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MICHAEL DUNNE: I'm Michael Dunne. It's impossible to not notice huge national banks in every community, they advertise incessantly. They have ATMs on nearly every block, and they're often sponsors of massive events and arenas. But for many smaller businesses and nonprofits a solution to their financial needs might be better served from a banker who's around the corner instead of across the country. Today on the show, you'll meet leaders of community banks located right here in Lane County and learn how they differ from the big banks and how they're working to help their local clients weather the confusing economic landscape we currently find ourselves in, just like with your doctor or lawyer, having a personal relationship with a banker who lives in the same city as you can often be a huge benefit. Jenny Bennett, market president for Summit Bank. Ron Green, president and chief executive officer for Oregon Pacific Bank and Scott Bruun, the President and CEO of the Oregon Bankers Association. Welcome to you all.
ALL: Thank you. Great to be here.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Congratulations. I understand it's community banking month here in October, and so I'm going to start with that. Now. I'll start with you, Ron, you know, for our listeners, could you give us a good, good definition of what a community bank is?
RON GREEN: Absolutely Well, I mean, Community Banking certainly represent. It represents a local organization. We are typically smaller banks, but we are highly committed and concentrated to a handful of local communities. Okay? And the big differentiator would be the fact that those that run operate the bank, they'll make decisions live in the community where the banks operate. So we have a high investment of dollars of time and reputation, and we want to assure that the community and ourselves has mutual success.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Jenny, you know, maybe you could sort of flesh out, sort of, what does a community bank? What does it do? What can it do that perhaps, maybe a national bank can't?
JENNY BENNETT: I think community banks are really all about the relationship. People aren't numbers. You know, we know you and as Ron said, you know earlier that, you know, helps just with expedited turnaround, you know, for different kinds of requests. But we're like any other bank, we make loans and we take deposits.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Scott, I'm going to go to you, and Scott is joining us from zoom, and just sort of a general question about looking out at the overall sort of banking landscape in Oregon, how are things going, and perhaps, what are some of the challenges, and what are some of the, you know, reasons for optimism, as you see it from your desk up there in Salem?
SCOTT BRUUN: Great question. I'll take it from two perspectives. One is banks specifically, we have, depending on how you slice and dice it, probably 34 to 35 banks that operate in Oregon. Those are banks that take deposits. Of those, about 2425 would kind of fall into that community bank category. Again, there's some definition issues there, depending on how big and their markets. And then of those, 2425 community banks that operate in Oregon. About 14 are Oregon headquartered banks, and so all of these provide valuable services. And as Ron and Jenny have both said, you know, community banks do a tremendous job of integrating in their communities. Of you know the people that you are banking with, as are your neighbors. You know them. They know you. It's a real partnership sort of sort of situation, which is fantastic. So, the bank themselves are actually pretty darn healthy. You know, banks are heavily regulated, probably the most heavily regulated industry in the world. They go through that probably feels to them like constant examinations, both from the state side and the federal side. And of course, every time there's an examination from a regulator, they're checking to see the health and strength of the bank. So, the banking sector in Oregon is strong. The challenge in Oregon is Oregon's larger business climate. So, banks, you know, when you look at kind of from a 30,000-foot level, banks can only ultimately be as successful as their clients and their customers are and we could spend a lot of time talking about it, but there are significant business climate headwinds in the state of Oregon. We're one of the highest tax states in the nation. We're one of the most heavily regulated states in the nation, and for too long, a lot of our policy leaders have been indifferent towards the plight of business. So that's the downside. The upside is people are finally realizing. That it's taken a long time. But finally, I think people in the Portland area, throughout the state, are becoming increasingly aware not only of the business climate challenge, but the specifics about it, and are starting to put some things on the table to fix that. And that makes me optimistic.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Scott, I'm going to stay with you for a second there, because I'm wondering, I know your association. You do a lot for local banks, but you're also, you also speak with the legislature and advocate on behalf of that. Maybe talk a little bit about the advocacy work that the Oregon Bankers Association does with regard to what you just talked about, with regard to regulation, specifically, perhaps, about how it fits in with the overall strategy for keeping community banks healthy?
SCOTT BRUUN: Absolutely, yeah, I would say, you know, and as hopefully Ron and Jenny could both attest, the Oregon Bankers Association does a variety of things, a variety of services for our banks and our bankers, all designed to make them, you know, healthy, safe, educated, all those sorts of things to help them do their job. That's what we do. That's why they pay us. Probably among the suite of things that we do advocacy is absolutely the most important thing, and it's both in it's both at the local and the state level, as well as the as the as the as the federal level. The biggest challenge again, it gets back to the point I just made, our association has long been involved. I mean, as would make sense, as long as we've been in existence, we have long been involved with advocating for specific bank interests, and we will continue to do that. I mean, our bread and butter are our banks and our bankers, and we will fight, and that's the number one priority for everything we do, is to make sure that the statutory and regulatory environment, as well as the mindset in the state of Oregon is as strong as it can possibly be for banks, because that the banks are what served Oregonians, and so that's critically important. But again, getting to the larger business climate question, again, banks can only ultimately be as successful as their clients, we have decided it has been, it wasn't a, it wasn't a, you know, on or off sort of switch. But we have in the last year or so been steering much more toward addressing larger business climate issues, and so we are in areas where, frankly, we haven't been in the past. I'll be a couple of examples are estate taxes and general business taxation, sort of the general regulatory framework that affects bank customers. All those sorts of things are things that employment law. All of these things are things that we have engaged in much more heavily, not over our skis, because we haven't grown personnel. We just have to be smart in how we slice and dice everything. One of the challenges, and I'm sorry for drawing on here, but one of the challenges that community banks have is, and it's a long-standing challenge, but we're finally getting some attention to it, is an unfair competition with credit unions. Credit unions were established a long time ago to serve kind of lower income communities, and actually came out during the Depression. They still operate largely under the state same mandate that they had, you know, almost 100 years ago, yet they are competing in every single way with banks on the on the consumer side, on the commercial side, on the commercial real estate side. Yet they don't have the same rules, and they certainly don't pay taxes like banks do. So that's a real challenge for banks that we are, we have been, will continue to work on.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I'm going to go to my two bankers here in studio, because it's kind of the same question. But I want to hear about it from your neck of the woods, Lane County, in the areas you serve. So, I'll go to Jenny first, you know, talk about that. How do you see this overall climate going and what are those challenges, but also areas of opportunity and optimism?
JENNY BENNETT: I actually really feel like it's a good time to be in banking. Our you know, clients are doing well. We it's a, you know, Scott mentioned that there are 30 or so banks here in the state, but there's just 11 now that are headquartered in the state. There's been a lot of consolidation in our markets. And, you know, all of us that are left like we choose to give back to the community, and we really play a part in the community. And so, while there has been a lot of consolidation, I think it's a really good spot to be in right now.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Okay, what about you, Ron?
RON GREEN: Well, over the history of my career, and maybe even looking back to the Great Recession of 08’ and 09’ banking generally, in a lot of the eyes of a lot of people, is are viewed negatively, almost as greedy organizations. And you know, I'm proud to sit next to Summit Bank, because banks like Summit and Oregon Pacific Bank are local businesses that have a responsibility to recognize we have to create value for the community, for our customers, for those who own us, and for our employees. And so, it's the importance of banking, specifically community banking. I echo and agree 100% with Jenny, it's a great time to be in banking, a noble profession, and the recognition of our communities thrive when banks thrive, local banks, especially. And it's just really exciting to be a part of that. And we love it.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Okay, Scott, I'm going to go to you before we go to break because I want to talk a little bit about sort of, it's been, I don't know what the right phraseology is, but it's been an interesting time with regard to interest rates, and I wanted to get your take on. I don't know if maybe this is the right term, kind of a cautious or even confusing rate environment, and how you see that sort of playing out here in the state of Oregon?
SCOTT BRUUN: Yeah, I mean, it has been a confusing time. There's been some inconsistencies, and I think it's always good to remind people Oregon banks and banks in general have very little control over interest rates. I mean, it really is something that's a macroeconomic phenomenon driven by the federal government. So yeah, when there's mixed signals, that is a challenge for banks. Now, to both Ron and Jenny's point, banks do an incredible job of working with the tools they have. I mean, there's things in their control, there's things outside of their control, and there's always interest rate challenges, whether the low rates create their own challenges, as far as profitability, high rates create their own challenges as far as sell ability, if you will. And yet, banks in Oregon in particular have always found a way to kind of thread that needle and provide the services for their communities and their clients. You know, it's a particularly challenging time now, Michael, because not only do we have an uncertain although looks like it's slightly dropping rate environment, we have tariffs and larger economic uncertainty, both in the state and nationally, probably globally. And so, banks have to navigate all of that. And that's again, I want to circle back to why community banks are such outstanding partners. You know, we look at the bank relationship with their clients, not as not as vendors. I mean vendors you can find in any service everywhere, but a good bank, a good community bank, is a partner, meaning that that that customer, that small business can't imagine operating without their banker, their bank, and really working with them to help make the decisions for their future success.
MICHAEL DUNNE: So, I'm going to take this more to sort of the client view, and I'm going to start with you, Ron. You know, how are your clients and how are you helping them navigate what Scott did a good job explaining there's, there's just a lot of confusion right now, and I imagine, you know, tariffs or supply chain issues or just a host of challenges, take us through how your local clients are navigating it, and sort of how a banker such as yourself can help them do that. Now I'm going to come and ask you the same question, Jenny, because I think there are many ways to skin a cat, as they say. So go ahead, Ron.
RON GREEN: I was, as was said earlier, everything with respect to community banking starts with being in a relationship, your ability and your willingness to have someone to speak with at the bank, to talk to at the bank when things are going well and when they're not going well, or as of today, when there is uncertainty. So, we lead by just talking to our clients. I mean, I think Scott said earlier, the amount of uncertainty right now is just that we don't know exactly what's going to happen economically, interest rates, etc., in the coming days, quarters and years. But what we can do is work together to plan for that as best as we possibly can. So, we work with our clients one on one, as I know all community banks do, whether they're a borrowing client, a depositing client, or both, understand their needs, try to help them plan and be proactive and then be there as a resource when they have questions and needs to help them as best as we possibly can, okay,
MICHAEL DUNNE: Jenny, same question to you.
JENNY BENNETT: I'm, you know, it's a it is interesting. Rates are going down a bit, and so with some developer there are projects that you know have been on the table and potentially delayed that might be able to kick off again, because those projects are starting to make more sense. We have a lot of nonprofit clients, and there's definitely been a theme with funding or the lack thereof, and so within the nonprofit world, there's a lot of uncertainty. So as bankers, we think about, what can we do to help them? Can we put together a lunch and learn and bring in someone from a foundation who can talk about alternative sources of financing? So that's just, I mean, I think bankers are a resource to businesses and to nonprofits, and so we've been working with our clients on this.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Okay, I'm going to stay with you two in studio here, because, you know, and Jenny, you brought this up a little bit earlier. Is this idea there's been a lot of consolidation, and so from two banking leaders for local banks here, how do you continue to keep and earn your independence and keep yourself not purchased by a large organization. Start with you Ron.
RON GREEN: Well, I think probably Summit is similar to ourselves at Oregon Pacific bank. We recognize that we have a responsibility to create value. And for us, those four pillars are ownership, the clients, the community, from a stewardship standpoint, and our employees, that is the focus. At the point that you cannot create a mutual amount of value for who you serve, you're going to have a difficult time arguing your independence. And so, banks need to be safe and sound, they need to be profitable, they need to be viewed with a high level of integrity by the community. And that's all of our value proposition. So, I say at times in our organization, if I have one job, is to make sure that the sign outside the building doesn't change. Because I think, as a local bank, that's how we create the greatest value, is through that independence. But that's the value creation for all four of those pillars. Sure. It has to happen.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Jenny, same thing.
JENNY BENNETT: We have a quote that we say at Summit bank, and it's, if you're not growing, you're dying. So, I've been at the bank for 10 years, and when I started, we were 250 million, and now we've grown to 1.2 billion. And with the consolidation in our market, there have been banks that have re headquartered to Washington, and so now, you know, we were one of the largest banks. I think we might be the largest community bank headquartered in the state, and that's because we're growing with our clients, and we're only as successful as our clients are. And I think with Oregon Pacific bank and summit bank, we definitely fulfill a niche, and it's just fun to be able to grow with it.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Scott, I'm going to go to you, know, kind of asking a little bit to look into a crystal ball. But what do you see the remainder of 2025, and into 2026 looking like, from, you know, from, from your point of view at the Banking Association, in terms of, you know, how you feel like the banking community will finish out this year and start next year?
SCOTT BRUUN: Well, I have every anticipation that the Oregon bank community will finish off strong, like we discussed earlier. Our banks are healthy. There is a lot of uncertainty in the larger marketplace right now, the larger economy, but our banks, especially pink banks, that operate in Oregon, are used to uncertainty, and frankly, used to kind of operating with an economic headwind that, again, gets to the business climate. So, our banks are, I would argue, you know, as nimble and as strategically talented as any banks in the country, because they have to be to do well in Oregon. So, I expect that. I also expect, as we've seen, and Jenny mentioned, you know, rates are coming down a tad, that will free up that will, I guess, maybe embolden some more bank clients, to borrow, to invest, to create the jobs that strengthen the community. So, I think that's wonderful. And then looking kind of the larger, you know, crystal ball, we are seeing some things from DC that are favorable toward the community banks. We've seen there haven't been a lot of banks that have started nationally, frankly, in the last 2025, years. And there's a bunch of reasons for that, but one of the biggest reasons for that are just the regulatory roadblocks to starting a new bank. It's both federal and state, but we're seeing right now, with some of the folks that are the new top regulators in Washington, DC, a new sort of appetite to help community banks, a new sort of understanding about how the critical value and the critical importance that community banks play in the larger economic health of the country. I mean, we've all, we all know this, but it's nice to finally see it affirmed in some of these top leaders. So, I expect, over the next, you know, rest of this year, and heading into 26 we'll see some significant regulatory changes that really help the ability of community banks to grow and to prosper and to serve their communities.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Okay, I'm going to finish out with the two of you here in studio, Ron and Jenny, terms of maybe just some advice for clients. You know, if finishing out the year, what are some things that you would recommend to clients in terms of, I don't know, world view, or just actual strategic decisions they need to make? Start with Ron.
RON GREEN: Well, my banking background is in credit, credit risk management, and so in times of uncertainty or even weakness in the economy, I tend to kind of want to become a little bit more financially conservative. So, we always advise clients to know, preserve liquidity, have a mindfulness as to when revenue begins to decline. What do you do about this? So, I think that's an important factor. I mean, secondly, we both reiterated this earlier, relationships are important if you don't have someone at where you bank as a business. You can call or contact you may be at the wrong bank, okay? And find an organization that has someone that can give you good advice or can be a connector to other, you know, advocacy sources without the community throughout the community, but talk to your bank, or know who it is, and ask them for help.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Okay, Jenny, finish us out here.
JENNY BENNETT: I Think that's excellent advice our we're really excited for what's on tap for our clients. And I did want to share Ron touched on it earlier. But when you keep your savings at a bank, or you have a money market in a bank that is FDIC insured, we have ways to go well beyond the 250,000 but that money that is kept locally on deposit, that you're with your bank that's headquartered here, is reinvested right back into small business owners and nonprofits in our community, and in terms of a value statement, I couldn't say anything more truthful
than that, when your money is here, it's invested here and becomes part of the common good.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Sounds good. Sounds good. Jenny Bennett, market president for Summit Bank, Ron Green, president and chief executive officer at Oregon Pacific Bank, and Scott Bruun, President and CEO of the Oregon Bankers Association. Really want to thank all three of you for talking about this.
ALL: Thank you. Our pleasure.
MICHAEL DUNNE: That's the show for today. All episodes of Oregon On The Record are available as a podcast at KLCC.org. Monday on the show, we'll talk with a national writer about the fact that 2025 has been the most expensive year in history for climate related disasters. I'm Michael Dunne, host of Oregon On The Record. Thanks for listening.
