Pub. 2 2013 Issue 9

l e a d i n g a d v o c a t e f o r t h e b a n k i n g i n d u s t r y i n k a n s a s 10 T HE 2013 ECONOMIC OUTLOOK & Investment Conference was held at the Wichita DoubleTree Hotel on November 6th. Following the opening remarks by KBA Chairman Leonard Wolfe, the day was filled with three keynote speakers and eight breakout sessions. The well attended conference demonstrated the rapid changes and thirst for updated information within the industry. Chris Low, Chief Economist with FTN Financial highlighted factors impacting the slowly growing U.S economy, which is expected to yield GDP growth below the 2% level for the final two quarters of 2013. Low cited numerous factors impacting economic growth including tax increases and spending cuts at the state and federal level, as well as little progress on reducing unemployment numbers nationwide. Low closed by stating that over the short-term he expects modest GDP growth and market volatility caused by the Federal Reserve’s tapering of Quantitative Easing (QE). Long term; Low predicted slowly rising interest rates as the deleveraging of household and government debt continues. Dr. Tom Parliment, Chairman and CEO of Parliment Consulting Services, discussed a different method of loan pricing to help community banks compete with the big regional banks. It involves originating high credit quality mortgages priced as investment surrogates, with the key being pricing the duration of the actual cash flows of the loans instead of pricing the term of the loan. He reviewed methods for analyzing loan pricing in a way similar to analyzing a potential bond investment. He also reviewed methods for estimating current expected credit loss using migration analysis. Part of this discussion involved the implications for the bank’s allowance for loan and lease losses and keeping the ALLL at a level with which the regulators are comfortable. Following eight concurrent session, the day came to a close with a presentation titled “2013 - AYear in Transition”. In his usual no-nonsense style, Don Musso, FinPro Consultants, provided conference attendees strategies to address numerous challenges facing the banking industry. He identified several areas that bankers should address to insure growth and profitability, including building shareholder value and identifying and serving your customers. Finally, he shared his unique insights into the present and future regulatory environments and how they could impact the banking industry going forward. THANK YOU to our Sponsors: GOLD Level Sponsors Country Club Bank Performance Trust Capital Partners First Bankers’ Banc Securities, Inc UMB SILVER Sponsors INTRUST Bank Central States Capital Markets Schools of Banking BRONZE Sponsors BOSC, Inc. FTN Financial Graduate School of Banking, Madison Commerce Bank Sterne Agee KBA ECONOMIC OUTLOOK & INVESTMENT CONFERENCE