Community Bank Profitability

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Question:

How will the soft economy, together with the events transpiring since September 11th, affect the profitability and operations of community banks?

Answer:

A soft economy has never been good for community banks. In the short term, however, I'm not sure it's going to aggravate things any further. Community banks are more removed from the "megabanks" most affected by the World Trade Center disaster. Those giant banks will be more impacted by the investment banking decline as well as the airline/travel and insurance industries.

First published on BankersOnline.com 5/06/02