Bashing The Bankers

By Turney Stevens, Dean

When I was growing up here in the south, I figured out by about age ten that the three biggest houses in most any small town were those owned by the local doctor, the pastor of the Baptist church, and the president of the bank.

Doctors and Baptist preachers, while not totally without their critics, are still more or less the most prestigious people in any small community.

But bankers? Oh, my goodness...where  has all the love gone?

Maybe in small town America bankers are still welcome at the Rotary Club. But, in the big cities? Life is not so easy these days for city bankers. Bashing bankers has become America’s favorite pastime, now ranking ahead of bashing Congress and bashing TV evangelists.

It’s a shame too because we are in danger of totally losing sight of the role of the bank in a community’s economy. Big banks may have become too big but community banks still have to exist, just as they have for most of civilized history, in order for the local economy to function.

We've heard more than we care to hear about "too big to fail." We've heard that banks are just not making any loans, despite the slowly improving economy. And we've heard that because they're not loaning, the failure to create jobs is the fault of...you guessed it..bankers.

So, we decided to sit down and talk with a real banker for this week's episode of "Conversations with the Dean." Our guest is Jim Schmitz, president of Regions Bank here in Nashville.

Schmitz, a California native with a master's in communications and a wet suit he still uses occasionally when he digs out that old surf board on trips home, has taken to life in Nashville like a champ. He's gotten active in the community, he's led Regions to better financial shape, and he's put to rest the notion that all bankers have lost their heads...or their hearts.

He is very much a community banker, even though he runs a bank within a very big bank holding company.

Regions Financial, the parent, is not quite too big to fail but they are big enough to still owe the government more than $3 billion in TARP funds. Regions Bank, the subsidiary, was for many years a Nashville institution when it was First American National Bank. Regions Bank today is still among the market leaders even as it, and all banks, seek to figure out the future of an industry in transition.

Was the bailout a good or bad decision? Was it the right thing to do when banks were allowed to enter investment banking by nullifying Glass-Stegall? How are banks recovering and are they lending or not? What role will technology play in the future of a business that has always before been about personal relationships and customer service?

Jim Schmitz weighs in on these, and many more, subjects in this interview.

Big, bad bankers? Not so much. At least not Jim Schmitz.