DISCUSSING COMMUNITY BANKS AND BANKERS HELPING BANKERS WITH MATTHEW SMITH Matthew Smith is the director of innovation initiatives at the Independent Bankers Association of Texas (IBAT). He was a community banker for 18 years and worked indirectly with IBAT for 12 years. Now, he reports directly to Christopher Willison, IBAT’s CEO. Matthew has a B.S. in business administration and an MBA from Wayland Baptist University. PLEASE TELL US ABOUT IBAT AND THE ROLE IT PLAYS IN TEXAS. We help small banks with compliance, advocacy, education and much more. We also go to Austin and Washington, D.C., as advocates to ensure legislation supports community banks. Finally, we identify vendors that associate members have endorsed so that when community banks reach out to us, we can provide them with a vetted list. We are involved in Bankers Helping Bankers, which supports community bankers throughout the U.S. There are currently 30 state associations signed up to help community banks. Bankers Helping Bankers is a safe place because there is no vendor involvement. Bankers can access data that shows the short list of what technologies are integrated with the core and has open message boards that allow community banks a place to talk and ask questions openly. Many community banks want and need to create efficiencies. The Bankers Helping Bankers program helps these community banks to manage their transformation with fintech and offer services that generate revenue they haven’t been able to offer before. HOW DID YOU GET INTO BANKING? I did everything the hard way. I had a child, got married and decided I needed to figure life out. My wife and I worked and went to school full-time while our child was still young. I became a community banking administrative assistant and worked my way up. It was hard, but it helped me become who I am today. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WITH IBAT? As of October 2022, it’s been about seven months. IBAT hired me because I was a community banker and understood community banking needs. Community bankers listen to me because I am one of them. WHAT ARE YOUR MAIN JOB RESPONSIBILITIES? I help banks with the Bankers Helping Bankers program. When I asked Christopher Williston what I would do, he said I would make sure community bankers have the information they need to make educated decisions. YOU HAVE A STORY ABOUT BABIES, BANKERS AND A RIVER. WOULD YOU PLEASE TELL US THAT STORY? Two guys are sitting by a river fishing and enjoying the day. A baby suddenly comes floating down the river. They jump up, rush into the river and save the baby. When they started talking to each other, wondering why the baby was in the river, they saw another baby in the water. As more and more babies come down the river, one of the guys keeps running into the river to save the babies, but the other guy starts running up the river bank. “What are you doing?” yells the first guy. The second one yells, “I’m going to find out who is throwing babies in the river, and then I’m going to stop them.” I’m like the second guy. It’s my job to make sure no more charters go away. THE NUMBER OF U.S. BANKS IS DECREASING. WHAT ROLE HAS LEGISLATION PLAYED, AND HOW DID THE GREAT RECESSION AND COVID-19 CONTRIBUTE TO THE TREND? The Consumer Financial Protection Program (CFPB) was started in 2010 and 2011 in response to the Great NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT BANKER 22
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