Drew Chandler and Chris Gosnell, Farmers Bank & Trust (AR)

Join Vin and Zach as they go “2 on 2” with CEO Chris Gosnell and CFO Drew Chandler of Farmers Bank and Trust (Arkansas / Texas). In this episode, the guys discuss banking in small markets, expansion into larger ones, the efficacy of hedging, and business opportunities associated with operating “in the same neighborhood” of our country’s largest lithium deposit. Lastly, the boys recount their recent trip to New England, which featured a giant bluefin tuna fish.  

For more insights and ideas, visit DCG at DarlingConsulting.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Transcript

On the Balance Sheet®:  S2 E11:  Drew Chandler and Chris Gosnell, Farmers Bank & Trust, AR

Transcript

[Vinny, 00:03]

Welcome to On the Balance Sheet, Season 2, Episode 11, and today, Zach, we've got, I believe our second ever duo, if you will. We've got the Chief Executive Officer, Chris Gosnell of Farmers Bank & Trust, and he is joined by his Chief Financial Officer, Drew Chandler.

[Zach, 00:20]

Yeah, Vin, it's going to be a great discussion with these guys, and it's our second duo we'll call it, but also our second client from the Southern Arkansas area as well. So, we're excited to talk to these guys about what's going on in their market. There's a lot going on in terms of business and commerce and new things going on down there. We'll talk a bit more, too, about their fishing trip they had with you pretty recently and a number of other things that I think the listeners will be pretty excited to get into. So, we’re very excited to have Chris and Drew on today.

[Vinny, 00:47]

Well, that's right, Zach. And obviously this comes on the heels of a recent trip they had out east. So, I very much look forward to hearing what their perspectives were. So, without further ado, the CEO and CFO of Farmers Bank & Trust.

[Vinny, 01:06]

Welcome to On the Balance Sheet. Today is a, for me, a very special episode. I'm very, very pleased to be joined by two gentlemen who lead Farmers Bank & Trust domicile in Magnolia, AR. Also in Texarkana.  We have the CEO, Chris Gosnell, as well as Chief Financial Officer, Drew Chandler, and before I ask them how they're doing, I need to share that we spent a great weekend in early September of this year as these two gentlemen came out to New England and we decided to spend a day tuna fishing. And so, I have to start out by asking - Drew, Chris, tell us about your first ever giant bluefin tuna you caught.

[Chris 01:47]

It was great. It was, it was a longer day than I thought, and a harder day than I thought. But it was really worth it once you got the fish in and got and I really enjoyed the trip. It was amazing.

Vin, I could not have drawn the day up better, you know, with the getting up early, which you know we're central time - you guys are eastern. So, we were an hour behind already, but the boat ride out, of course the weather was perfect, had some fog set in on us early and it cleared away, missed a few fish, that you know and, but it really could not have drawn it up more perfect.

I think it's important, you know, to tell the listeners that we fought this, that we fought fish, lost a couple of fish and about 3:00 PM finally hooked in one and got in the boat. Perfect size.

You know you have all these regulations where it has to be under a certain inch long and it was just perfect, you know, and all the while, we had no idea that had we caught one of those earlier fish and gone back, we would have been in the monsoon of, you know, of a lifetime, you know in Newburyport. So it was, it was really great, really big thanks to you and Darling.

[Vinny, 02:52]

Yeah. No, it was a lot of fun, and it was a heck of a trip. And I have to remind myself, you folks are an hour behind, but maybe that's why Drew was in the bean bag sleeping for the lion share of the day. I don't know if it's - we can always blame it on the fatigue. Maybe it wasn't a double dose of seasickness bands he had taken or whatever he did that morning, but.

[Chris, 03:15]

Yes, that probably wasn't the smartest decision. He looked like a leopard with all these motion patches on.  Hilarious.

[Vinny, 03:21]

[Drew, 04:52]

It is.  You know I'll talk about that real quick.  You know, the first thing we noticed is you walk everywhere, mostly. If you're driving, you're not driving very far, but everything's just so close. Whereas in Arkansas and Texas, you get in the car and you want to go to a bigger city, you will be in the car for, you know, Yeah. No. In all seriousness though, these gentlemen decided to come out here and sort of blind faith, right? Come out and see what it's all about. And it is. You know, there's a TV show that's out there that glorifies tuna fishing, and there's a lot more that goes into it. It's very nuanced, and it's a lot of effort, a lot of hard work, and quite frankly, if you think it's the type of fishing where you're going to be out relaxing and being one with nature, it's not that at all. It's you kind of get your butt kicked and you do it like that every time. So, these gentlemen did an absolutely great job. And we could probably sit here all day and tell stories about that. I even, during the fight as these two gentlemen were fighting the fish, there was one point where the rod, rod tip snapped up under a full load and smoke. A good friend of mine, our mate there, Terrence McCrosky, right in the face. And we've got an incredible video of that. I don't know how he didn't fall over, but it was a heck of a time that and I will say, Drew, you're the first person, who ever has been photographed on my boat with a tuna fish and a cowboy hat on.  He made quite an impression around the Newburyport Yacht Club, folks were looking at him saying, “Who are these guys? Where did they come from?” So, it was a heck of a trip for sure. I don't know if there's any other stories that you want to share about that because I don't know if you felt (pardon the pun) like fish out of water, but there was probably one or two times where you said, “Wow, Newburyport's a little different than Magnolia, Arkansas.”

30 minutes an hour, 2 hours for us who live in Southwest Arkansas. It was very eye opening, and I will say that I'm now hooked on iced coffee. I didn't know If you realized that, but I drink this stuff till 2 - 3:00 PM every day. So, it's, I have you to thank for that.

[Vinny, 05:28]

Well, there's probably worse habits we could have introduced you to that you could have came out of from that weekend, but well, I'm sure our listeners have probably heard enough of the fishing for now. But in all seriousness, we have a Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer of an institution that's up over $2 billion nowadays. Why don't we start with you, Drew, and your background from kind of starting your career and now in kind of the timeline up to you know where you sit now as Chief Financial Officer of a strong bank, 2 plus billion dollars?

[Drew, 06:00]

So out of college, I went to work at First Security Bank in Searcy, AR and it was a little over a billion dollars when I started internal audit and then a few years later got put in charge of the accounting department and grew up to 7 billion. And then I left them after about 10 years and went to Farmers Bank & Trust when they were about 600 million, and about 12 years later, we're now 2.7 billion, and I've been the Chief Financial Officer the entire time here.

[Vinny, 06:30]

Thanks so much for that. And Chris, talk a little bit about your background. As a matter of fact, I think you had started out your career at another DCG client, Signature Bank, and just kind of curious kind of if you could talk about, you know that path.

[Chris, 06:44]

Yeah, absolutely. You know, I grew up in construction, you know, so that was always my passion. I was going to, you know, go into construction. So out of college, and as I worked on my Masters, I went to work for a builder, and I met a few bankers who we were building a couple of houses for. And, you know, long story short, they asked if I had ever thought about a career change and, you know, sure enough, at that age and stage in my life, that was very willing to make that jump as I worked on my contractor’s license. So as that happened, you know, I grew in the bank. These folks are really a lot of my mentors, really got me in the business and taught me kind of, you know, how to do things, how it worked. So, some really, really great people at - still friends with all of them. But yeah, I kind of learned, you know, through that experience, you know, everything that happened. We went through the ’07 – ‘09, you know, downturn, which was eye opening for all of them looking for any lender out there I think and then I was, you know, called down in 2010 to work at Farmers Bank kind of working a new market. They just made an acquisition so came into that market and we had some, you know, some past due issues there that we were able to overcome and, you know, really long story short, In 2017, I was named CEO, and since then it's been a pretty wild ride.

[Zach, 08:09]

Chris, it's Zach.

Can you give a little more kind of background, too, for our listeners in terms of what it's like banking in southern Arkansas and then the move you guys made from that Magnolia area to Texarkana and now based on what I know about you guys, you're in Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas, right, in terms of your market. So maybe just a little bit of history of the bank and then.

And that move and just some color on Magnolia because it's funny. Then I happened to. I happen to work with another client in that area as well. They were actually on the First Season, Episode 2, so it's been a little while since the listeners have heard much about, you know, kind of that that area. But I think it would be interesting from your perspective because you're a much bigger bank than the group I work with in that area.

[Drew, 08:55]

Yeah, absolutely. And I've listened to that podcast. Those are friends of mine. Those are great guys over there. But yeah, Magnolia is very, it's very unique. It's a smaller town where about 11 thousand, 12 thousand stable market not really growing not really you know decreasing. But it's geographically you really have to be heading to Magnolia to run across it. We're about 50 miles east of Texarkana, which is a larger area, and combining Texarkana AR and Texarkana TX, last I looked was about 110,000 for those, which really sort of blend into one market and they have a big medical presence. They have some industry there, where Magnolia is a lot of natural resources and plant type work. So, we have a great university there at southern Arkansas. So, we have some engines there, and it's really a good community.  Here recently there's been a lot of talk - Wall Street Journal put an article out about the lithium and this article really sent this town in a tailspin with announcing that they think that 15% of the world's lithium could be around Magnolia, which is in what's called the smack over formation. Kind of an interesting name if you're not from South Arkansas. But that's a little West of Magnolia. There's some other towns there that stand to benefit from that. So, you've had Exxon come in and this is all public knowledge, but you've had Exxon come in, they've leased out the rights to about 100,000 acres, 120,000 acres, something like that. So, you had that announcement, you had standard lithium make an announcement. You had Tetra Holdings making announcements. So, you're really taking these very, very small towns and throwing all this business in there. So, there's really a lot of hope right now for some Job growth and there's real estate being purchased and there's a lot of people coming in. I've seen property bought sight unseen. It's wild. Our airport’s never been busier, so it’s been really a lot of fun.

[Zach, 11:06]

Chris and, as a just a quick follow up to that, cause that's, you know, one of the biggest things that come out over the summer, and I was talking with Jonathan over at Peoples, he was mentioning that this just got announced in July or August. I'm looking at 2 quotes right here I think from the mayor of Magnolia. One is, you know we need housing, we have the infrastructure, we're extending it, but we need housing. And another one was talking about how city leaders believe there could bring over 6,000 jobs. You know, to Magnolia, not to mention the other towns surrounding it. So how do you guys feel about playing a role in that, you know?  Being, you know, a pretty large bank in that area, what do you see as kind of the opportunities, obviously, but maybe the challenges with that?

[Drew, 11:45]

I think the opportunities are really just the influx of people, you know, right, we have a great mayor. He's working on the infrastructure, which is obviously the first thing, but we're looking for more things regarding quality of life. Housing is a big issue, you know, when you're in a pretty stable market you don't really have, you know, big moves in housing, you don't see big subdivisions going into place. So, I think the bank's opportunities are probably like anyone, there's really there's I guess you could do some lending in the leasing area. But I think we'll stay mostly traditional and just try to service the people that are coming into town, you know, with their commercial or consumer needs.

[Vinny, 12:31]

Thanks, Chris. Yeah, it's kind of interesting when you think about it. It has kind of the feeling of maybe our next gold rush, right? Yeah, and we’ve seen what, obviously, policy in Washington and this conversion over to electric and a lot of different things we do is. So, it'll be interesting to see how that plays out and how your area grows. I think you had shared a story that somebody kind of came into your subdivision and just bought land so that they have it when this thing, if it does, in fact, kind of balloon the way people think, that individual would have a place to live.  Is that an accurate story?

[Drew, 13:03]

That is accurate. Yeah, we've had two lots sitting open for years, honestly, and sight unseen, someone from Washington state actually called and bought those lots sight unseen. So, it's and there's several things happening like that even on bigger tracts of land with looking at subdivisions and things like that, so. It's very, very interesting. And it's a very positive thing because currently we need that, even if no one comes into town, just with the current businesses in our town, we need that with their growth. You know we sure could use some housing and some, you know some different opportunities for qualities of life.

[Vinny, 13:44]

Absolutely. I had a chance to, you know, visit you folks, and that would be great for that area. Hey, Drew, I just want to ask you a question and sort of transition into the current balance sheet and what you folks are currently experiencing. You know, obviously, we've got an inverted yield curve, and most of the industry is seeing deposit outflow, it's somewhat stabilized, but also on the loan growth side, it's interesting. I find that you folks have had this growth, and you continue to have loan demand, loan growth in most of your markets. So, could you just sort of elaborate on the current balance sheet, give our listeners a feel for what you, kind of, are all about?  And, you know, what the outlook is moving forward for both deposits and loans.

[Drew, 14:25]

Sure. So, our branches go from South of Little Rock all the way into North Dallas, and then we also have a few branches in Oklahoma as well. This year, if you compare August ‘22 or ‘23 to ‘22, we've grown about 263 million in loans and 264 million in deposits. So, we've done well in growing our deposits to match the loan funding. Most of our markets, our Arkansas markets, deposits and loans are pretty flat, so most of the growth has been in Texas with, you know loan growth about 62 to 70% of our loan growth is in Texas and same with the deposits. So, the growth has been mostly in our Texas markets in the Paris TX and North Dallas area. We’ve done well with the loans and pricing, but we've also our kind of rule is 20 to 30% of cost, that's what we'll do. So, we're also being conservative, but we're pricing it well. I think our biggest thing is pricing our deposits and growing them because a lot of our markets are kind of flat in the deposit growth. But I think we've done really well over the past 12 months, and we'll just continue to do that by pushing organic growth and going after new customers and public funds as well.

[Vinny, 15:44 Speaker 1]

Yeah, and for the listeners, I can tell you anecdotally just kind of know when the bank and watching it grow here, you've got a lot of banks that are virtually - everybody's paying more to retain and or attract deposits. So, these folks, though, on the other side are growing their loans and they're growing their loans at rates that it's still accretive. Yeah. So, you folks, I think have been out in front of it for some time now with your lending units and your spreads. Oddly enough, Drew, I'm guessing you project your spreads to probably stabilize and maybe even improve through the course of next year. I don’t know if you've got into the budget, but could that be the case as you move forward?

[Drew, 16:21]

I hope so.  I think our deposits will hopefully reach the top of that. And I think as loans reprice, and we put new ones on, we're hoping to increase that spread. I think you're always battling the cost of deposits, depending on what percent of core you have. But as we're growing that and funding our loans it’s a battle to make sure you’re pricing deposits correctly and pricing your loans and make sure your pricing for risk and also what your funding costs to make sure you're getting that spread. So going into ‘24 that's going to be one of the big pushes - try to increase our net interest margin because it has shrunk. You know, as we've tried to fund the loans. But yeah, I mean, looking at, if you're looking at other banks’ balance sheets, you'll see a lot of people have lost deposits. Core deposits have shrunk because of inflation. They're not keeping as much in checking accounts. And in their checking or savings accounts. And so our employees have done a great job of really going out, getting new customers and we've been able to hold that. I think, you look at a lot of our markets, they're stable. So, we haven't had the outflow into other places. So that's been fortunate for us.

[Zach, 17:36]

Drew, I think that's an outstanding point on the loan profitability side and one thing that I know we've been talking about a ton and trying to make sure it's the top of mind, you know, for our clients. But take a quick step back on what you mentioned about some of your markets in the deposit growth. We talk a lot internally here, especially in these times when it's so hard to get, you know, new deposit growth, is having kind of differentiated strategies in various markets, right. So, it's not a one-size-fits-all necessarily, not that I'm going to ask you for your special sauce and to get really into the details, but in your different markets, do you guys approach them differently? Do you have different kinds of strategies from the deposit gathering side? Because I'm looking - rough numbers, 10% growth loans, 10% growth and deposits is pretty darn good in a year. And the Fed is, you know, sucking money out of the system and everybody's battling for deposits. So, any thoughts kind of on the differentiated strategies in your various markets?

[Drew, 18:26]

Yeah, I think each market has their own kind of strategy on what they're going after. We've done, historically, we've done really well going after school money. And then getting that public fund and then branching it out to teachers and employees from there. So that's been real beneficial for us. You know, each other markets have different things that they go after - medical or things like that. We had one market that went after churches quite a bit and gained a lot of deposits through that because people don't really, you know, usually call on churches too much, but they usually keep a lot of money in their checking accounts. So, I think each market has their own thing. But schools have been a big thing for us.

[Vinny, 19:03]

I remember when we first got together, and I was kind of looking through your balance sheet and thinking through it and sort of formulating my opinion on where the sensitivities resided. There were some big chunks, municipal money and public money, and that that would price up, you know, certainly through the course of this cycle in particular. And so, we introduced the concept, not introduced it. I guess I should say, reintroduced the concept of hedging or doing swaps. Now for those uninitiated - a swap is nothing more than really an exchange of interest rates. Now the reason I even bring this up is because Bruce Mayock, the Chief Operating Officer, I believe that's Bruce's role. He shared with us that you folks had done an interest rate swap in the past, and that, unfortunately, it did not work out. But to your credit in I think it was early 2021, you folks actually executed a straight swap. That has been, my gosh, could you have timed it any better, right? So, can you talk Chris, Drew about that discussion, that decision making process because we've got certainly folks that listen in and there's some folks that when you talk about the derivatives, they get anxiety or maybe a, you know, a little bit nauseous and there are others that are totally comfortable with it and just view it as a tool to manage your balance sheet. So, I think it would be helpful to kind of share with our listeners the discussions that may have occurred where you were in one of those arrangements before, it didn't make sense and yet you reentered it because it was the right thing for the balance sheet and now it's really been a quite profitable sort of transaction.

[Chris, 20:38]

Right. So, when we first started, and I give a lot of credit to you guys and especially Vinny, talking about it and putting something or presenting something to us that, you know, we might not have come up with, you know, internally. So, you brought up the idea. We discussed it. We created a policy and then we talked to our Board about it and basically how we presented it was insurance. It's basically like insurance. You hope you don't have to use it, but if you do, it's going to shield you from the impact of the event. We did about a $40 million swap. We wish we would have done about 100 million, but yeah, it's a little more complicated. You have to match up assets on that. So, we did the end of ‘20 December of ‘20 and few in January of ‘21. And so, we did a $40 million swap with Goldman Sachs. They're currently so when interest rates were zero, now they've, they've risen, they're paying us, I think right now around 180,000 a month on that. And we have unrealized gained of 4 million. So again, we wish we would have done 100 million of it, but it was good to go through the process of educating the Board. Setting up a policy and just telling them, hey, we think interest rates are going to go up and if it does, this is going to shield our impact of our deposit cost. Again, we use analogy of insurance and it's worked very well. Our Board's been happy with it. So, I think it's been a great move for us.

[Vinny, 22:10]

Thought it was also particularly impressive that you had done it before and it did not work out to your favor, but at the same time, although it didn't work out, rates would have moved in a fashion that the rest of the balance sheet would have benefited anyway. So, it's almost like you hope it doesn't work out right? So, I thought that was really noteworthy for our listeners. This oftentimes folks just summarily dismissing the importance of these tools. So, I appreciate you sharing that. And Chris, I wanted to just kind of follow up with this and we sometimes ask these questions like and Drew, obviously, as well. Where do you folks see this bank in the next five years, you've clearly are growing at a nice clip. You're in markets that are very stable and growing as well, like you, you kind of talked about some of those Dallas or the Texas markets. So, you know, what is your outlook for this bank over the next five years?

[Drew, 23:02]

Well, next five years will be tricky. You know, I think the next two or three certainly will be, but we've structured ourselves as a bank that will grow. We plan to continue to grow you know and look for opportunities probably west you know in Texas and Arkansas as they present themselves. I think that's really the way that we're moving. You know, we have a Trust Company and Community First Trust and, you know, with that subsidiary it puts us a little over 3 billion. So, we're able to provide, you know, the services I think that most big banks would offer, but we're able to move faster and you have a person to call at our bank. So, I really think there's opportunities there just west.

[Vinny, 23:48]

That's great. Appreciate you sharing that. So, Zach, was there something? I'm sorry.

[Zach, 23:53]

Yeah, this can be for Chris first and then Drew, feel free to follow up because I think, like you said, it's hard to kind of look at the next five years, let alone the next year and kind of figure out where things are going with uncertainty. But talking with you guys around our age, maybe, you know, in between us in terms of you know late 30s, early 40s, I anticipate you want to be in the industry for a little while longer. So, what do you kind of see as the important things that Farmers needs to be doing for their customers, whether it's technology, whether it's investing in other areas or different lines of business to give yourself some of the, we'll call it the competitive advantages, to keep growing over the next couple of years, what are you guys doing now to kind of prepare for the challenges that the banking industry, which is obviously, I wouldn't say under siege, but there’s challenges is with the big banks, credit unions, with non-banks, with Fintechs, whatever you want to call it? What are you guys expecting to do, I guess overall, the next couple of years to prepare yourselves for the next whatever comes the next 5 or 10 years in this industry.

[Chris, 24:52]

Yeah, I mean, I'll start out. I think technology is certainly a big piece of that. You need to have that on a level to where you can compete, you know, a little bit you're never going to out tech the Fintechs, you know, that are solely focused on that. But I think where we have an advantage as community banks is I think people would like a person to call, you know, once there's a question or something doesn't work right. As you know, with technology, there's always that - that they're able to call someone and say, hey, this isn't working and get, you know, fixed pretty fast. So, I think there’s that. Something, you know, that we have an opportunity in going forward to compete with the Fintechs. I'll also say, Zach, you know, really when you're looking at the industry and you have the Fintechs coming in, your NSF fees are really under attack. Your net interest margins compressed. Your interchange fees could be, you know, going away in the future. The approach that we take is really you have to find other areas, whether it be a specialty or some other part of the bank or service that you can make that income up with. So, I see that as the biggest challenge, you know. I still think community banks will be around for a very long time. But I do think we are going to have to be mobile and forward thinking in that you have to find other ways. You know you're the sole income of your bank. If it's interest income, it's probably something you should focus on, or at least we feel that way. So, you know, with all that under attack, I think that will be one of our biggest challenges.

[Vinny, 26:33]

Thanks so much for that, Chris, and kind of winding down here and we've taken plenty of your time. There is one thing I just want to mention for those not familiar with this bank. One of the things that I really gravitate towards, that's palpable when you're there, is the bank definitely has a, the management team, all the key contributors, the members of ALCO and so forth, there's a great sort of a family, team-oriented feel. There's everybody is kind of together, kind of pulling on the same rope and that's not necessarily something you see at every institution. I think to me that that is another differentiating factor for your organization. You folks all seem to be kind of on the same page, and if nothing else, they really seem to like working with you. And I can tell you I do. And I certainly enjoyed our time together. You folks came out here and it was pretty crazy. I remember taking you up to Portsmouth NH and Drew walking through the town with a cowboy hat on and he had these cowboy boots, and they're clicking on the old cobblestone roads. And they looked around and go,” Oh my gosh, this is like we're in Europe.” (laughing) So we're a long way from Magnolia and that to me was pretty cool, and it was a great trip, so I don't know if you guys have any parting shots. But you know, before we let you go.

[Chris, 27:51]

I just appreciate you inviting us up.  I had a wonderful time. Had some great memories and got to see a part of the country that I hadn't been to. So, it was very exciting. Yes, thanks so much.

[Drew, 28:05]

Yeah, I'll echo that, Vin.  We don't get that from a lot of the people that we work with. I really appreciate. You know you took your weekend. I know my wife would certainly not be in favor of that every weekend so, I really appreciate that.  And that builds that relationship with us, and I can just tell you how big of a factor Darling Group’s been for our bank, and this probably sounds like a commercial. It's not - we wanted to get more forward thinking in our ALCO and brought you guys on, and it's been a really good relationship and just want to thank you for that.

[Zach, 28:42]

Drew, please. Beth and Claire were thanking you for taking Vin away from them for that entire weekend.

[Vinny, 28:47]

That's true. That's true. Actually true. Well, thanks so much, guys, appreciate your time and for our listeners, I hope you folks take a look at this bank and keep track of them. They're  moving at a nice rate, and it's a great bank. So, thank you, gentlemen.

[Chris and Drew, 29:05]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Vinny, 29:14]

And we're back here. A great episode with Chris and Drew. It was terrific that they would spend some time. And as I mentioned, had a just a great weekend with them doing a lot of different things, kind of showing them New England on and off the water. So it was, it was a lot of fun. One of the things that I take away from really their visit here more than anything else, and it's probably a squishy thing for some of those who may be listening, but they really are a team; that whole bank, every time I'm out there, right after we get done our meetings, you know, we kind of sit together as a group and share some homemade food and so forth. You can just see they all get along well and they're all very comfortable speaking with each other. In fact, if you were to sit in on a meeting, it's kind of unique that the CEO, Chris, will sit there, and he takes a lot in and there's certainly things he brings up and brings to the surface. But at the same time, he listens, and he values. And I had asked him this over the weekend he spent with us. He values all the members of his committee. And I think that says a lot. That's leadership. They kind of feel like a family, so to me, I gravitate to these guys. I obviously know him well, and I really enjoyed that discussion. Zach, what about you?

[Zach, 30:23]

Yeah. Vin, I’ve got two, probably two quick ones. One is more so just I think a lot of folks know more about Northern Arkansas with Walmart in Bentonville and the University up there and a lot more development that's going on, lovely Little Rock being the capital. But the southern region, right. And Jonathan Baird from Peoples Bank was on Episode Season one, Episode 2, from Magnolia as well, talking about lithium and Albemarle. You know just 12 – 18 months later, you got Exxon coming in and there's just so much activity. And with all the electric cars and batteries and how much more we're focusing on that, I think that area - it's going to be very fascinating to see how that grows and develops and how the, you know, the banks will play, I think a pretty significant role down there. And the second one was just kind of that quick note that Drew had on the deposit strategy and, again, this may not work for everybody everywhere. It's not universal or a panacea certainly, but I think just being differentiated in their markets and being very targeted. I know we've talked a lot about that with our clients and just talking about the story about being in terms of going to the public funds and then you get the school and you talk to the teachers, then you talk to the employees and then it just gets out into the community. And so, it's not a one, one shot, it's a way to get in. And then next thing you know, you're expanding that reach and I think it was just an interesting story that I think clearly works for them, may not work for others, but I think in this time everybody's looking for whatever they can take or get in terms of deposits. And I think that was a really interesting way that they approached that.

[Vinny, 31:55]

I agree with all of that, Zach, so I guess that's a wrap for this episode, and we thank you for listening and we very much look forward to our next episode of On the Balance Sheet.

[Dana, 32:09]

On the Balance Sheet® is a podcast produced by Darling Consulting Group (DCG). All views and opinions expressed by the host and guests are solely their own and may not represent those of DCG. All third parties are independent entities and are not affiliated with DCG. This podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only and is not considered as advice. All views and opinions expressed are based on the information available at the time and may have changed based on current market and other conditions. For more information about DCG, please visit www.darlingconsulting.com or e-mail us at info@darlingconsulting.com.

Today's background music is provided by John, Sid and Como Media and can be found on pixabay.com.

On the Balance Sheet® is a podcast produced by Darling Consulting Group, Inc. (“DCG”). All views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests are solely their own and may not represent those of DCG. All third parties are independent entities and are not affiliated with DCG. This podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only and is not considered as advice. All views and opinions expressed are based on the information available at the time and may have changed based on current market and other conditions. The text of this transcript was generated by an artificial intelligence (AI) model, and its organization, grammar, and presentation enhanced by AI, and as such may contain errors or inaccuracies. DCG is not liable for any damages, however caused, that may result from any use of this content.

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