Tag: President’s Message

October 15, 2020

President’s Message

Steve-Fleming-Presidents-Message

I hope you and your loved ones are doing well, notwithstanding the pandemic and economic downturn. As you all know, this has been an extraordinary year, and there is still more to go. COVID-19 has had a very uneven impact on industries and individuals – we see it in our conversations with our clients and review of their financial statements. Some companies and people are far more negatively impacted than others. Of course, none of us has a crystal ball, but I choose to remain optimistic about the future and, thus, am expecting continued improvement in public health and the economy in 2021.

Being realistic about the economic and public health environment, we all have to make strategic and day-to-day decisions which are best for our businesses. Please know that the team at River City Bank remains committed to providing you with exceptional service. Our office staff has been amazingly effective in making the transition from working in our offices to working from their homes. Our courageous branch staff has not missed a beat in providing great customer experiences while being on the front line in terms of exposure to COVID-19.

Perhaps you are expecting pearls of wisdom about the economy, interest rates, and banking from me. I’m not sure that you have ever gotten that in this column, and you certainly won’t this time. Rather, working from home over the past six months has allowed me the luxury of reading more books than I typically would. While we all have different preferences for our reading, you might want to give one or two of these books a try as I enjoyed and took something from them all:

Red Notice by Bill Browder
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
Dark Towers by David Enrich
The Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Iger
The Match by Mark Frost
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

Hope to see you soon.

June 8, 2020

President’s Message

Head shot of Steve Fleming River City Bank President

Suffice to say, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our lives in 2020 in ways that most of us could never have imagined. Many segments of the business world have literally been shut down now for several months. While the economy has started to reopen, it is clear that many businesses will not return to pre-COVID revenue levels for quite a while, if ever. Consumer behavior reflects a great deal of anxiety about the health risks associated with COVID-19, and folks are going to be reluctant to fly in airplanes, stay in hotels, eat in restaurants, and visit shops until they feel safer. There are a few bright spots, though, as demand has soared for home improvement items, recreational vehicles, pool supplies, cleaning supplies, and groceries, amongst others.

Having started my banking career in 1980, this economic downturn will mark the 6th recession I’ve experienced. We are always faced with unknown questions at the time the economy turns down about the depth and length of the recessions.  However, what makes the current fact set particularly unique and difficult to forecast is that the trigger is a public health crisis. As a consequence, we have a double dose of uncertainty – i.e. will a relaxation of the shelter-in-place restrictions result in a resurgence of the virus, how long will we go without a vaccine, will the virus slow its spread in the hot summer weather and then rage again in the fall? It is impossible to project the outlook for the economy without first addressing the above questions about the Coronavirus. If we define risk by the uncertainty of the outcome, we are in a period of great risk.

Relationships in business matter, and during times of stress and uncertainty, they matter the most. For us at River City Bank, that recently meant taking care of our customers’ applications for funding under the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”). I’m extremely proud of my colleagues’ performance since Congress announced the PPP on March 27. Thus far, we have processed almost $300 million in loans for 700 borrowers; all RCB applicants received their funding.

None of us knows for sure what the future will bring. As people who own and operate businesses, our job is to focus on the things that we can control and manage the risks, as best we can, around the unknown. Please let me or your relationship manager know if we can help you navigate through this challenging period.

October 15, 2018

President’s Message

Head shot of Steve Fleming River City Bank President

My ten year anniversary at River City Bank just passed last month. I will readily admit that most of you probably don’t care too much about my work history – and rightly so, as there are far more important things to think about in all of your lives.  Still, I don’t want to let the milestone go by without making a few comments.

You will all recall that September 2008 was a unique time in our financial history as the financial crisis and Great Recession were hitting in full force. Serious questions were being raised about the health of our financial system and even the capitalist model. Since mid-2008, the number of commercial banks in the US has shrunk a whopping 46% from 7,100 to 4,850 today.  While I expect this consolidation trend to continue in the industry, with the largest banks getting more and more market share, it is worth noting that RCB’s assets grew 150% over this period!

What explains RCB’s growth over this period?  Very simple: having a great team of employees and excellent customers. The quality of all banks is defined by their customers. The best customers tend to be very successful people and businesses, as these customers are constantly growing their deposits at the bank and always paying back their loans on a timely basis. As such, I want to say “thank you” to our customers as you are what makes RCB so successful.

Of course, we all know that people have lots of choices when it comes to selecting a bank. Even with the industry consolidation noted above, there are still tons of banks to choose from. There is no “secret sauce” which differentiates one bank from another. At the end of the day, the key differentiator is the customer experience and that is dictated by the quality of the bank’s staff. Suffice to say, I am privileged to work on a daily basis with a highly talented, hard-working, and experienced group of bankers.

Thanks to the great customers and my colleagues at the bank. I respect all that you do and look forward to another great 10 years of serving and working with you.

See you soon.