2021 Community Banking Virtual Conference Starts Today
Attendees from around the world will participate in the two-day Community Banking in the 21st Century research and policy conference, which will begins today at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. The conference is being held virtually and will be livestreamed via the conference website's homepage. Today's sessions end at 4 p.m. Tomorrow's sessions will also be held from 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. ET. This is the ninth year of the conference, co-sponsored by the Federal Reserve System, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC).
A brief look at each day's sessions:
Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021
The first afternoon will start with the release and the discussion of the 2021 CSBS National Survey of Community Banks, following by opening keynote remarks from Federal Reserve Gov. Michelle Bowman.
The conference’s first research paper discussions will then be held concurrently, with Research Paper Session 1 focusing on the topic of "Paycheck Protection Program Lending" and Research Paper Session 2 focusing on "Credit Provision to Marginalized Borrowers."
As always, each research session will not only feature authors of the papers and an academic moderator, but a community banker discussant as well.
Following the first research paper session, FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams will give keynote remarks.
Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021
The second afternoon of the conference will begin with this year’s community banker keynote speech, featuring Darrin Williams, CEO of Southern Bancorp, Inc., Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
Following Williams will be a presentation by a student team from the University of Tennessee at Martin, the winners of the 2021 CSBS Case Study Competition. The team's paper is available to read via the CSBS website.
The conference’s second round of concurrent research paper discussions will then be held, with Research Paper Session 3 focusing on the "Unintended Effects of Oversight" and Research Paper Session 4 focusing on "The Effect of Bank Supervision on Credit Allocation."
The conference will wrap up with a panel discussion on "The Future of Commercial Real Estate," with John Buran, president and CEO, Flushing Bank, Uniondale, New York; Robert DiChiara, regional manager, Division of Insurance and Research, FDIC; Jim Edwards, CEO, United Bank, Griffin, Georgia and Joanne Kim, president and CEO, Commonwealth Business Bank, Los Angeles, California. Brian Sullivan of the FDIC's Office of Communications and host of the FDIC Podcast, will moderate the discussion.
More details - including all speakers, bios and exact session times - can be found on via the conference agenda.
Questions? Please e-mail conference@communitybanking.org.
If you are unable to join the livestream, the video of the entire conference will be posted on the conference website at a later date.