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A STATUS CHECK: Surviving The Change, Protecting Our Future – Together
Faced With The Pandemic, Community Banks Showed Great Initiative
A STATUS CHECK: Surviving The Change, Protecting Our Future – Together
IBANYS PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE | BY JOHN WITKOWSKI
The value of a trade association is in its commitment to its member banks and constituents. That’s true day-to-day, and manifests itself in our advocacy and government relations representation, communications, educational programs, meetings and conferences, products and services and all of the things we try to provide New York community banks.
But in times of crisis, we believe the value of a trade association increases exponentially – because that’s when our membership needs us to be the most proactive and innovative. The coronavirus pandemic and the enormous impact it has had on our industry illustrated the importance of having a community bank trade association working for and representing your interests.
During these times of disruption, community banks needed to focus on their day-to-day business operations, taking care of their customers and employees, and simultaneously immersing themselves in the huge new challenge of the Paycheck Protection Program
(PPP) to help save local small businesses and jobs in their communities.
We’ve all had to change our business process because of COVID-19, and all too often dealing with those changes felt like we were drinking water from a firehose. Banks, small businesses, federal and state governments, regulatory agencies, and trade associations alike had to turn on a dime to meet the needs of their constituent communities and the economy.
Yet, business disruption doesn’t mean that community banks can dismiss the many critical outside influences on their business, such as:
· Federal and state legislation
· Regulatory actions business partnerships
· Exploring new ideas/innovation
· The need for ongoing professional education
· The overall support our member banks receive from their trade association.
IBANYS’ relationships with legislative and regulatory officials and other state community bank associations like the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) helped provide New York community banks with the support, answers, liaison and education they required during the pandemic.
At IBANYS, part of the change we faced meant finding new ways to effectively communicate with our banks on a daily basis: researching, compiling and disseminating important data and information from numerous sources across the board, culling it into relevant updates, and disseminating it to CEOs and senior management of New York’s community banks when they needed it most.
It also meant switching gears in midstream, converting our 2020 educational meetings to virtual or remote presentations using platforms such as Zoom, Webex … or, the old standard conference call.
Faced with the pandemic, we all had to adjust our operations and priorities – to perform in different ways under
unprecedented conditions and pressures – in order to protect and preserve our banks, customers, communities … and, our future.
We believe that together, we have met the test. Nevertheless, like the pandemic itself the challenge continues. There’s much to be done, and while in New York State things have certainly improved since the spring, no one can be certain what lies ahead.
We can promise that IBANYS will continue to have the backs of New York’s community banks. As always, thanks for all that you do!
Many New York community bankers have begun reopening their lobbies and branches with safeguards in place to keep their staff and clients safe and healthy as we adjust to the “new normal” … Others are taking a more guarded approach, maintaining the operational practices and policies established when the pandemic hit. IBANYS will continue to gather and provide banks information on reopening strategies and updates from the regulatory agencies and other resources.
John Witkowski is president and CEO of the Independent Bankers Association of New York State. He may be reached at johnw@ibanys.net or (518) 436-4646.
