February 2, 2012 

A publication of Fortner, Bayens, Levkulich & Garrison, P.C.

Measuring Your Marketing Investment

by Lauren O'Connell, President

     O'Connell Consulting Group, Inc.

How do you measure the success of your bank’s marketing investment? If you’re like many community bank CFOs you don’t always know what your marketing investment is doing for your bottom line. Doing some advance planning, not only in budgeting but also in defining what an effective program will look like, is essential to being able to measure your investment’s success. If you don’t set expectations from the beginning, you will be trying to measure a moving target. Click here to learn a few simple approaches to getting your arms around this age-old question.

Facebook Users "Like" Community Banks

by Tom Wessels

The history of the social networking site Facebook is a short one. The site was created only eight years ago, and in that time, the number of Facebook users has jumped to more than 800 million. The number of community banks on Facebook has also grown. In a six-month study of more than 5,300 banks across 31 states, more than 76% of community banks have a presence on Facebook, and, of those, almost 20% have an active page that includes bank information, photos, community events and contests. Being “liked” on Facebook is a useful way to provide information to customers and potential customers, and, in the last six months, the number of “likes” has grown 25% overall. To learn more, click here.

We would also be interested in knowing your thoughts about social networking. Please click here to take our 10-question, 2012 Social Networking survey.

Dodd-Frank, Risk Weighting and Capital Developments

by Liz Koschik

One of the most anticipated pieces of the Dodd-Frank Act, which has yet to be fully unveiled and significantly affects the banking industry, is risk-weighted assets and the underlying capital requirements. Section 939A of the Act effectively eliminated the ability to rely on credit rating agencies such as Moody’s and Standard and Poors for investment rating. There has yet to be a better alternative provided, and therefore regulators continue to rely on rating agencies to determine asset quality for risk-based capital. Even though regulators have sought to repeal this portion of the Act through Congress, the political climate has not heeded their requests. To read more, click here.

Directors' University Date Change

Due to a scheduling conflict, “Directors’ University: Strategies and Insights for Bank Directors,” has been moved to Apr 12-13. This day-and-a-half event will begin Thursday morning and end after lunch on Friday and will be held at the FireSky Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, AZ. Cost for the seminar will be $495 for the first attendee and $445 for each additional attendee from the same bank. Directors’ University provides insight on Directors’ fiduciary responsibilities, general Board oversight, analyzing financial information and key financial ratios, and loan committee and underwriting principles. There will also be a case study which will cover Board reporting, risk profile, bank performance and operations. Speakers from Bank Strategies, LLC, Jones & Keller, and Fortner, Bayens, Levkulich & Garrison, P.C. will be participating. 

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