2021 Call for Papers And Award for Top Paper Now Open

Community Banking in the 21st Century Research and Policy Conference 

2021 Call For Papers and Best Paper Award 


The call for papers for the 2021 Community Banking in the 21st Century research and policy conference is now open through June 4. 

This is the ninth year for the conference, which is sponsored by the Federal Reserve, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). The goal of the conference is to bring together leading academics, CEOs and presidents of community banks, and senior leadership from the Fed, CSBS and the FDIC. Past conference programs are available here. The conference will be hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis on September 28-29, 2021. While the hope is for at least some in-person participation in 2021, the conference will be held virtually if the evolution of the pandemic makes that option untenable. We are interested in papers that explore all topics related to community banking, and we especially welcome empirical and policy-oriented papers. Each paper selected for the conference will be considered for the award recognizing the paper making the most significant contribution to banking research. 

The conference committee seeks detailed abstracts or papers that explore all aspects of community banking; including, but not limited to: 

The role of community banks in the U.S. financial system

  • the effects of the COVID-19 crisis and the associated policy response on community banks
  • provision of financial services to households, small businesses and small farms 
  • impact of community banks on local/state economic activity Advantages and disadvantages of the community bank business model 
  • bank consolidation
  • benefits of local knowledge and strong relationships
  • costs of operating at a small scale 
  • funding and liquidity 

The effects of government policy on community banks 

  • quantifying regulatory and compliance costs 
  • intended and unintended effects of regulatory requirements
  • antitrust policy and community banks

Challenges and opportunities faced by community banks

  • the role of technology in community banks’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic 
  • responding to the effects of climate change
  • competition from large banks, credit unions, and nonbanks, including financial technology firms 
  • keeping up with rapid technological advances 
  • operational risks 
  • collaborations/partnerships with financial technology firms 

The deadline to submit a detailed abstract or completed paper is by end of day on Friday, June 4, 2021. Submissions should be e-mailed to: conference@communitybanking.org. Authors of accepted papers will be notified by Friday, July 23, 2021.