After Surviving 2020, The Future Looks Bright For Community Banks In 2021

The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.
Community banks play an important role in many small communities, acting as a source of capital for small, local businesses. In the early days of the pandemic, community banks provided a lot of much-needed aid during the initial rollout of the Payment Protection Program. During this time, community banks provided a vast majority of PPP loans to small businesses. 

However, even though community banks provided a great deal of aid, many were uncertain as to whether community banks would survive the pandemic. 

According to Tim Melvin, author of the Community Bank Investor Newsletter and Banking On Profit, the number of loans in deferral and forbearance programs in the early days of COVID-19 was enough to have crashed the banking system. 

“Had the Fed and Congress not acted as quickly as they did early in the pandemic, we would have seen a disaster in the banking system on the scale of the 1930s,” Melvin told Benzinga.

However, early action from the Fed and Congress seems to have been a saving grace for the sector.

“As we move into 2021, community banks have plenty of capital, credit conditions are better than we could have hoped, and the future looks pretty bright,” Melvin said.

For investors focused on community banks, additional light on the sector will be shed at the upcoming Community Bank Conference, a Virtual Investor Conference hosted by OTC Markets Group. The two-day conference starting on Wednesday, March 10, will feature presentations from C-suite executives representing 16 different community banks.

Below is the schedule for the conference. Each presentation will cover updates on latest financials and will be followed by a live Q&A session with attendees.

To register for Wednesday’s conference, click here.

Wednesday, March 10th 

9:15 AM ET Janney Montgomery Scott

Keynote Presentation: Community Bank Valuations – amidst headwinds, what does the future path look like?

Speakers: Matthew Veneri, Head of Investment Banking and Dan Flaherty, Managing Director, Investment Banking

10:00 AM ET Royal Financial, Inc. RYFL
Speaker: Leonard Szwajkowski, President & CEO

10:30 AM ET Private Bancorp of America, Inc. PBAM
Speakers: Rick Sowers, President & CEO, and Richard Pimentel, EVP & CFO

11:00 AM ET Victory Bancorp Inc. VTYB
Speaker: Joe Major, Bank Leader

11:30 AM ET Suncrest Bank SBKK
Speakers: Ciaran McMullan, President & CEO, and Peter Nutz, Chief Credit Officer

12:00 PM ET White River Bancshares Company WRIV
Speaker Information to Come

12:30 PM ET Freedom Bank of Virginia FDVA
Speakers: Joe Thomas, President & CEO, and Raj Mehra, EVP & Chief Financial Officer

1:00 PM ET Mountain Commerce Bancorp, Inc. MCBI
Speakers: William (“Bill”) E. Edwards - Founder, Vice Chairman, President & CEO, Kevin W. Horne - Chief Credit Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and David A. Bright, CPA - Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

1:30 PM ET Communities First Financial Corp. CFST
Speakers: Steve Miller, President & CEO

2:00 PM ET Eagle Financial Services Inc. EFSI
Speaker Information to Come

Thursday, March 11th

10:00 AM ET Alpine Banks of Colorado ALPIB
Speakers: Tom Kenning, Chief Administration Officer, and Eric Gardey, Chief Financial Officer

10:30 AM ET Kish Bancorp, Inc. KISB
Speakers: William P. Hayes, Chairman & CEO, Gregory T. Hayes, President & COO, and Mark J. Cvrkel, EVP, CFO & Treasurer

11:00 AM ET BankFirst Capital Corp. BFCC
Speakers: Moak Griffin, Chief Executive Officer, President, and Luke Yeatman, Executive Vice President

11:30 AM ET First Resource Bank FRSB
Glenn B. Marshall, President & CEO

12:00 PM ET Community Bancorp, Inc. CMTV
Speakers: Kathryn M. Austin, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Louise Bonvechio, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Community National Bank Treasurer and Corporate Secretary

12:30 PM ET InsCorp, Inc. IBTN
Speakers: Jim Rieniets, President & CEO, and Mark Bruchas, Executive Vice President & CFO

1:00 PM ET First Home Bancorp, Inc. FHBI
Speaker Information to Come

Photo by Etienne Martin on Unsplash

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.