Small Bank Competitiveness Following Financial Reforms
Well into the first quarter of this year, Alabama banks are grappling with a continuing slow economy and a barrage of regulations rising from...
Bank Merger of 2012: Causes and Effects
Given the timing of the 2012 merger between the Alabama Bankers Association and Community Bankers Association, it’s no wonder a state banking veteran said...
Currency Wars and Bursting Bubbles
Mark Thornton is an economist with the Ludwig von Mises Institute, headquartered in Auburn (but not a part of Auburn University). The institute is...
Headlines Review of 2013
JANUARY 2013
Philly Fed predicts economic gains
Transocean agrees to $1.4 billion payout
BP agrees to $4 billion criminal fine
Russell Brands announces layoffs
...
Who’s Your Fiduciary? Who’s Your Daddy?
When it comes to our hard-earned cash, we’re more on the ball and have a tighter grip on our financial future since the Great...
The Looming Correction Blues
With bonds and cash barely showing a pulse when it comes to interest rates, investors may be timidly strolling back down Wall Street, trying...
Serial Local Bank Builder
ServisFirst Bank President and CEO Tom Broughton seems nonchalant as he fields questions about goals and strategic planning. “We’ve never had goals … but...
A Company Thinks Money
OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS
In 1978, Mobil Oil went on a bit of fishing expedition in the waters off of Alabama’s Gulf Coast. In the...
Branch Banks
Are branch banks becoming an endangered species? Soon to rest in peace with downtown movie theaters, record shops, video rental stores and gas stations...
Public Money for Banks Only?
Local governments, schools boards, utilities and other public agencies, working to stretch their budgets as the economy struggles, are looking beyond their banks to...