IBAT News

A crowd of more than six hundred, composed of IBAT members and their families, were on hand last week for the 28th Annual IBAT Leadership Conference at the Horseshoe Bay Marriott. The Marriott was abuzz with Duck fever, as attendees flocked to hear Jase Robertson, star of A&E's Duck Dynasty. Other highlights of the conference included:

• A regulatory panel with staff from the Texas Department of Banking, including Commissioner Charles Cooper;
• Insight into non-traditional marketing with Andy Slipher of Slipher Marketing;
• Lessons on success and failure from Dr. Jeff Hester of the Hubble Telescope project; and
• Do you know Credit? Beyond the numbers: How FICO Credit Scoring Really Works from Eddie Johansson

The conference was capped off by a performance from Texas Country artist Bruce Robison and a planning breakfast for leaders in each of the IBAT Leadership Division regions to plan the year ahead.  Many thanks to all who participated in the Conference. Pictures from the event are now available to view online. Click here to see IBAT's Money Camp kids in action.

Save the date for next year's conference: June 26-28, 2014 at the JW Marriott Hotel in San Antonio.

Summertime, and the livin' is easy. In fact, the livin' is so easy that the National Federation of Independent Business, a non-profit organization, announced this week that their Small Business Optimism Index rose unexpectedly to 94.4 from its previous 92.1. Nobody saw that coming. Well, maybe the NSA saw that coming. Tuesday also brought the first of three disappointing Treasury auctions that reminded us that the optimism enjoyed by small businessmen is not necessarily shared by all. The sales of three, ten, and thirty year issues all suffered from lukewarm investor demand as evidenced by sharply lower bid-to-cover ratios; a measurement that compares the number of bidders who want bonds to the number of bidders who get bonds. While all three auctions resulted in significantly higher yields than last month's sales, the Benchmark Ten year backed up the most with a 2.21% result in June compared to May's 1.81% outcome... Read more in the Baker Market Update.

Texas Students in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Lubbock and San Antonio Created Artistic Visions of Financial Literacy with “Saving for Success” Theme

DALLAS– June 5, 2013 – Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) and PlainsCapital Bank announced winners of the 2013 Financial Literacy Poster Contest, which challenged students to illustrate financial literacy and this year’s theme of “Saving for Success.” The winners were chosen from more than 890 entries submitted by students across Texas, ranging from kindergarten through 12^th grade.

Representatives from CCCS and PlainsCapital Bank presented students with prize money and recognition certificates at their schools in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Lubbock and San Antonio. Student winners and their corresponding teachers will each be awarded $100. Runners-up and their teachers will each win $50. In addition, Todd Mark, vice president of education for CCCS, taught a “Kids and Money” class focusing on important financial literacy lessons for the entire family at many of the award ceremonies.

“We were amazed at the participation and level of creativity provided by students to illustrate the ‘Saving for Success’ theme,” said Todd Mark. “CCCS is thankful that our partner, PlainsCapital Bank, has worked with us for two years to get students excited about financial literacy and smart money management. It is so important for students to have a strong foundation when it comes to making smart money decisions and we believe the poster contest gets students started in the right direction.”

CCCS and PlainsCapital Bank partnered for the second year to host the student poster contest and the winners are:

Austin:

• Sriya Mechineni, 4^th grade, Barton Creek Elementary

Greater Dallas:

• Hannah Sears, 10^th grade, Frisco ISD Career and Technical Education Center
• Camille Murray, 9^th grade, Prince of Peace Christian School
• Esmeralda Garcia, 8^th grade, E.D. Walker Middle School
• Jennifer Saucedo, 8^th grade, Jubilee Park & Community Center (runner-up)
• Julian Lopez, 5^th grade, Jubilee Park & Community Center
• Jade Radford, 4^th grade, Isbell Elementary
• Sarah Boutouis, 3^rd grade, Isbell Elementary (runner-up)

Fort Worth:

• Julio Joel Alvarez Avila, 12^th grade, Polytechnic High School
• Katelyn Aguilar, 7^th grade, Daggett Middle School

Lubbock:

• Kaci Dobbs, 11^th grade, Coronado High School
• Hiroyo Masuda, 11^th grade, Coronado High School
• Daniela Lopez, 3^rd grade, McWhorter Elementary

San Antonio:

• Nicholas Martinez, 7^th grade, San Antonio Youth Association
• Legacy Lopez, 5^th grade, San Antonio Youth Association
• Priscilla Lumbreras, 5^th grade, San Antonio Youth Association

“It has been such a pleasure to sponsor this exciting poster contest and we are thrilled to see the number of creative posters from students across Texas,” said Pete Villareal, chief administrative officer for PlainsCapital Bank. “We know that smart money management education is critical to success as an adult and we hope that participating in the poster contest will jump start students thinking about financial literacy in a fun way.”

Photographs from the award presentations, as well as copies of the winning posters, are available upon request. Please contact Ginger Greenberg at ggreenberg@cccs.net

About CCCS of Greater Dallas

Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Dallas, Inc. is a nonprofit, community-based credit counseling and debt management service. Established in 1974, CCCS of Greater Dallas and its affiliate offices provide financial education and counseling to consumers in-person, by phone, or Internet at 15 locations in four states. CCCS of Greater Dallas is a HUD-approved housing counseling multi-state organization and serves as one of seven counseling agencies supporting the 888-995-HOPE Hotline. The agency is also a member of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), the nation’s largest and longest serving national nonprofit credit counseling network. CCCS of Greater Dallas is a service partner of United Way of Metropolitan Dallas. To learn more about CCCS of Greater Dallas’ free seminars or the agency’s services, call 800-249-2227, visit www.cccs.net or become a fan of CCCS of Greater Dallas on Facebook to receive updates on agency events and offerings.

About PlainsCapital Bank

Dallas-based PlainsCapital Bank has the strength and stability of $6.6 billion in assets¹, operates 34 Texas branches and has more than 670 employees providing highly personalized relationship banking through a single point of contact. Offering commercial lending, treasury management, small business banking, private banking, and trust and wealth management services, PlainsCapital Bank empowers responsive, local decision making in each of its major markets: Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Lubbock and San Antonio. PlainsCapital Bank is part of the PlainsCapital Corporation family of companies. PlainsCapital Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hilltop Holdings (NYSE:HTH). Find more information at PlainsCapital.com.

Source: ¹December 31, 2012 Call Report for PlainsCapital Bank

IBAT will provide a thorough review of the 83rd Texas Legislative Session on June 25, 2013 from 3:00-4:30 p.m. The webinar will be conducted by Karen Neeley and Steve Scurlock and is FREE of charge. A recording will be available after the fact, for future reference.

Additionally, our post-session white paper should be ready for distribution electronically prior to the program date.  

We hope you plan to join us for an informative discussion on issues impacting the community banking industry. Click here to register for the webinar.

Employees of Texas First Bank in Texas City joined efforts to assist victims of the West fertilizer plant explosion in April, adding more than $11,000 to the Texas Bankers Disaster Relief Fund.  

The contributions of Texas First Bank employees will be added to the $143,533 presented to Charles Nemec, President and Chief Executive Officer of POINTWEST Bank, and Dalbert Thiele, President of The State National Bank at a presentation in West on May 31.

"After recent hurricanes, Texas First employees have been all-too-well associated with disaster," said President and CEO Chris Doyle, "we hope in a small way this helps in the healing process for West."

Like fidgety schoolchildren anxiously awaiting the start of summer vacation, market participants spent [last] week in nervous anticipation of [Friday] morning's jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Well, fidget no more. In fact, a yawn might be more in order.

With the Labor Force Participation Rate nudging itself upward to 63.4% from 63.3%, the Unemployment Rate ticked up a tenth to 7.6% even though Non-Farm Payrolls rose by 175k, slightly beating market expectations. Last month’s initially reported gain of 165k was, on second thought, only 149k as those results were downwardly revised. Despite the increase in payrolls, there was no commensurate increase in pay as Average Hourly Earnings were reported unchanged for the month... Read more in the Baker Market Update.