KBA CHAIRMAN’S CORNER by James A. Hillebrand Chairman & CEO, Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. 2021-2022 KBA Chairman
Paddling Into
2022
There’s a poster in the Stock Yards Bank headquarters of a duck moving down a stream. Above the water, it’s calm, poised and determined - but underneath, it’s paddling as fast as it can to navigate the current.
We cannot take anything for granted. Spend time asking yourself, what can we do to be more efficient? To be more accessible? To deliver more value to our clients and communities? To be better as a bank and as an industry?
I think about that poster a lot when I reflect on the past few years and look at what’s ahead for 2022.
Ducks don’t float based on how well they paddle. They float because they are the right size to be naturally stable. If your bank is holding on to old technology or weighing itself down with out-of-date operational models, you risk going underwater.
Kentucky’s community bankers have kept a lot of businesses afloat, including their own, through the pandemic. Often, we make it look easy. We all know it hasn’t been. Every banker in this state should be proud of how we have handled the past year. As we continue to strive for improvement as an industry, we continue to put our customers first and deliver value despite adversity. And as more obstacles emerge, like wage pressure and government regulations, we must continue to see each one as an opportunity to become more efficient and improve our value to customers. While there is caution and concern for what’s to come in 2022, I am optimistic about our direction as we travel upstream together. In 2022, we’ll see the fruits of our labor. Like you, Stock Yards Bank has worked hard on developing and executing our strategic plan over the past few years to have the financial strength and ability to take on choppy waters. We’re seeing more businesses with healthy balance sheets. We’re seeing an increase in mortgage lending. And we’re seeing customers adopt digital tools for a better banking experience. This is all good news, but as an industry we can’t stop paddling. Anyone that is coasting now will lag behind soon enough. If you’re not moving your bank forward to improve your customer’s experience, improve your technology and ensure the safety and soundness of operations, the coming years will be challenging.
The adoption of digital tools has soared due to the pandemic. Banks of all sizes will benefit from this shift in how we communicate with customers. It’s exciting to be able to provide more convenience to customers to reach them in the way they prefer. Community banks need to deliver all the technology and functionality customers expect from a bank but in a personal and accessible way. The demise of the physical bank location has been talked about for years, but we still have them as a vital service delivery channel. New tools will help make us buoyant. Not every bank transaction requires a conversation. Not every customer has the time to sit down to plan their financial goals and talk through their banking needs. And that’s OK. By providing more options, we provide more value. As we continue to boost our services, we want our customers to reach us the way they choose across a number of delivery channels and conveniences - whether that’s by phone, online, ATM, ITM, or in-person in a branch. I’m thrilled to see how quickly customer-facing technology and what we use on the back end is improving our ability to support our customers. Every upgrade is a chance to serve our customers better. We believe that relationships are what sets us apart as community bankers, but building those relationships means finding paths to interact in new and adaptable ways. continued on page 10 KENTUCKY BANKER MAGAZINE | 7
