The Banker Next Door (BND) weekly live stream show. Strategy Room provides financial news, commentary, top stories in the business world, economic indicators, and all things banking for the week.

Warren Buffett has stepped down as CEO at Berkshire Hathaway after a six-decade run. Warren will remain Chairman, but he has turned over all day-to-day operations to Greg Abel. There will never be another Warren Buffett. The return generated by Berkshire from 1964 to 2024 was nothing short of insane. During this period the compound annual gain was 19.9%, nearly double the S&P 500’s return of 10.4%, this resulted in an overall return of more than 5.5 million percent! In the mid-1960s Berkshire shares traded around $19 by the end of 2025, a single class A share was worth over $750,000! Warren believes that Berkshire is being left in great hands and can last another 100 years. One of the biggest questions for the new CEO is how he will invest the massive $358 billion cash pile on Berkshire’s balance sheet. This episode reviewed three articles from The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

There is a boom in dealmaking right now in the wealth management business, this is due to private equity firms buying up smaller firms. Private equity is also focused on other industries including veterinarians and dentists. However, private equity is dealing with a few issues going into 2026. First, they are sitting on a large pile of cash, approximately $880 billion. Second, the average holding period is still pushing up against their industry high at 7 years. Third, the number of companies sitting in private equity portfolios is at 15 years high of approximately 12,900. The industry is hoping that M&A and IPOs pick up in 2026, which will help pick up activity and reduce all these issues. This episode reviewed two articles from The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).  

This is part 32 of the crypto series. In this episode we cover FASB weighing whether some stablecoins may qualify as cash equivalents in 2026. JPMorgan is getting further into crypto with a tokenized money fund called My OnChain Net Yield Fund or “MONY”. The fund will only be opened to qualified investors with at least $5 million in investments. Crypto investors were loving most of 2025 as the President embraced crypto, there was a shift in tone from regulators, congress passes crypto regulation, but then the end of the year came. Crypto slumped across the finish line with a negative return for the year. Finally, a north Korean banker runs afoul of the FBI with crypto dealings. The article lays out how he ran his operation and laundered millions. This episode reviewed multiple articles from The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).  

Heading into Monday December 29th silver futures witnessed one of the largest plunges it has seen in 5 years. This plunge came on the heels of silver futures making a massive run up to over $80 an ounce. A wild story began to circulate about one of the largest banks in the country receiving a margin call so large that it was going to wipe out all its liquidity. This story turned out to be false… mostly but not entirely. No bank failed. However, JPMorgan did change their trading position, going long in silver futures and the CME group raised its precious metals margins TWICE in one week. Silver and Gold both experienced record years in 2025, but are we in store for more craziness in 2026? This episode examined various articles and charts from CNBC, The Epoch Times, and USAGOLD.   

On December 31, 2025, the Federal Reserve made a massive $74.6B securities purchase in the REPO market. This also coincided with mortgage-based securities purchases, treasury securities purchases, a surge in SOFR volume, and an increase in the Fed’s balance sheet. The big question here is this a sign of major market liquidity issues or just year end window dressing? This episode examines various charts from the St. Louis Federal Reserve FRED database.  

What makes a mobile banking app something that customers get excited about? This episode looks at five capabilities that a bank should consider 1) simple & seamless design, 2) real-time alerts, 3) predictive insights, 4) hyper-personalization, and 5) easy customer service. According to McKinsey, mobile banking leaders generate 51% more annual touchpoints and 2.3x as many customer interactions. The Bank of America mobile app is used as an example of an excellent app. This episode reviews a blog post from PCBB titled “The best banking apps increase customer touchpoints by 51%.” A link to the blog post is included below. Link: The Best Banking Apps Increase Customer Touchpoints by 51%

As Tricolor Holdings’ executives have been charged with ‘systemic fraud’, auto lending continues to deteriorate, and bank regulators are vowing to take a closer look at NDFI’s.  U.S. prosecutors in Manhattan unsealed indictments against founder and CEO Daniel Chu and Chief Operating Officer David Goodgame. The charges accuse the two executives of orchestrating a series of fraudulent schemes that allowed Tricolor Holdings to obtain billions of dollars from lenders by misrepresenting the value of its loan collateral. Bank auto loan delinquency increased to 2.9%, Credit Union auto loan delinquency increased to 2.5%. This episode reviewed a series of articles from CNBC and S&P Global (subscription required).   

Happy New Year! What were the 10 top BND episodes for 2025? What was the most viewed interview for 2025? What was the most watched playlist for 2025? This episode reviews the best of BND for 2025 and looks at what is to come in 2026. Looking to expand Strategy Room in 2026. Live stream specials are coming. More interviews are coming. More special series are coming. To all my followers and listeners, thank you so much for the support and for making 2025 a phenomenal year! On to 2026!    

2025 was a wild year in banking! With all the changes that came this year, it begs the question are we at the precipice of a new era? This episode considers some of the biggest stories of 2025 and reviews major trends that affected the industry. Some of these trends include interest rates, margin pressure, regulatory shifts, M&A, strategic partnerships, digital transformation, payments innovation, cybersecurity, and data privacy. This episode reviewed two blog posts from PCBB titled “2025 in review Parts 1 and 2.” Links to both blog posts are included below.   Link: 2025 in Review: Part 1 of 2 — An Evolving Market Link: 2025 in Review: Part 2 of 2 — Technology & Payments

The U.S. labor market went on a very interesting ride in 2025. This episode reviews many of the main headlines which included more Americans find only part-time work, future of ‘low hire, low fire’ US labor stasis wobbles amid mixed signals, AI eliminating entry-level tech jobs, high unemployment for younger workers, labor force participation for youngest male U.S. workers plummets, soaring number of Americans face long-term joblessness, job growth concentration in health and hospitality, U.S. labor force participation drops to lowest level since 2022, and slowdown in U.S. job market could lower inflation. This episode reviewed three articles from S&P Global (subscription required).  

Bank M&A activity cooled down in the fourth quarter of 2025. Still 2025 has generated 165 bank M&A transactions year to date. This is the largest number of bank M&A transactions since 2021. Not only that, total deal value, assets sold, deposits sold, and median deal value-to-tangible common equity were also the best since 2021. One of the interesting changes at year end is the seeming reluctance in a number of banks to engage in further M&A activity. This includes Wells Fargo, KeyCorp, PNC, Truist, and Huntington. Finally, we consider whether bank stocks are divorcing from bank fundamentals. This episode reviews a series of articles from the Business Journals (subscription required), Banking Dive, and S&P Global (subscription required).  

How is commercial real estate (CRE) performing at year end 2025? We take a look at CRE reserves, delinquencies, and how some banks are feeling about their CRE portfolio. Overall, reserves for loan loss allowances are holding steady. CRE loan delinquencies have decreased for 2 consecutive quarters. M&T Bank is feeling pretty good about having a little CRE growth in 2025, while PNC still sees a little contraction ahead. This episode reviewed three articles from S&P Global (subscription required).

The number of U.S. banks closing branches has hit a 14-year low according to research from S&P Global. The number of bank branches being closed is still outpacing new branches being opened, but the margin has been shrinking over the last 4 years. While many banks are right sizing their footprints, there are some banks that are opening new branches such as PNC and JPMorgan. This episode reviews an article from S&P Global (subscription required) titled “Branch closures hit 14-year low as banks slow closing, execute building sprees.”

On this day, when we celebrate the birth of the King of Kings, I would like to share three parables from the gospel of Luke about the plight of the rich. These include the rich fool, the rich man and Lazarus, and the rich official. “For to us a child is born, and he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace.” – Isaiah 9:6  

Over 20+ health care groups from all over the country have joined with a large number of plaintiffs in a lawsuit against every major health insurance company in America. The lawsuit alleges that the health insurance companies used software from a company named Claritev to create a price-fixing environment that allowed them to siphon billions of dollars from care providers and their patients. The stakes could not be higher for the health insurance companies as they could stand to lose billions and see major changes to how out-of-network care is priced and reimbursed for patients and private insurance.  This episode examines an article from The Business Journals (subscription required) titled “Philadelphia-area physician groups join massive suit alleging price fixing by ‘mafia enforcer’ for major insurers.”  

Mosaic, a French high-speed trading firm, recently complained to Eurex and European regulators about other high-speed trading firms using a method in which they bombard an exchange with ‘useless data.’ This maneuver buys them just enough time to react fractionally faster to market-moving information. This move is apparently making certain high-speed firms a lot of money. This episode reviews as article from The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) titled “High-speed traders are feuding over a way to save 3.2 billionths of a second.”  

When President Trump declared ‘liberation day’ back in April economists were quick to predict that increased tariffs would ‘wreck the economy’ leading to a recession, increased inflation, and increased unemployment. Eight months later, tariff revenue is flowing in, GDP is strong, inflation has held steady, and the employment market is okay. The world has not ended. Why did economists get it so wrong? This episode reviews an article from The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) titled “Why everyone got Trump’s tariffs wrong.” This article examines the predictions made on employment, prices, tariff revenue, economic growth, manufacturing, and trade balance.

The Banker Next Door (BND) weekly live stream show. Strategy Room provides financial news, commentary, top stories in the business world, economic indicators, and all things banking for the week.

This is part 31 of the crypto series. Do Kwon the founder and CEO of Terra Labs, which operated TerraUSD and Luna stablecoins, was found guilty and sentenced to 15-years in prison. The collapse of TerraUSD and Luna coins led to losses of approximately $40 billion dollars, and some believe was the impetus for the Crypto Winter of 2022. Crypto’s biggest players including Michael Saylor and Changpeng Zhao flew over to Abu Dhabi to woo potential Emirati investors for the crypto industry. Finally, the FDIC proposed a stablecoin application process for banks. This episode reviewed articles from The Wall Street Journal and S&P Global (subscriptions required).