To IPO or not to IPO is a decision requiring careful consideration. The IPO market remains vibrant in 2025, with the fintech sector drawing significant interest and even a few community banks getting attention. However, the decision to go public involves much more than just market timing. This year, we have seen significant IPO activity from fintech companies like Chime (which raised $864 million and valued the company at $11.6 billion) and Circle ($34.5 billion market cap).

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This advisory to insured state non-member banks and savings associations (FDIC-supervised institutions) reemphasizes the importance of strong capital, appropriate credit loss allowance levels, and robust credit risk-management practices when managing commercial real estate (CRE) concentrations. This advisory replaces an advisory issued in 20081 that emphasized these same points during a time when CRE market conditions had weakened, most notably in the construction and development (C&D) sector.

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We are experiencing a level of regulatory intensity rarely seen— not the simple effect of “net-new” regulations but the combination of a high-volume of regulatory issuances, the complexity and breadth of regulatory supervision, and the impact that these changes impose across the organization.

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One year ago, today the country shut down and I left my office for what I thought may be a few weeks. A few has turned into 52 and a new pandemic has changed the commercial office market in ways we never imagined a year ago.

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Many non-banks consider acquiring a bank (or establishing a de novo bank) to serve their customers and capture benefits afforded to a bank.

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Before embarking on this strategy, it is critical to determine the order of magnitude of the benefits as well as the costs of operating in the tightly controlled bank environment.

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Does your institution have a plan for digital? Your team should have a sense of the gaps in your platform required to enable a full digital experience.

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Most transformation projects fail entirely, or at least fail to deliver promised results. Many small financial institutions use technology to transform business operations in the pursuit of efficiencies and other competitive gains within their industries.

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The current economic environment doesn’t offer any “good” investments. The COVID recession is different from anything we have experienced.

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Amid the heavy growth of start-ups in the digital payments and currency space, OFAC’s (U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control) announced settlement agreement with BitGo, Inc., sends a clear message: a lack of sanctions compliance can be costly.

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Community and Regional Banks today, more than ever are experiencing aggressive competition for quality commercial loans. Competition is coming from all sides and not just in market competitors but from global banks, finance companies, business development corporations and direct lenders.

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In the last six months, blockchain technology has gone from a complex and arcane topic to increasingly mainstream as the digital technology evolves from concept to use.

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Growth in digital banking. Technology at the mega-banks has transformed their customer experience and shifted consumer and business transaction volume to digital and mobile channels. This transformation was accelerated by the pandemic and forces other banks to invest in digital banking. Community banks need to develop a digital strategy ASAP.

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The IPO market is hot again. Today’s flavor – mortgage and related businesses. Following Rocket/Quicken’s IPO, many are now considering it.

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IPO Valuation is an art that is obscured by spreadsheets showing hundreds of statistics. In due course, price – perhaps the most important number – finally gets our full attention. This is the final installment in a three-part series covering (i) the Pros and Cons of an IPO, (ii) the IPO Process and (iii) IPO Valuation.

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