.
We’re happy that we continue to serve those areas by having the smaller credit unions in areas where they were struggling. The mergers allowed us to serve them better.
Business Journal: Most of the Fed regulatory proposals affect larger banks in 2025. How are new and proposed regulations going to affect smaller and mid-size banks and credit unions?
Blake, Cardinal: There’s a lot of alignment in credit unions and banks on this topic. Because regulation is a big deal. One small example that’s before Congress is called the Credit Card Act. Any time you make regulations – in this case, where you cap what credit card companies can charge in late fees or limit the interchange fee you earn when customers use credit cards …
When those things happen, even though there may be exemptions based on size, in the end, it’s going to affect everyone.
Once it affects the largest banks and some type of fee cap is implemented, you’re competing directly with that type of institution.
Even though you’re exempt, it’s still going to affect you and your consumers.
However it all ends up, in the end, some of these regulations will affect the consumer. He will pay one way or another.
If you limit the credit card fee, the late fee that you can charge will be made up elsewhere.
Demmler, 717: Credit card companies will reduce the rewards programs that financial institutions can offer their customers and their members. I have to think that has got to be unpopular with the public. Right? It’s designed to help Discover Card, which is located in the home state of the senator sponsoring the legislation.
It’s important for financial institutions to be able to offer safe credit card products and services, debit card transactions. There’s a lot of expense to the financial institutions that offer those programs. Part of what we try to do is to reward loyal customers.
Regulation puts a lot of that at risk. That’s something that the public should be aware of and something that banks and credit unions agree on.
Blake, Cardinal: Then it goes to another level. …People probably also don’t know the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, enacted to protect consumers – they will do things with what is the ultimate amount to charge.
Then the CFPB will do a study and come out with new regulations. Right now they’re saying their latest study shows $8 would be the fee.
Carangi, Mercer: I read how the CFPB came up with that $8 cap and it was very arbitrary. What’s so amazing is that there’s so much cost that goes into offering credit cards and all of the rewards programs and all those things that people expect from them. I have heard people say, “Well, it’s only going to be $8. Then it doesn’t matter if I pay my credit card bill on time.”
It’s going to have a negative effect. When you set an arbitrary number like that, you’re not thinking about all the costs that go into offering something like that. Banks offering credit cards and charging network fees are things we’re paying for.
Business Journal: We have a new administration coming in and we probably haven’t before seen disruption like we’re about to see. What’s going to happen?
Wenick, Farmers: I’m going to take a more general approach to this. I received an email from the Ohio Bankers League. They talked specifically about the congressman who’s in the running to become the chair of the House Financial Services Committee. He’s from Arkansas. He was elected in ’16, the first Trump administration.
He was also community banker. And his motto – if you can believe it – is “Make Community Banking Great Again.”
His name is French Hill; it’s all about regulatory easing. It’s about making it easier to streamline the exams, making it easier to go through the merger process.
He has eight or nine bullet points that he usually talks about and I think this will be the pervasive view in Congress: to ease some of these burdens on banks.
And we are a national bank. So we’re regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve. We expect there will be some regulatory easing that will make it better to do business, to be more efficient. I’m very confident this new administration will be pro-community banking, pro-banks, pro-financial services.
Toot, Premier: We saw this in 2016 where you reduced regulation. And it took the majority of the year to catch up. The idea goes into place; then the examiners and everybody else [comes in]; they have to catch up and get everything in line. Probably toward the end of ’25, you’ll see a lot less regulation.
And that’s good for the consumer. Because banks don’t want to spend their money on keeping up with regulations. Streamlining things [is] great for us. That means we can turn around and give that money back to products and services. We’re looking forward to that, especially keeping up with technology,
That’s a big expense. Knowing that we can reroute that, those funds, toward the consumer. That’s a good thing.
Kurish, ASECU: New technology is going to invite additional regulation. There will be bad actors and bad players are going to have to be dealt with. Sometimes you get well-intentioned regulations that have negative consequences after the fact. That’s all costly to have to deal with from our [perspectives]. But the new technology alone is going to invite new regulations that each of us is going to have to employ into our operations.
Business Journal: What else is on the horizon? Threats of big tariffs? How will they affect interest rates? What’s your forecast for mortgage rates? How will they affect the local market? If inflation continues to stay around 2% and the Fed reduces interest rates, how will that affect bank lending?
Toot, Premier: If someone knows this, I’m impressed. [Laughter]
Initially, everybody thought rates were going to plummet. Rates were to go back to 5% quickly. That has slowed down drastically, just because inflation hasn’t dropped to where we need it to. Rates will continue to tick down.
Business Journal: Mortgage rates?
Toot, Premier: Mortgage rates. Treasurys. You’re going to see them tick down. And as rates come down, banks and credit unions are sitting on long-term mortgage rates, probably an average, I guess of, 4%. So we need rates to get into the fives for people to say it’s worth moving. Because you’re sitting on all these low-interest mortgage rates and it’s hard to move from your home when you’re at a three, two, four percent rate, and you’re looking at 7% [if you assume a new mortgage].
For mortgages to move, you need to get into that 1% range where you say, “OK, it’s worth my time.”
Lending hasn’t slowed down drastically. What happens is people who are on the fence wait to see if that’s going to happen. Once mortgages come down to a more manageable number, you’ll see businesses going out and lending much more.
Kurish, ASECU: It’s interesting when you look at rates earlier in the year – from April to August – we saw mortgage rates fall. And about eight weeks ago, we see the Fed lower interest rates by 50 basis points [½%]. Then they followed up with another 25 basis points and they’re promising another 25 basis points in December.
During that time when the Fed dropped the rate 75 basis points, mortgage rates went up 75 basis points. So there’s a lot of uncertainty. If you look at the target rate for 2025, it is 3%. The Fed has raised that up 100 basis points to 4%.
Certainly [the rate of] inflation falling is going to help create some stability in housing prices. The inventory of homes also is going to increase or has increased a bit. That will help buyers of property. The interest rate is just one component of the overall cost of ownership. And so when you include those other items, you’re likely to see a better 2025 than 2024.
Blake, Cardinal: In discussing mortgage rates, you also have to consider the economic analysis we just looked at. Home prices have to come down. So the optimal period for mortgages and homes to take off would be when home prices come down about 10%. When they come down 10%, the rates have to come down around 1½% to be in the 5% range.
And income has to be stable. Those are the optimal conditions that economists say are needed to spur the market. The Federal Housing Administration just had an article in the Wall Street Journal about mortgages. They’ve increased to about 7%, which is ironic that they’ve been able to increase 7%.
And then the last study (that came out in October) showed that there’s a 2% increase in applications for mortgages. So you are seeing little upticks. An improvement as those rates – they’ve have come down slightly with the rate fluctuations.
Bellin, Middlefield: As far as business lending goes, many of my clients were excited about the election, about the downturn in rates so far. A lot of them had put projects on hold waiting to see what administration would be in power.
The forecast for many of my clients next year projects are back on the front burner again, because of lower interest rates as well as some tax breaks. I anticipate a good year in 2025 from what we’ve seen so far.
Business Journal: What about the potential of the new administration to impose tariffs?
Demmler, 717: Tariffs act very much like a value-added tax that would increase the cost of goods and services that consumers purchase. In effect, it would elevate inflation across the economy and that necessitates rates staying higher to keep inflation down. Some of the [president-elect’s] language might be negotiating tactics.
In general, tariffs would increase the cost of goods and services for which we all pay, acting effectively as a massive sales tax. That’s one of the risks with moving forward with an aggressive tariffs program. Now, there’s value to protecting certain core industries, such as manufacturing. But it comes at the risk of heightened inflation.
Back on housing, Christine [Blake] highlighted some good points that it’s not just about interest rates. It’s about the actual cost of the homes.
And the challenge for folks in the Valley is that even although housing is low-cost relative to the state and to the nation, it’s still very unaffordable, unattainable.
There has to be a movement toward lowering the cost of housing and providing financing solutions that can lower the overall payment. It all comes down to the monthly payment people can afford. That’s what we have as collective financial institutions. We have to come up with a solution.
Business Journal: How are you going to get homeowners to reduce how much they ask for their houses?
Demmler, 717: In a twofold way. Think about one of the things to increase the housing supply as one step to providing affordable housing. The challenge is to bring in stick-built homes like construction of on-site housing.
We are competing for the labor needed to build those homes with markets like Columbus, Ohio, where those workers can sell that home for three times as much as here in the Valley. It becomes a supply and demand of labor expense that makes it unaffordable to build houses here.
A different solution is modular homes, bringing modular homes in. They look fantastic. You can do two-story, garage, basement at a fraction of the cost. The manufacturing is not done on site. That’s a way that we can lower the cost of housing with new construction and expand the housing supply.
Wenick, Farmers: I would like to give credit to Eastgate [Council of Governments] and the [Youngstown/Warren Regional] Chamber. They’ve taken this challenge on. They’ve done surveying. They’re trying to figure out how to come up with more diverse housing.
And we’re going to see the fruits of that report in January, which is going to outline a plan for the Valley, because affordable inventory is extremely low.
Carangi, Mercer: It’s really unpredictable about what’s going to happen next year. If the tariffs go through, that could drive prices up, and it could renew inflation. And then interest rates are going to stay where they are.
Business Journal: Final thoughts? What we haven’t mentioned that we should have?
Wenick, Farmers: We’re very fortunate here in the Valley that even though we’ve lost financial institutions, you can see that we still have a very vibrant financial services sector served by banks, credit unions and other financial service professionals. The consumer in the Valley has a lot of options. Obviously, they can do some other things online.
The commitment of all these financial services professionals is evident. They’re up-to-date, very focused on the customer, very concerned about the macro economy, and focused on making our communities better. They work to make sure that people have affordable housing,
Toot, Premier: It’s all about [corporate] culture. It’s not about the name on the sign. It’s what each employee believes and why they show up every day. And it really is about making our community stronger. We talk about that constantly.
It’s important to have branches. Because you’re a part of that community. Having a local voice, making sure that someone who’s never been to Youngstown is not making decisions about Youngstown.
Carangi, Mercer: It’s important that all of us work together and collaborate with these banks and credit unions so they work together and make sure that we’re helping people. Also providing the financial education they need to make their life better. We focus a lot on financial education.
We just built a new building, which has a financial training room, and we’re offering all types of seminars on fraud and on first-time home buying and other matters. And I’m very impressed with everybody who’s here today.
Demmler, 717: I’ve been in banking for 30 years and I’ve never sat in a room with folks as dedicated to the community as the folks in this room.
The community needs to know that the financial institutions in the Valley – the ones that have survived all the mergers – are dedicated to improving the lives of the community.
Bellin, Middlefield: Well said, John. Looking around this room, think of all of us that are headquartered here in northeastern Ohio. Not all communities can say that.
We have such a diverse group of banks and credit unions where local decisions are made, where banks are partners with the community. This is good for the consumer and our market. The biggest challenge going forward is balancing the need for innovation and then the compliance costs. …
You will see more mergers. You will see more acquisitions to balance that new expense a lot of banks are going to endure when new regulations come. …
Blake, Cardinal: Roundtables like this are very energizing. It’s refreshing to be able to share ideas. Our goal is the same. We’re here to serve the community. …
We’re excited about opening a new branch. …
Kurish, ASECU: One topic we didn’t talk about too much is the demographics of our community.
A challenge we have that I identify with, anyways, is that we have an aging community. And with that, one challenge that is going to exist for all financial institutions is competition for the new dollars [from] the individuals who are going to be our future.
We must, as institutions, within our own shops, remain attractive, be pertinent and be relevant. So that we all survive.
Because one thing that happens when we as local institutions remain relevant, we keep our community relevant. If we are victims of mergers to institutions outside of the area, the Mahoning Valley will suffer.
Pictured at top: The Business Journal convened a roundtable discussion with executives from three banks and four credit unions. Front row: Christine Blake, CEO of Cardinal Credit Union; Sandi Carangi, CEO of Mercer County Community Federal Credit Union, and John Demmler, president and CEO of 717 Credit Union. Back row: Mike Kurish, CEO of Associated School Employees Credit Union; Josh Toot, Mahoning Valley market president, Premier Bank; Mark Wenich, senior executive vice president, Farmers National Bank; and Matthew Bellin, senior vice president of Middlefield Banking Co.