Panel of Industry Experts Discuss Balance Sheet Management Strategies at March Dinner Meeting
Bank Security Act Solutions Presented at Afternoon Mini-Session
ARTICLE AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID LAUWE - META4 COMMUNICATIONS
An expert panel of financial advisors to the community banking industry each presented
valuable balance sheet management strategies to the Chapter Membership followed by an interactive
discussion at the Chapter’s March Dinner meeting. The event was held at the Stony Hill Inn in
Hackensack, N.J. on March 23, 2016.
The panel discussion was moderated by Gerry Clark, Vice President of ZM Financial Systems.
Jerry has more than 30 years of experience in market risk, treasury, accounting and finance.
ZM Financial Systems brings practical solutions to complex financial problems including ALM,
liquidity and risk management.
Scott Hildenbrand, Sandler O'Neill + Partners, presents balance sheet strategies as part of a panel discussion at the March Dinner Meeting.
Panel members (l.-r.) Jason Murray, Joe Thompson and Bill Weber listen to the presentation by Scott Hildenbrand.
Chapter President Brian McCourt welcomes Members to the March Dinner Meeting.
Members of the panel included:
§ Scott Hildenbrand – Chief Balance Sheet Strategist, Sandler O’Neill + Partners, LP
§ Jason Murray – Director Fixed Income Analytics, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company
§ Joe Thompson – Director of Balance Sheet Analytics, Performance Trust Capital Partners
§ Bill Weber – Managing Director and Senior Strategist, Brean Capital, LLC
Scott Hildenbrand emphasized the importance for institutions
to increase earnings through effective management of net interest margin over a series of varying interest rate cycles.
He also noted that deposit mixes are changing which will adversely affect net interest margin. Jason Murray also noted
that deposit trends are changing. Jason suggested that ALM represents only 90% of an institution’s overall plan and stress
testing under multiple interest rate scenarios is imperative. Joe Thompson stressed the importance of pricing core deposits
differently than “hot money” and stratify a bank’s plan based on the relative sensitivity of each. Bill Weber emphasized
how the balance sheet “mix” has changed dramatically over the past 30 years. Consequently, the number of banks have
declined substantially form more than 12,000 to 6,700. Bill cautioned that an institution’s growth strategy must be adequately
controlled in order to reduce capital risk.
The panel members answered a series of insightful questions from the Members in attendance and exchanged a number of important
balance sheet management strategy concepts.
The afternoon mini-session featured The Modern World of BSA a timely Bank Secrecy Act presentation by Asaad Faquir, Director
of RSK Compliance Solutions. Assad explained that institutions have implemented more modern automated compliance systems in
response to increased volumes of data to replace the older manual processes. Assad emphasized the need to develop improved model
validation to ensure valid compliance. He noted the problems that typical institutions face, that no system is perfect and identifying
and closing the gaps in the system are critical to ensuring compliance.
A cocktail hour featuring an array of delicious hors d'oeuvres followed the mini-session presentation. Members then enjoyed
a full course dinner preceding the panel discussion.
Topics and Speakers
Balance Sheet Management Strategies
Asaad Faquir, RSK Compliance Solutions, presented
The Modern World of BSA at the mini-session.
Chapter Members smile before enjoying a sumptuous full course dinner prepared by the chefs at the Stony Hill Inn.
Members enjoyed a lucious platter of tomato and mozzarella dripping in oil topped by colorful parsley leaves.