What’s Different in 2026 Three pressures have made continuous compliance more urgent this year. First, AI governance has emerged as a focus of examination. Regulators expect documented controls to ensure that generative AI tools access core systems, customer data and lending workflows. Banks deploying AI without model inventory, client-isolated data architecture, audit trails and human review thresholds are creating findings they haven’t seen yet. Second, scrutiny of third-party risk has expanded. With more banks running on cloud cores and fintech partnerships, examiners look past the vendor list to evidence of ongoing oversight. Your IT partner needs to know your core; fluency across Fiserv, Jack Henry, FIS and CSI is no longer optional. Third, operational resilience expectations have hardened. Tabletop exercises, ransomware playbooks and recovery time objectives need to be tested and documented, not just written. Choosing the Right Partner Most community banks can’t justify hiring dedicated specialists for security, infrastructure, audit support and AI governance. The right managed services partner closes that gap, but not every MSP is built for banking. The questions worth asking are about structural fit. Does the firm have people who do nothing but bank audit and exam work, or is compliance squeezed in between help desk tickets? Do they speak FFIEC fluently, including the Cybersecurity Assessment Tool? Will they own vulnerability remediation through to closure? Ownership matters too. The MSP industry has consolidated rapidly under private equity, and roll-up acquisitions tend to disrupt the personnel continuity that compliance work depends on. Privately held firms can take a multi-year view in a way that financially engineered ones cannot. Continuity of the people who know your environment is itself a compliance control. Compliance as a Capital Strategy At scale, compliance is a capital allocation decision. Boards that treat audit readiness as a recurring operating control accept far less volatility than peers who treat it as an event. Embed regulatory controls into financial planning, define the Compliance Alignment Delta as a board-level metric and demand evidence-grade documentation monthly. Audit readiness, properly engineered, isn’t a cost center. It’s one of the cleanest signals of institutional discipline a bank can produce. Thomas H. Douglas is CEO of JMARK, a privately owned managed IT, cybersecurity and AI services firm headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. JMARK has served financial institutions for more than 35 years and operates a dedicated Audit & Exam team supporting community and regional banks across the Midwest. Visit jmark.com or call (844) 44-JMARK. 36th Annual Scholarship Auction Browse and Bid for a Great Cause! In just a few short months, we will gather with our MIBA membership, family and friends for another exciting Convention & Exhibition. This year’s 36th annual MIBA Scholarship Auction will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 15, at The Lodge of Four Seasons. We hope you are already thinking about the items you’ll donate to this worthy cause! On Tuesday during the Convention, the Exhibit Hall will close at 2:00 p.m., and the MIBA Scholarship Silent Auction & President’s Reception will begin at 4:30 p.m. All registered bankers and exhibitors are invited and welcome to join in the fun in support of the next generation of Missouri independent bankers. If you have an item to donate to the auction, please contact the MIBA offices at (573) 636-2751 to request a donation form. For more information, visit miba.net. Donations to and purchases made at the auction are not deductible for federal income tax purposes. The Show-Me Banker Magazine | 33
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