This BND: Strategy Room Bonus episode is an update on mortgages and housing. This clip is from the BND: Strategy Room Live Stream from 11-15-2025.

Envy is one of the seven deadly sins. Envy is defined as the intense desire to have an item or quality that someone else possesses. Envy is at the very heart of socialism. The recent creep in the U.S. toward socialism politically is very troubling. The U.S. has been here before in the 1930’s during the great depression. History has proven that socialism does not have the answers to economic problems that society seeks. Envy is a powerful vice, as is pride, greed, lust, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. In times of great economic turmoil, we all must be on guard not to be seduced by envy’s siren song. This episode examines an article from The Epoch Times (subscription required) titled “Envy: The corrosive moral rot at the heart of socialism.”

The way we dress conveys a message about how we see ourselves and others. Seeing people ‘dressed up’ is becoming increasingly rare. At the same time, the clothes we wear speak volumes about us.  In business, clothes are essential to how you appear to others. How you carry yourself, how other people view you, how seriously you are taken. In society, clothes give us many clues into the mental health of the country. This episode examines an article from The Epoch Times (subscription required) titled “Are we dressing to the lowest common denominator?”   

Due to the recent government shutdown, SNAP benefits and the American welfare state came into focus. Massive fraud in the SNAP program was unveiled. A deeper analysis shows a massive growth in the welfare state since the 1960s. It was recently announced that all SNAP recipients will have to reapply in an effort to crack down on fraud. What does the current state of the SNAP program and welfare in America really tell us about our economy, our politics, and where the U.S. is heading?  This episode covered several articles from The Epoch Times (subscription required) and Fox Business. The articles in The Epoch Times are titled “SNAP and the growth of the American welfare state” and “5,000 dead people getting SNAP, 500,000 receiving benefits twice: Rollins.” The article in Fox Business is titled “All SNAP recipients required to reapply as Trump admin cracks down on fraud: ‘business as usual is over’.”

Latest update on U.S. tariffs and trade news. 

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.

Jeffrey Epstein continues to be a problem for several banks. 

David Danielson is an investment banker and Managing Director at The Kafafian Group. During the interview we discuss factors that will boost bank M&A in 2026, what drives M&A pricing, why larger banks trade at a higher multiple, why interest ‘yield marks’ discourage deals, how big was the equity hit to AFS in 2022, and will we see another wave of bank M&A. David has more than 25 years of experience advising financial institutions on strategic growth, financial performance, and enhancing shareholder value. A link to The Kafafian Group website is included below. Link:  https://kafafiangroup.com/

Most banks across the U.S. are facing some level of margin compression. As a result, it is becoming increasingly more important to understand who your most profitable customers are and how you can boost their profitability. This episode reviews an article from Bank Director titled “Figuring out who is profitable and who is not: A banker’s guide” and a report from White Clay titled “Customer Profitability Insights.” A link to the article is included below. You can download a copy of the White Clay report through a link in the article.   Link: Figuring Out Who Is Profitable and Who Is Not: A Banker’s Guide | Bank Director

This episode provides an outlook for 2026 by covering the following topics: sustainability, M&A, supply chain, equities, debt markets, AI, commodities, and private credit markets. This is a sneak peek at what some of the major challenges, issues, and opportunities will be for 2026. This episode reviews a series of article from S&P Global (subscription required) titled “Big Picture 2026”, which focuses on various topics.

Another one of those ‘one-off’ events occurred as Blackrock wrote off its entire $150M investment in Renovo Home Partners. Another blowup in the private credit market. In addition, we check in on the ongoing lawsuits and fallout from the First Brands collapse. BDO’s role as the auditor of First Brands. Major U.S. insurers continue to gobble up private credit deals. Wall street’s reaction. Blackstone offloads a $1.8 billion investment and takes a $600 million dollar loss. This episode examines a series of articles from AInvest, The Wall Street Journal, and CNBC.  

The CRE maturity wall was created by the increase in interest rates from the Federal Reserve starting in 2022. The increase in rates caused banks to ‘extend and pretend’ hoping that the Fed would eventually bring down rates making it easier to renew and roll over existing CRE loans. This action pushed CRE maturities out to 2025 through 2027. The CRE maturity wall continues to shift with 2026 now becoming a big year. This episode reviews two articles from S&P Global (subscription required) titled “Modified loan reporting change to cloud investors’ view of bank credit quality” and “Extensions shift the CRE maturity wall, but 2026 could now be a tougher year.”

This is a clip from the BND: Strategy Room Live Stream from 11-1-2025. This clip provides an update on the Private Credit Market. Blackrock had another of those "one-off" delinquencies.

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.

How can bank board’s properly understand and implement AI? This episode looks at a blog post from PCBB which discusses the challenge for bank board’s in understanding AI and what they can do to strengthen their skills. In addition, we consider an article from Bank Director which dives into how bank board’s can develop AI algorithms to create fairness, accuracy, and appropriate risk appetite for the bank. This episode examined an article from Bank Director titled “The right questions to ask about AI in the boardroom” and a blog post from PCBB titled “How to boost your board’s AI IQ.” Links to both the article and blog post are included below. Link: The Right Questions To Ask About AI in the Boardroom | Bank Director Link: How To Boost Your Board’s AI IQ

Many Community Banks around the U.S. focus on niche lending products to grow their business and build strong relationships with their customers and communities. This episode looks at three such banks. First Guaranty Bank focuses on commercial leasing. Bell Bank focuses on nonprofit lending. Georgia Banking Company focuses on ESOP lending. Every Community Bank should focus on creating a niche for itself. This episode examined an article from Independent Banker Magazine titled “Specialty lending that strengthens communities.” A link to the article is included below. Link: Specialty Lending That Strengthens Communities

Bank investment portfolios were hit hard when the Federal Reserve increased interest rates a few years ago leading to negative AOCI and unrealized losses in their bond portfolio. Should banks sell those underwater securities to reposition their existing investments for positive income? The answer, it depends. This episode examined an article from Bank Director titled “Selling bonds at a steep loss is not always a good idea” and an article from S&P Global (subscription required) titled “Falling interest rates lift banks’ underwater bonds nearer to the surface.” A link to the Bank Director article is included below.    Link: Selling Bonds at a Steep Loss Is Not Always a Good Idea | Bank Director

Citi just rolled out their new rewards card named Strata Elite to compete with AMEX and Chase. Unfortunately, the rollout did not go according to plan as a number of customers were locked out of their accounts and have not been able to utilize the card much less realize the benefits. This episode examined an article from The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) titled “They signed up for Citi’s new premium card. It turned into a nightmare.”   

The Federal Reserve, OCC, and FDIC are all working on slimming down exam requirements for Community Banks. Some of the potential changes include regulatory actions such as “matters requiring attention,” scrapping any requirements that are not found in law or regulation, increasing the existing threshold from $10 billion to $30 billion, changing what pre-exam documentation is required, and tailoring supervision around risks from a banks business model. This episode examined an article from Bank Director titled “Community Bank exams are about to change.” A link to the article is included below. Link:  Community Bank Exams Are About To Change | Bank Director

Chad Hull, Investment Banker, with Janney Montgomery Scott returns to discuss the current bank M&A market. Chad and I discuss some of the large banking M&A transactions recently announced. We consider the pickup in M&A activity throughout 2025 and what changes are driving the uptick. Chad provides his thoughts on why the activity could be sustained into 2026. In addition, Chad talks about what regulatory and technological changes will continue to influence banking.