“Bank Your Size” - The Community Bank Difference

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You're listening to Leaders and Lending from
Upstart, a podcast dedicated to helping consumer

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lenders grow their programs and improve their
product offerings. Each week, here,

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decision makers in the finance industry offer
insights into the future of the lending industry,

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best practices around digital transformation, and
more. Let's get into the show.

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Welcome to Leaders in Lending. I'm
your host, Jeff Keltner. This

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week's episode features my conversation with Ryan
coax On, the VP of Guarantee Bank

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and Trust. It's maybe not a
unique name of them banks. I feel

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like Guaranteed Bank is out there a
few places, but it's a pretty unique

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story. Ryan helped start the branch
of this bank in Austin area, grew

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it from just a couple of people
and basically no assets to over four hundred

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and fifty million dollars in assets and
loans, one hundred fifty million deposits.

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More than thirty people work in there. It's a really interesting story of kind

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of starting up a banking segment from
scrap. We really dive into how they

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did it. Lessons learn things you
would do different if you could. Biggest

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surprise, What was the most fun
so kind of it's just exploring that kind

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of startup founder type story for early
stage bank, and then also delve into

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Ryan's work in community development. He
does that for the bank, and it's

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kind of broader reach outside of the
Austin area, which I thought was really

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interesting. He is really focused on
kind of workforce of the future development of

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that workforce, and that's I think, in a very holistic way as interesting

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construct to think of it in because
really it's about people and how you develop

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in nurture and train people in communities. So I thought that was really interesting.

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And Ryan is one of the first
people to described to me being a

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banker and particularly a lender as a
very intimate job, and I thought that

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was a fascinating description. And you'll
have to listen to the episode to figure

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out why he feels that way.
So please enjoy my conversation with Ryan Coason.

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Ryan, thanks for joining us today
the podcast. I really appreciate your

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making the time. Oh, thank
you for having me. This is exciting

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in my first podcast. Your first
part, well, I remember that we

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did our prep call and there was
an ice storm and you had no power,

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So hopefully fingers crossed the technical gods
shine on us today and we don't

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have any problems yep, yep,
hopefully, or I think we're doing good

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in Austin now, So you know, fingers crossed. The fingers crossed.

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Well, I've started recently all my
podcasts asking my guests kind of to give

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me a little bit of the background
of how you got into banking and where

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you're at. It's not the most
common, like childhood ambition for most of

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us to get into the banking space, and yet we all kind of found

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our ways here. And I always
like to hear a little bit about the

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story of what brought you into the
space. Yeah, mine definitely was not

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a regular story, but I love
it no matter what. So I started

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out as a part time teller,
and I only actually got into tellering because

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I was actually selling residential real estate. And then my mom came in one

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day and was like, hey,
you kind of kind of gotta get off

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the insurance and so I was like, Okay, well, what can I

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get in at this time? And
I didn't have my degree at the time

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that I could be like, this
is a great profession and I can just

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kind of ride all the way through. And I chose banking and I went

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from part time teller to full time
to personal banker to banking officer, did

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a little analyst work, and then
in twenty seventeen, my boss and I,

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I took a leap of faith with
him and I just went with him

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to start a guarantee banking trust in
the Central text area. So this is

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a really interesting story because not many
people kind of start a bank from scratch,

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or at least, you know,
open up a bank in a new

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area. So walk me through what
kind of what kind of banking services and

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what that was like kind of gone
from zero to like you know where you

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where you're rinning an office where you're
working out of a car and a Starbucks

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the way a lot of start startups
to like, what what's the experience of

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kind of starting from scratch in this
space? Yeah, so it was really

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interesting. I mean I always tell
people it felt like we were in a

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startup yet we still had a three
billion dollar bank behind us. And what

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I mean by that is there they
had no locations here in the Central Texas

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area. It was so when we
started, it was my boss and I

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in his child's playroom. They came
and gave us all our equipment, and

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then we bought this little table from
home depot that I would sit at right

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next to his and our phones were
daisy chained to each other, and it

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was really like, hey, we're
doing this. And then after that we

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actually went and got a Regus office
and then we shared that and that was

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equally kind of horrible and great at
the same time. I mean, when

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he when he got sick, I
would get sick, and it's like,

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Wow, we're really in this box
together. Were you in one, like

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one little room in reds or did
you have did you get your It was

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one little room and you know,
for a while it was just us working

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in there. And I remember we
hired a lending assistant and and like he's

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like, okay, we have a
lenit assistant coming in barn. We have

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this other little table, and so
I'm like, I'm going to clean our

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little area so we can make it
look like, you know, we're a

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big time and I guarantee she came
in there was like this is the bank,

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So what have I done? What
have I done? What have I

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done? And so then after that
we did hire her, and then we

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went into a office building where we
kind of the team went from the three

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to then I think we kind of
packed that with five and then we got

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the building that we're currently in,
and then we then spread out from downtown

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Austin to Lakeway, to Georgetown and
to Westlake and we here we are now

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with thirty plus people in about four
hundred and sixty million dollars in loans and

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that was since August twenty seventeen.
That is quite the experience. What what

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kind of loans? Like, what's
the what was the nature of the business

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that you built in terms of the
kinds of lending the deposit It's like with

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the kind of customers you were serving, what was and I'll put this in

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there as a side that like,
is where you ended up where you started

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aiming. I mean so often we
hear about in the startup world to pivot,

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but the like, we had this
this vision of where we were going

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to go, and then like you
know, the market came and told us

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a little something different and we changed
strategies. So I'm curious kind of like

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the nature of the kind of business
you've built there and whether or not it's

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really what you intended to build or
there were some lessons along the way.

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That change your direction a little bit. No, definitely, I think it

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wasn't what we intended to build.
I mean, so my boss, Travis

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Brown, I will say, he
is a genius. He has a genius

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credit mind, and so he did
primarily commercial real estate lending, and so

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that was kind of our jump off. That's kind of what paid the bills.

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However, with me, I love
being out in the community. I

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love meeting people, talking to people, and so a lot of mind were

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small business. And so when you
think about it, it's kind of the

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best of both worlds. You have
your big commercial real estate, sexy loans

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that actually pay the bills, and
then you have the you know, the

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small business that are coming inside the
bank and you know using the drive through,

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and you know, those are the
people in the community. Is awesome

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to see them, you know,
go from you know, a little architecture

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affirmed to a big one and that
for me is everything. And so I

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would say that, you know,
just the trajectory. I mean, as

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we look back, would we think
just in five years we would be at

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four hundred and sixty million in loans
just in the Austin area. Probably not,

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you know, you can't think that
I think that's a lot of know

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how just on our part. And
then I think Austin is just booming,

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and you know, everybody wants to
live here, and so I think,

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I think it's a lot of things. Um, but you know, left

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the good times, roll left the
good times role who I think I've spoken

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in a language in this podcast make
some first day I want to ask you.

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You talked about your desire to get
out in the community and kind of

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like, I think that really energizes
you. And you had described the role

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of being a banker, particularly to
small businesses when I talked to you earlier,

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as what you call an intimate job, which I thought was a really

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interesting description. I think a lot
of people can view it as a very

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impersonal job in many ways, right, like mediated by piles of forums and

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kind of process and procedure. But
you've viewed it as a very intimate role.

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So talk to people about about what
you mean and why that's important to

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you and the way you approach that
the banking you do. Yeah, So

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you know, my start of just
being in the community stems from my father

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being a Baptist minister here in a
suburb in Austin and you know, I

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was able to grow up in the
church and see my mom and dad just

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really give their all making sure,
you know, people had that foundation.

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So obviously they're in the community.
And I always tell people, well,

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I'm not, you know, trying
to do a sermon anytime soon. You

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don't want that. However, the
need for just being in the community definitely

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stuck. I definitely draw just you
know, power from within with that,

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and people are really just that energy
that just gets me just just going.

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And you know, with that,
I think, you know, I think

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we have a huge responsibility to our
community to give back in so many ways.

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And I say banking is intimate because
it is I feel like people come

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to you in good times, they
come to you in bad times, they

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come to you in times of struggle, and they basically say, you know,

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here I am in a folder,
this is my financial history, and

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here you go. I mean,
I don't know many people that actually want

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to just give their whole financial history
to somebody and just let your burn or

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you know, somebody just look at
that, you know. And so I

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really think it's a very intimate thing
because they're trusting you with, you know,

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something that they just don't talk about
with anybody. I mean, you've

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always had that friend that's like,
oh, how's the stock market doing?

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You know, my Ferrari goes,
you know, one eighty and then you

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know they're looking at their actual online
banking and it's like they can't even buy

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their Starbucks. So so you know, and that's why I just, you

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know, I'm I really really understand
the trust that people give us as bankers,

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and I take it very seriously.
Yeah, it's not and it's not

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even just handing you their lives and
their financial history and a folder. It's

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handing it to you and asking to
be judged in a way that I think

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it feels very uncomfortable. Right,
they're kind of great. I can't teach

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how am I doing? Do I
qualify or not? It's a very I

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think anxiety adducing thing for most people
to do. Yes, And I mean

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you gotta think as bankers, that
is what we are doing. We are

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risk management, and we are judging
people, and it's just kind of like,

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you know, and that's one of
the reason why I think, you

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know, that's why I think it's
so important because that's a big job.

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And so you know that leads into
the conversations that I'm sure wor'll get too

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well. I would ask this because
you've got this unique experience of having grown

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this thing from you know, with
the backing of a larger bank, but

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from kind of zero to four hundred
and six. I would say zero to

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sixty for carnology before hundred and sixties
is yeah, yeah, there are four

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sixty. There were four sixty in
my card. I'n get that fast.

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But um, I wanted to ask, like, what would the you know,

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if you could think about the biggest
challenge that came from kind of starting

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in the biggest like, um benefit, I think they are oftentimes like they're

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like you can think about the nobody
knows who we are, whatever, the

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challenges of being kind of a startup. At the same time, there's a

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lot of advantages to that. And
I'm curious, looking back on the past

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five years or so, what do
you think were the biggest challenges and biggest

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advantages you've got out of being kind
of a startup or a starting from zero

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kind of experience. Yeah, you
know, the biggest challenges I would say

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is when we first first started,
no one knew the name and Guarante and

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then I will say Guarantee Bank.
There's actually a lot of guarantee banks out

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there, so people would be like, oh, are you guarantee you out

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of blah blah blah. No,
oh I had a banking account with Guarantee.

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No, that's not that one.
So we had to get over that

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hump. And then then once we
got over that hump, it's it's not

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the people that we maybe have banked
in previous banks, but it's kind of

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that newer that newer set that would
come in and be like, okay,

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so where is Guarantee And then that's
when I say, well, you know,

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we're based out of Mount Pleasant,
Texas. I will tell you not

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a lot of Austin Nights know where
Mount Pleasant is on the map. And

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then I would say, because we
didn't actually have a brick and mortar bank

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with our name on the side of
it, it's just kind of like,

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okay, so we're giving you these
things, y'all are opened these accounts.

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And mind you, in the early
days, I would have to send all

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the stuff to College Station because that
was the closest branch. They would open

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it for me overnight. The stuff
back to me and then I would get

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it to my customers. So it
was really like, you know what we

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spend in post said postage at that
time, but it's probably crazy wow,

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But yeah, No, then I
would say the physical building because you know

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there's something about you know, even
if you never go to the bank,

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because most of your bank is banking
is done online, people wanted to see

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that physical building. And I will
tell you once we got into that physical

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building and we and to our luck, we got into an amazing building right

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in the heart of downtown. And
right when you come in you can see

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the big G on the side of
the building. And that's when people are

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like, oh, okay, you
know it kind of like legitimized you,

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Like we're not just you know,
taking this money and driving around and rain

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drovers or anything. How about the
biggest advantages, like were you there are

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things you leap frogging in technology or
experience where you said, hey, we're

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not tied down by the by the
history of the past, and we can

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kind of do something different. It
gives us a leg up on maybe I'm

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more traditional competition. That's got some
of the some of the baggers come up

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with them. So I will say
that as a bank guarantee. Bank and

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Trust does a very good job in
terms of technology and or technology is really

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really strong. However, we're still
that hometown bank that was founded in East

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Texas one hundred and ten years ago. And so when you combine those two,

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it's one of the greatest combinations that
you can do. Because I will

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tell you, you know, I
have no problem or any qualms with any

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banks, but I do think you
should always bank your size. And I

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think a lot of times people will
be at larger banking institutions and there are

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a small business and they don't feel
that they're getting the service that they need.

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And so that was our kind of
entree, if you will, saying,

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hey, look we have the tech
that you want. However we can

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give you that same great service.
Here's my cell phone number, call me

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when you need me. And I
think those two combine really really gave us

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an edge on the market. And
you know, I'm very just kind of

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thankful for that. And plus again
we've been in business one hundred to ten

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years, so that would probably be
another one that's a very strong is that

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our people know what we're doing.
You know, they've they've been through the

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challenges in banking history and we're still
standing to this day. And you know

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that's you know, that's kind of
the success story in Texas alone. So

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you know, I'm very very happy
with you know, our tech that we

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have here, our leadership that we
have here, and just our people that

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we have. UM. I would
say that would probably be the last thing

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is too, is we don't have
a lot of turnover um. And so

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you know, when you get to
know us. As for your small business,

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you're alway he's dealing with the same
person. And you know that's a

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that's a fun thing when somebody calls
and it's like, hey, we know

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what's happening in your business. We
know where we're trying to grow you too,

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and I just I just love that. I love it. Let me

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ask you that just double click a
little bit on the phrase you used,

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bank your size? What do you
what do you mean that's I'm not that's

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a phrase I haven't heard before.
I'm always looking for the little tidbits or

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soundbites, but like, interesting concept. What do you mean by you always

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want to bank your size? So
I think so what I mean by bank

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your size is there will be some
businesses and let's just say they just let's

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say you have a pie business and
you really know how to bank some pies,

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and you do it very well.
And however, you're just kind of

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starting out of your kitchen and you
got your LLC. A lot of people

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will go to the bigger institutions to
open up an account, and you know,

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I think that's good. You know
that's probably right around the corner from

250
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you, so you know that's good. However, when you start needing that

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kind of everyday touch of like oh
I need a cash just check here,

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Oh I need to make a wire
here, Oh I'm ready for a small

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business loan. You know, a
lot of bigger institutions don't pay attention to

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that very very important segment. And
that's the you know, the small business,

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which I like to say is the
backbone of America. And they don't

256
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pay attention to that. So you
know, they'll end up getting denied or

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they won't get the service that they
want, you know, as a small

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institution, because you you know,
you are a small business, are a

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smaller institution, they'll give you all
the time you want. I mean,

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you can go in there and they'll
roll out the red carpet for you and

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say, hey, we love these
pies. Let's not only do this,

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but I'm going to tell my friend
about this, or we actually bank this

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other business that I want y'all to
meet each other. And that's really community

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banking, right there, is that
you're just kind of taking care of the

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size. And then I will say
it goes to the other opposite end of

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you know, sometimes I think you
know your business is you know, now

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it's those same pies, but we've
based all this other stuff and now you

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have kind of a Walmart esque business
that will probably be a good business for

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one of the larger institutions just because
they will have the kind of capacity to

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really handle, you know, what
you need. And that's why I say

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I never talk about bad about any
banks, because I just think they all

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are great in our own type of
ways. And so that's what I mean

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by kind of bank your size.
You know, if you want, if

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you're a small business and you want
that friend or you want that partner,

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come to a community. But I
heard a really interesting podcast with an investor

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or something. Now I'm like talking
about other podcasts on my podcast is bad.

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But he made an interesting comment about
some SaaS businesses where they really knew

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their market size and like, hey, we're going to work for you from

279
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excise employee to why and we kind
of like we don't view it as bad

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when you hit why and you go
somewhere else, because that's not our You

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kind of outgrown what we do and
we that's not like it's churned and it's

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bad, but it's like we think
of it as a good thing because we

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know our our spot, we know
where we add the most value. We

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want to really serve those customers well. And if you get to the high

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end, the larger size and go
we need a different set of stuff.

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Like that's okay. You know that
you know your space, you fit it

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well, and you're kind of our
you know, almost celebrating your customers moving

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past you because they've grown to a
point that that's what they need you you

289
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are in a big way. And
I almost feel like that baby bird flying

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out the nest, like you want
them to spread their wings and fly and

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you're almost you know, in the
you know for me because I've had a

292
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handful of customers do that, and
you almost feel that sense of pride just

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because this is like you know,
I remember when the big bank didn't want

294
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to give you the loan, and
we were the first ones to take that

295
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chance and give you the loan.
And we saw the loan go from twenty

296
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five thousand dollars until now you have
million dollar loans. And that's one of

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the greatest kind of success stories that
you can have. I mean, you

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know, for me, I'll tell
you on the flip side, I'm always

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like, Hey, that money market
account, you know, I can still

300
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have that here. So if you
wanted to leave, you know, a

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couple of millions, look, you
know, look that's when you go back.

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Hey, I do remember when you
were little. Uh, But you

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know, I think it's I think
it's a good thing, and I think

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it's bankers. That's for me.
That's what you want to see. So

305
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I want to get to your role
and kind of community development engagement. But

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but I want to ask one question
because you before I get there, which

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is you talked about this is you
said most of your partners. So if

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you want to duck it, that's
fine. But you talked about building a

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big business in commercial real estate.
That was kind of his you know,

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genius and credit risk and you were
more on the SMB side, But it

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seems like this really interesting moment from
a commercial real estate point of view as

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we see companies that you know,
got a lot of real estate pre COVID

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are going through remote work or you
know, this is shift in the nature

314
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of utilization of office space. And
I'm just curious if you've got any thoughts

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on what the future of commercial real
estate what's kind of shaking out over there,

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because I don't I don't know how
to make heads or tails of quite

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what's going on. There's still a
lot of building, a lot of places,

318
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but there's a lot of empty space, and I'm curious if you got

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any thoughts on like what's going to
happen in the commercial real estate space over

320
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the next couple of years, because
it feels like this kind of strange moment

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of dislocation in terms of what we
expect the utilization of those kinds of spaces

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to be. Yeah, No,
this this moment that we're sitting in right

323
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now, and this year that we're
going to go through as bankers, it's

324
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going to be kind of a weird, quirky year just in terms of you

325
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know, loans that we were doing
six two months to a year ago that

326
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we would have said, oh,
definitely, yeah, let's go. Now

327
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we're kind of you know, pumping
the brakes on it, saying, okay,

328
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let's let's look at this, but
let's look at it in a couple

329
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other ways now that we have to. And you know, Austin is kind

330
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of tricky. Austin is a tricky
one because, like we like to say,

331
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you know, we are going to
be the last one's in, first

332
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one out in terms of you know, we don't want to use the recession

333
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word, but you know, hey, what comes what comes. And you

334
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know, so I think in terms
of when you're talking about commercial real estate,

335
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it's one of those things you really
have to pay attention to the articles.

336
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You have to pay attention to the
news, you have to pay attention

337
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to the FED, you have to
pay attention to all these things and just

338
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kind of make sure that you're really
on top of it in that knowledge level.

339
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It's really high. Again, you
know, I don't want to toot

340
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my bank's horn, but that's one
of the things that they are really really

341
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kind of good at in terms of
just we have the right people in place

342
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to make sure that every one of
these things that I am talking about,

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we have somebody paying attention to.
And so those are one of those things

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that really really helpful when you have
the right people and right people in charge

345
00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:25.839
and right people looking at the things, and guarantee Bank and Trust does a

346
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very good job of that. And
I will say that, you know,

347
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there are times that I think,
especially like right now, there's a lot

348
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of banks kind of going and blowing
and they're like, hey, we want

349
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to give you this interest rates,
and you know, they're trying to get

350
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market you know, get market share, and you know, we're like,

351
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hold on, you know again,
we're about relationships. So that is what

352
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we are really focused on right now. It's not that where Okay, we

353
00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:56.400
just want to do alone and you
don't have anything over here. You know,

354
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this is a this is a back
and forth, This is a give

355
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and take. This is a relationship
that we want again. Kind of the

356
00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:07.119
thing that we've been echoing through the
conversation is we want to see you go

357
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from you this over here, and
we want to help you get to that

358
00:23:10.519 --> 00:23:15.680
next step because when it comes to
times like these and other banks are trying

359
00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:18.079
to take market share and they're trying
to give you a better raid or they're

360
00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:22.000
trying to do these That's when that
loyalty comes back and play and says,

361
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you know what, Ryan was able
to get me through times that nobody else

362
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wanted to get me through. And
so now just because the rates a little

363
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better at somewhere else, I'll pass
because guess what, my bank has tried

364
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and true, and I believe in
these people, just like you know we

365
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believe in their businesses. Hey,
Sarah buch here, the VP of Consumer

366
00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:48.440
Landing at First Federal Bank of Kansas
City. A few years back, our

367
00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:52.160
executive team knew we needed to grow
our unsecured personal loan portfolio, so we

368
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turned to Upstart. Three years later, I am proud to share that we've

369
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scaled our loan volume target from five
hundred thousand a month twelve million a month,

370
00:24:00.200 --> 00:24:03.559
and acquired over a thousand new customers. If you want to hear more

371
00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:07.960
about our partnership, check out the
full case study on Upstart dot com forward

372
00:24:08.039 --> 00:24:15.160
slash Lenders. Once again, that's
Upstart dot Com forward slash Lenders. All

373
00:24:15.240 --> 00:24:18.680
right, let's get back to the
show. Maybe that's a good point to

374
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transition to. You know, you've
had a role in the kind of the

375
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community development engagement of both in the
kind of Austin area part of the bank

376
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that you started, but I think
also in the larger institution. Talk to

377
00:24:30.440 --> 00:24:33.759
me a little bit about how you
think about what that role is and what

378
00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:36.400
your objectives are. I think it's
it's a really interesting aspect of banks for

379
00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:40.440
the community banks. I mean,
it's kind of like the heart and soul

380
00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:42.960
of the banking industry is kind of
engaging with the community and both financial in

381
00:24:44.359 --> 00:24:47.240
other ways. But how do you
think about what your objectives are and what

382
00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:52.160
you're trying to do in the context
of community development within the bank. Yeah.

383
00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:56.519
So back in November of twenty twenty
two, my bank came to me,

384
00:24:56.799 --> 00:25:00.480
by my surprise, it was like, hey, we got this new

385
00:25:02.039 --> 00:25:04.599
role that we think you would be
perfect and we've never done it here at

386
00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:08.400
this bank and we want you to
do it. And that is the first

387
00:25:08.440 --> 00:25:15.880
community development officer for a Guarantee bank
and trust. This is something that I've

388
00:25:15.880 --> 00:25:18.720
been doing since I've started, and
that's just being in the community. I'm

389
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always here there. I'm probably out
at least four to five nights a week

390
00:25:23.480 --> 00:25:30.440
just in different avenues in the community, just because I think you know,

391
00:25:30.680 --> 00:25:33.880
if we're gonna I really take the
word community seriously. If we're gonna be

392
00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:37.240
a community bank, we need to
be in the community. And that looks

393
00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:40.359
like a lot of things. That's
giving my time, talent, treasure,

394
00:25:40.759 --> 00:25:45.000
all those things and making sure that, you know, guarantee banking is doing

395
00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:48.759
their job. And so when they
came to me and gave me this,

396
00:25:48.279 --> 00:25:52.880
obviously I said yes. Obviously,
I was like, oh my gosh.

397
00:25:52.920 --> 00:25:56.519
And then so they basically were like, hey, we love what you're doing

398
00:25:56.559 --> 00:25:59.599
in Austin. Now we want you
to do it in all our metro areas.

399
00:25:59.640 --> 00:26:03.200
So now you are over Austin,
Dallas, Fort Worth, in Houston

400
00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:07.480
and everywhere in between. And you
know, that's a big responsibility. You

401
00:26:07.480 --> 00:26:10.839
know. I was so happy,
and I remember they told me and then

402
00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:12.839
I closed my office door and I
was like yes. And then I'm like,

403
00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:15.359
oh my gosh, I am I
gonna do this. You gotta be

404
00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:17.720
out two days a week, not
ten days in the week to be out

405
00:26:17.759 --> 00:26:19.240
and about in the different communities anymore. Ran you gotta you gotta pick and

406
00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:23.880
choose correct what you know, what
does that look like? And so then

407
00:26:23.920 --> 00:26:26.039
I thought to myself, like,
you know, what I know what that

408
00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:30.880
looks like, that looks like exactly
what we're doing here. And you know,

409
00:26:30.920 --> 00:26:33.559
so one of the things that I've
been fortunate is UM the Association.

410
00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:37.599
I work with Texas Bankers Association in
a big way and I'm on about three

411
00:26:37.640 --> 00:26:41.119
different committees with them, and that
works throughout the state of Texas, just

412
00:26:41.319 --> 00:26:45.599
you know, kind of lobbying for
community banks and making sure you know the

413
00:26:45.799 --> 00:26:49.920
avenues that we want to take.
We have all the banks kind of in

414
00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:53.839
one voice, and then we can
actually take that fight to Washington if we

415
00:26:53.880 --> 00:26:59.200
feel that you know, the policies
that we are trying to change, we

416
00:26:59.279 --> 00:27:02.599
can tell the laws. Actually that's
where I came back from from a day

417
00:27:02.640 --> 00:27:06.680
ago. I was in Washington,
DC meeting the one hundred and eighteenth of

418
00:27:06.799 --> 00:27:14.480
Congress the new freshman, the freshman
congressman from Texas. And so why those

419
00:27:14.519 --> 00:27:18.720
relationships are important is because obviously,
if you want something, you know,

420
00:27:18.839 --> 00:27:22.680
change, you might have to do
with policy wise. So that's why that's

421
00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:27.799
important. But it gives me an
opportunity to talk to all our different markets

422
00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:32.599
and say, oh my gosh,
you know, we're focused on these areas.

423
00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:37.039
So at the bank, we are
focused on financial literacy and education,

424
00:27:37.960 --> 00:27:41.599
affordable housing, in economic and workforce
development. So corporately, those are kind

425
00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:45.680
of our big things that we just
kind of focus on. Every other market

426
00:27:47.079 --> 00:27:52.920
can have their own things, and
they're great nonprofits like Habitat for Humanity or

427
00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:56.119
if you have a ballet there,
or you know anything, dogs and cats.

428
00:27:56.480 --> 00:28:00.599
We love it all, we love
it all, but probably those are

429
00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:03.039
the things that we focus on.
And I will tell you one thing that

430
00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:08.799
I truly, truly love is I've
been able to meet other community development officers

431
00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:14.240
at other banks, both large and
small. And the cool thing about that

432
00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:18.039
is, you know we're not actually
working against each other. We're working together.

433
00:28:18.599 --> 00:28:22.039
So if something cool comes up in
Fort Worth and says, hey,

434
00:28:22.279 --> 00:28:26.640
where you're trying to do affordable housing
here, you know that bank may may

435
00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:29.519
only be able to give twenty five
thousand to that, and so then you

436
00:28:29.559 --> 00:28:32.839
take my twenty five thousand, and
then Bank of America comes and says,

437
00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:34.920
hey, we're going to give a
million dollars. We can really make some

438
00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:41.640
good magic happen in techs serving our
communities. So that's why this role is

439
00:28:42.519 --> 00:28:47.640
amazing. Obviously, I get to
talk to people, not just in Austin,

440
00:28:47.759 --> 00:28:52.160
but around you know, around Texas
now, and it really I mean

441
00:28:52.200 --> 00:28:56.680
basically, they really just gave me
a bigger runway. And so I am

442
00:28:56.720 --> 00:29:00.519
so just you know, thankful to
them being able just to make my impact

443
00:29:00.599 --> 00:29:04.319
bigger. And that's it for me. That's all I want. I just

444
00:29:04.359 --> 00:29:08.960
want to do really good work and
I want to be very impactful. So

445
00:29:10.400 --> 00:29:12.680
I'll ask two things to fall up
on that. Because you mentioned a couple

446
00:29:12.680 --> 00:29:15.079
of things. Affordable housing, I
think a lot of people are familiar with

447
00:29:15.160 --> 00:29:18.240
kind of like the it's a well
worn path in terms of what we do

448
00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:22.960
and how you support that. But
the topics of financial literacy and education I

449
00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:27.200
think is one at least I find
difficult and I we've often compared to like

450
00:29:27.240 --> 00:29:30.480
getting people to eat their broccoli,
like people don't always want that education.

451
00:29:30.599 --> 00:29:34.559
And you know, like even me
or my kids, I got to try

452
00:29:34.559 --> 00:29:38.359
to force feed my kids financial education, saying grow up smart about different products.

453
00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:41.160
Have you. I'm curious if you've
seen things at work in that space,

454
00:29:41.200 --> 00:29:44.920
because I feel like it's a space
where we all know the information that

455
00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:48.720
needs to get conveyed, but the
ways that make it engaging and where the

456
00:29:48.759 --> 00:29:52.200
community really embraces what you're doing and
you can actually drive successful holds. I'm

457
00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:55.920
curious of what you've seen or what's
worked well for you in that space,

458
00:29:55.960 --> 00:29:57.200
and a similar question around workforce development, I think, but I'd like to

459
00:29:57.200 --> 00:30:00.000
start with the financial education as well
as it's like near and dear to my

460
00:30:00.039 --> 00:30:03.359
heart that I feel like and I
think it's a practically criminal that we don't

461
00:30:03.400 --> 00:30:08.000
have real financial education part as part
of our educational attainment for everybody come out

462
00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:11.519
of high school. You don't know
anything about basic financial products, interest rates,

463
00:30:11.599 --> 00:30:15.319
market. I think that's criminal,
to be honest, because it's such

464
00:30:15.319 --> 00:30:18.559
a critical life skill and just would
love any insights you have on what's been

465
00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:22.440
effective at helping you drive real results
in because I think it's such an important

466
00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:26.720
thing for us as a country to
get better at doing. No. I

467
00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:29.920
couldn't agree with you more and so
there's a lot of things in there.

468
00:30:30.119 --> 00:30:36.039
But yeah, so with the financial
education piece, it's it's such an important

469
00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:41.000
piece, and like you said,
why is this not taught? My CEO

470
00:30:41.160 --> 00:30:42.279
even told me that he's like,
you know what, Ryan, I would

471
00:30:42.279 --> 00:30:45.640
be willing to put a whole lot
of money if we could somehow get this

472
00:30:45.720 --> 00:30:48.960
in schools and he was just kind
of saying it. But I took it

473
00:30:49.000 --> 00:30:52.680
and I'm like, hey, if
my CEOs is saying that's what he wants,

474
00:30:53.240 --> 00:30:56.599
let's make it happen. So literally
I sat there, Yeah, let's

475
00:30:56.599 --> 00:31:00.240
go do it. And I sat
there and I'm like, how am I

476
00:31:00.279 --> 00:31:03.880
going to make this happen? Again? I leaned on Texas Bankers Association,

477
00:31:03.240 --> 00:31:07.200
and I said, and I talked
to, you know, the CEO,

478
00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:11.720
Chris Furlough, who I love and
he acts as a great just mentor.

479
00:31:11.759 --> 00:31:15.400
I don't even really make a move
without askually talking to him. But I

480
00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:18.319
talked to Chris and I said,
hey, how do we make this happen?

481
00:31:18.599 --> 00:31:22.119
And He's like, hey, we
know enough people where we can.

482
00:31:22.279 --> 00:31:26.319
And so with Texas Bankers Association,
I'm a part of American Bankers Association too,

483
00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:32.640
and so we have now kind of
set a plan in place where we

484
00:31:32.680 --> 00:31:37.440
are going to work with the state
of Texas in terms of getting a couple

485
00:31:37.519 --> 00:31:41.319
of school districts and using them kind
of as you know, kind of a

486
00:31:41.400 --> 00:31:45.160
program to see, Okay, we
want to put financial literacy courses in here.

487
00:31:45.480 --> 00:31:48.759
Let's kind of see how this takes
off. And so I will tell

488
00:31:48.799 --> 00:31:56.440
you right now with that, a
lot of states are paying attention to Texas

489
00:31:56.519 --> 00:32:00.160
right now, just because we have
the tools we have of what we need

490
00:32:00.160 --> 00:32:05.200
to make that happen. Until we
went into a couple of school districts and

491
00:32:05.200 --> 00:32:08.240
said, hey, this is the
course courses that we need you to teach.

492
00:32:09.160 --> 00:32:14.759
And I will tell you this came
from somebody that's very important to me,

493
00:32:14.799 --> 00:32:19.039
and you know a little genius herself
is my wife. We were literally

494
00:32:19.039 --> 00:32:22.200
sitting at this conference where I was
receiving an award, and so she was

495
00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:30.160
there and they were talking about financial
literacy and you know the state of Texas,

496
00:32:30.359 --> 00:32:32.440
and she used to work for TA
Texas Education Agency and she's like,

497
00:32:34.400 --> 00:32:36.839
of course. She goes in and
she's like, right, well, why

498
00:32:36.880 --> 00:32:38.599
aren't y'all doing this? They already
have courses here. You could just put

499
00:32:38.640 --> 00:32:44.880
those courses together and we can do
teach something. And I'm thinking, yeah,

500
00:32:44.920 --> 00:32:47.200
that's what we were doing already.
You're just saying it out loud,

501
00:32:49.799 --> 00:32:52.200
but really, she literally, I
will tell you how that went. That

502
00:32:52.319 --> 00:32:54.279
conversation went between me and her.
She told me I was kind of like

503
00:32:54.319 --> 00:32:58.359
blown away. And then I called
Chris Furlough and I was like, hey,

504
00:32:58.480 --> 00:33:00.160
Laura, just thought about how we
were going to do this, and

505
00:33:00.559 --> 00:33:05.680
we thought of a plan, and
that's how we got the curriculum. And

506
00:33:05.720 --> 00:33:08.599
then we're gonna put it in you
know, these kind of school these school

507
00:33:08.599 --> 00:33:12.640
districts that we think would it work, and we're just gonna see how it

508
00:33:12.680 --> 00:33:16.000
works. And you know, I
think it's actually is going to work.

509
00:33:16.039 --> 00:33:22.559
And so a lot of other association
presidents around the nation have actually started talking

510
00:33:22.559 --> 00:33:24.039
to Chris and saying, hey,
we like what y'all are doing over here.

511
00:33:24.119 --> 00:33:27.359
So you know, before you know
it, it's gonna you know,

512
00:33:27.440 --> 00:33:30.759
kind of catch like wildfire. And
then again that's where no one, you

513
00:33:30.759 --> 00:33:34.480
know, these members of Congress can
help too, because they actually have big

514
00:33:34.519 --> 00:33:38.039
microphones and you know they can they're
the ones that are appropriating the money.

515
00:33:38.079 --> 00:33:43.200
And so that's just kind of how
it works. So I cannot wait until

516
00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:45.119
you know, this really gets off
the ground and I can go back to

517
00:33:45.160 --> 00:33:49.920
my CEO and say, hey,
you said you would love to do this.

518
00:33:50.119 --> 00:33:52.920
Boom, we got it, you
know, and again you can see

519
00:33:53.519 --> 00:33:58.279
and you can see how excited I
am about it because you know, it's

520
00:33:58.319 --> 00:34:01.640
important. And another thing you said
it is affordable house One reason why affordable

521
00:34:01.680 --> 00:34:07.920
housing to me is important is because
I don't feel that anybody will care about

522
00:34:07.960 --> 00:34:10.280
financial literacy. If you have nowhere
to stay, that's fair, you know

523
00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:14.719
what I'm saying, Like that that
goes, that goes, keeps on going

524
00:34:14.760 --> 00:34:16.559
down on the list because you're worried
about how am I going to take care

525
00:34:16.599 --> 00:34:20.719
of my family? And the thing
is, you know, in America right

526
00:34:20.760 --> 00:34:24.920
now, housing and four one case, those are some of our biggest ways

527
00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:30.559
that we you know, we get
wealth. And so if communities don't know

528
00:34:30.599 --> 00:34:34.480
about these things, you know,
that's not going to happen. And my

529
00:34:34.519 --> 00:34:40.000
whole thing in life is I don't
want it to be where I'm sitting there,

530
00:34:40.119 --> 00:34:43.599
you know, reflecting on life and
I'm saying, wow, I've done

531
00:34:43.639 --> 00:34:46.440
this, I've got to do this, I've got to go places around the

532
00:34:46.480 --> 00:34:52.039
world. Is that really fun?
If I don't bring anybody with me sort

533
00:34:52.039 --> 00:34:54.639
of speak in terms of if my
neighbor can't do that, or the neighbor

534
00:34:54.679 --> 00:34:59.199
down the street can't do that,
it's really not you know, it's it's

535
00:34:59.199 --> 00:35:01.920
really sad in a way. And
so that's our job, you know,

536
00:35:02.400 --> 00:35:07.000
your job, my job to make
sure that you know your neighbor, your

537
00:35:07.039 --> 00:35:14.400
community member has the tools that they
can to fly. And so, you

538
00:35:14.440 --> 00:35:19.639
know, affordable housing is one of
those things that it's really hurting our bigger

539
00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:23.360
cities. You know, I will
say that a lot of frontline staff and

540
00:35:23.559 --> 00:35:30.280
most industries can't live within the city
anymore that they're working in, and so

541
00:35:30.480 --> 00:35:36.079
we have to figure this out.
And so one thing that Guarantee was allowed

542
00:35:36.079 --> 00:35:42.079
me to do is we actually did
a million dollar investment into Austin affordable housing.

543
00:35:42.480 --> 00:35:45.760
And so what that looks like is
there is a private group of investors

544
00:35:45.800 --> 00:35:52.719
in Austin that have purchased multifamily units
and they are then renting them out to

545
00:35:52.840 --> 00:35:59.320
frontline workers. So you're our nurses, our teachers, and they are putting

546
00:35:59.360 --> 00:36:04.440
it at a rate where they can
actually afford. And so with that why

547
00:36:04.480 --> 00:36:07.400
they're actually can afford this rate,
we're putting through the financial literacy classes.

548
00:36:07.400 --> 00:36:12.039
So not only that money that you're
saving, we can actually put that to

549
00:36:12.719 --> 00:36:15.840
work, and we can then get
down payments and we're working with people on

550
00:36:15.920 --> 00:36:21.400
down payment assists and it kind of
just snowballs into the thing to where now

551
00:36:21.519 --> 00:36:25.480
they can afford a home for their
family and then they have financial literacy and

552
00:36:25.519 --> 00:36:30.840
then they're going to be great people
to contribute to our workforce. And then

553
00:36:30.079 --> 00:36:36.599
you know, then the economic stability
happened. So that's where when we talk

554
00:36:36.639 --> 00:36:40.800
about the areas that Guarantee is trying
to make an impact in, that's where

555
00:36:40.840 --> 00:36:44.840
they all kind of go together.
And I hope you can now see kind

556
00:36:44.840 --> 00:36:47.559
of the bigger picture of what the
plan that we're kind of attack or to

557
00:36:47.559 --> 00:36:52.800
speak. It's I love how it
all connects together. I do want to

558
00:36:52.800 --> 00:36:54.480
double click a little bit more on
the last area you talked about, and

559
00:36:54.800 --> 00:36:58.599
then then Wenna have to write the
same up because we're running over I'm sorry,

560
00:36:59.079 --> 00:37:02.719
which force development and is when there's
souch so much interesting things to talk

561
00:37:02.719 --> 00:37:06.840
about. Is just stuff happens,
And it's fine, there's it's a beauty

562
00:37:06.880 --> 00:37:09.000
of podcasts. There's no like,
there's no set time period. You've got

563
00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:12.079
to be done before the commercial break
and the next show. We get to

564
00:37:12.079 --> 00:37:15.840
go as long as we want.
But what are your priorities or what are

565
00:37:15.880 --> 00:37:17.719
you seeing in terms of workforce development? Because I feel like the nature of

566
00:37:17.760 --> 00:37:22.239
work is shifting so much. This
idea of how do we develop the workforce

567
00:37:22.280 --> 00:37:23.599
for the future and for what's what's
coming down the pipe. It's such an

568
00:37:23.599 --> 00:37:27.880
important one. What are you guys
areas of focus or what are you doing

569
00:37:27.920 --> 00:37:30.440
on that front? Yes, I
was just so. I was just talking

570
00:37:30.559 --> 00:37:34.519
last night to somebody in there just
uh. We were talking about how a

571
00:37:34.559 --> 00:37:38.039
lot of these jobs with these skills
are really kind of going away. Because

572
00:37:38.440 --> 00:37:42.519
I will tell you, the tech
industry has done a really good job of

573
00:37:42.559 --> 00:37:45.559
marketing themselves saying, hey, come
be in tech. I mean, obviously

574
00:37:45.599 --> 00:37:50.360
that works because of these big paychecks
that they are offering, you know,

575
00:37:50.480 --> 00:37:53.679
college graduates right out the back.
So I see why it's working. What's

576
00:37:53.719 --> 00:37:58.840
happening is that our skilled labor force
is kind of going away. And so

577
00:37:59.199 --> 00:38:02.760
if we take banking for instance,
you know, one of the biggest things

578
00:38:02.840 --> 00:38:07.360
that I want to make sure that
it happens is that I see more people

579
00:38:07.400 --> 00:38:12.280
of color in my industry. And
then I would say that's one and then

580
00:38:12.320 --> 00:38:15.679
one A would be women as well, and not just women in the industry

581
00:38:15.719 --> 00:38:20.599
in terms of oh Ryan, but
are we have like seventy five women working

582
00:38:20.639 --> 00:38:22.800
at this bank? No, no, no, no, I'm talking about

583
00:38:22.800 --> 00:38:27.719
women in leadership that gets to that
executive level. And so one of the

584
00:38:27.760 --> 00:38:32.519
things that we're doing in banking is
at Texas Southern University in Houston. They

585
00:38:32.559 --> 00:38:40.239
have opened the first banking program at
HBCU in the nation and HBCU historically Black

586
00:38:40.239 --> 00:38:45.800
College University. And so when I
saw that they were doing that, and

587
00:38:46.039 --> 00:38:52.800
actually TBA Texas Bank Association gave the
first hundred thousand dollars of seed money for

588
00:38:52.880 --> 00:38:55.719
that and now I think they've raised
over four million. And well, so

589
00:38:55.840 --> 00:38:58.920
when I saw that, I came, you know, came to my bank.

590
00:38:58.960 --> 00:39:00.360
It was like, hey, I
know the first place that I want

591
00:39:00.360 --> 00:39:04.440
to write a check too. And
you know, they just gave me those

592
00:39:04.559 --> 00:39:07.440
role in you know, November December, and they're like, okay, let's

593
00:39:07.519 --> 00:39:09.840
let's go. And so I explain
that to them. And why that's important

594
00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:13.880
is because not only do I want
to write a check to the program,

595
00:39:14.199 --> 00:39:17.400
but you know, I also want
their interns. You know, I want

596
00:39:17.679 --> 00:39:21.840
I want you know, young men
and women come and say hey, look,

597
00:39:22.199 --> 00:39:24.800
come come intern here. I want
to get you used to working in

598
00:39:24.800 --> 00:39:29.480
a bank environment. And then after
that, you know, once they graduate,

599
00:39:29.719 --> 00:39:31.239
I want them to say, hey, come back here, come work

600
00:39:31.239 --> 00:39:34.280
for here. You know, some
people might want to go to a bigger

601
00:39:34.320 --> 00:39:37.000
bank or any kind of bank.
But at least that is helping, you

602
00:39:37.039 --> 00:39:42.559
know, the industry as a whole, because I do know that like a

603
00:39:42.679 --> 00:39:46.840
lot of banks, we're having trouble
hiring frontline workers. And again that goes

604
00:39:46.880 --> 00:39:51.960
back to that affordability and all those
kind of problems. However, I do

605
00:39:52.079 --> 00:39:58.320
think if we start putting money into
places, into universities, into programs that

606
00:39:58.360 --> 00:40:02.920
can help that that's one way of
many that can help us with this whole

607
00:40:02.920 --> 00:40:09.280
workforce problem. And I think every
industry probably has something where you couldn't pour

608
00:40:09.400 --> 00:40:14.079
money into it in terms of helping. And sometimes it's just not money.

609
00:40:14.440 --> 00:40:16.360
I know that you know, at
Texas Southern and probably a lot of other

610
00:40:16.400 --> 00:40:21.239
banking schools, they would really love
the help of some of these seasoned bankers

611
00:40:21.519 --> 00:40:24.599
coming in here and saying, hey, can you teach class on credit or

612
00:40:24.719 --> 00:40:29.400
you know, financial analysis. They're
going through all that kind of stuff.

613
00:40:29.400 --> 00:40:32.599
And so again that's kind of my
PSA in terms of, hey, you

614
00:40:32.639 --> 00:40:36.159
don't have to just give your money, but you can give your time as

615
00:40:36.199 --> 00:40:42.719
well. And so yeah, no, workforce development is just it's huge.

616
00:40:42.800 --> 00:40:46.000
But again, if you look at
that kind of circle graph that I'm saying

617
00:40:46.039 --> 00:40:51.199
it all kind of relates to each
other and all makes sense, and if

618
00:40:51.199 --> 00:40:55.000
we can do it all together,
we can definitely uplift these communities that we

619
00:40:55.079 --> 00:40:59.320
live in, because you know,
I love to say that, you know,

620
00:40:59.360 --> 00:41:01.559
if you can see, you can
be it. And I think a

621
00:41:01.599 --> 00:41:07.440
lot of these kids coming out of
some of these communities they didn't really know

622
00:41:07.480 --> 00:41:09.079
that banking was an option because,
like you said, when we started,

623
00:41:09.159 --> 00:41:14.119
like people just kind of fall into
it. And so I've decided, hey,

624
00:41:14.159 --> 00:41:16.159
we have to do a better job
of marketing ourselves. Yeah we might

625
00:41:16.159 --> 00:41:21.280
not be as sexy as a tech
company, but we can also promote stability.

626
00:41:21.960 --> 00:41:25.920
You know, as all these layoffs
happen in the tech industry, you

627
00:41:25.960 --> 00:41:30.559
know those aren't happening in the banking
industry. And you can still make some

628
00:41:30.599 --> 00:41:32.920
really good money in the banking industry, and like I like to say,

629
00:41:34.039 --> 00:41:36.920
you can have a meaning and a
purpose and help out your community. So

630
00:41:37.639 --> 00:41:38.840
I think it's a way and win. And plus you get to work with

631
00:41:38.880 --> 00:41:42.159
people like Jeff. Come on now, who don't want to do that?

632
00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:46.079
I can think of a few,
but I think it's a good point in

633
00:41:46.119 --> 00:41:51.000
the role. Ryan. I appreciate
all this. I also have I got

634
00:41:51.000 --> 00:41:52.880
three standard questions I ask everybody at
the end of the podcast. If you

635
00:41:52.880 --> 00:41:55.000
don't mind, I'm gonna throw them
at you now and see what you got

636
00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.800
for. Yeah, you're ready,
my lightning round. All right, here's

637
00:41:59.800 --> 00:42:02.519
a one. What's the best piece
of career advice you've ever gotten from My

638
00:42:02.599 --> 00:42:07.760
dad? He would always tell me, Hey, I don't know everything about

639
00:42:07.760 --> 00:42:10.280
everything. So when you get somebody
in front of you that's willing to teach

640
00:42:10.320 --> 00:42:15.800
you about something, take it their
advice. Sit there, pen and pad,

641
00:42:15.199 --> 00:42:19.760
let's go. All right, take
your opportunities to learn. I love

642
00:42:19.760 --> 00:42:22.239
advice from parents. I think it's
some of the best best to we get

643
00:42:22.239 --> 00:42:25.280
on the show. Second question,
what's the best piece of advice you've gotten

644
00:42:25.320 --> 00:42:30.559
about the banking or lending space in
general? Always be a learner, I

645
00:42:30.599 --> 00:42:34.320
mean, always be a student.
Always be a student ready to learn.

646
00:42:34.880 --> 00:42:37.599
I was actually just sitting at a
dinner the other night and I had the

647
00:42:37.920 --> 00:42:45.599
just pleasure of sitting with four bank
CEOs in me, and I told him,

648
00:42:45.639 --> 00:42:49.159
I said, I am not taking
this opportunity and not asking y'all question.

649
00:42:49.440 --> 00:42:52.639
And you know, one of them, and actually it was Jeff Austin

650
00:42:52.719 --> 00:42:55.360
out of Austin Bank out of Jacksonville, Texas. He told me he's like,

651
00:42:55.599 --> 00:43:00.199
you know, always be willing to
be a learner, and he is

652
00:43:00.239 --> 00:43:04.440
so right. I'm ready just to
soak it all up, all right,

653
00:43:04.519 --> 00:43:07.320
lots lots of emphasis on learning.
And my last question for you, what's

654
00:43:07.480 --> 00:43:10.920
one bold prediction for the future.
Something we can bring you back and hold

655
00:43:10.920 --> 00:43:14.360
your feet to the fire. See
if you got got your prediction right,

656
00:43:14.400 --> 00:43:16.360
But something you know, buld prediction
of what's coming down the pipe, what's

657
00:43:16.360 --> 00:43:20.480
coming down in fine Well, what's
coming down pike? And banking is it

658
00:43:20.599 --> 00:43:24.920
is no longer gonna look like banking
of yesteryear. Banking is going to look

659
00:43:25.480 --> 00:43:30.599
very differently. That could be That
means the workforce is going to look differently.

660
00:43:30.679 --> 00:43:35.280
That means the customers are going to
look differently. That means our train

661
00:43:35.360 --> 00:43:38.320
of thought of how we you know, got this far from for one hundred

662
00:43:38.360 --> 00:43:43.159
and ten years. That means that
you have to be progressive enough to say,

663
00:43:43.199 --> 00:43:45.119
hey, we see this coming and
we have to be ready to kind

664
00:43:45.119 --> 00:43:49.320
of pivot, duck and weave.
And like I said, our bank is

665
00:43:49.320 --> 00:43:52.239
doing a very great job of that. And so I guess that's not really

666
00:43:52.239 --> 00:43:57.199
a prediction, that's what is going
to happen. But I think if you

667
00:43:57.400 --> 00:44:02.360
kind of stay true to values and
make sure you're just really kind of charting

668
00:44:02.400 --> 00:44:07.920
the course, you'll be just fine. And if you're a constant learner looking

669
00:44:07.960 --> 00:44:10.000
for opportunities to learn and being willing
to take notice when you find them,

670
00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.519
then you're probably going to be good
on well served by that in changing environment.

671
00:44:15.280 --> 00:44:17.360
You got it all right, Ryan. I appreciate your joining us today

672
00:44:17.360 --> 00:44:21.480
and sharing your perspective. This is
a fascinating conversation. Thank you, Thank

673
00:44:21.480 --> 00:44:22.920
you for making the time. No, thank you, Jeff, this has

674
00:44:22.960 --> 00:44:28.639
been amazing. Thank you for the
opportunity. Upstart partners with banks and credit

675
00:44:28.719 --> 00:44:32.760
unions to help grow their consumer loan
portfolios and deliver a modern all digital lending

676
00:44:32.800 --> 00:44:38.079
experience. As the average consumer becomes
more digitally savvy, it only makes sense

677
00:44:38.119 --> 00:44:44.800
that their bank does too. Upstarts
AI lending platform uses sophisticated machine learning models

678
00:44:45.039 --> 00:44:50.360
to more accurately identify risk and approve
more applicants than traditional credit models. With

679
00:44:50.519 --> 00:44:55.920
fraud rates near zero, Upstarts All
Digital experience reduces manual processing for banks and

680
00:44:57.079 --> 00:45:01.400
offers a simple and convenient experience for
consumer whether you're looking to grow and enhance

681
00:45:01.440 --> 00:45:07.280
your existing personal and auto lending programs, or you're just getting started. Upstart

682
00:45:07.320 --> 00:45:10.559
can help. Upstart offers an end
to end solution that can help you find

683
00:45:10.559 --> 00:45:15.960
more credit worthy borrowers within your risk
profile with all digital underwriting, onboarding,

684
00:45:16.320 --> 00:45:21.679
loan closing, and servicing. It's
all possible with Upstart in your quarner.

685
00:45:22.400 --> 00:45:27.280
Learn more about finding new borrowers,
enhancing your credit decisioning process, and growing

686
00:45:27.280 --> 00:45:31.440
your business by visiting upstart dot com
Slash four dash banks. That's upstart dot

687
00:45:31.440 --> 00:45:37.639
com Slash four dash banks. You've
been listening to leaders and lending from upstart,

688
00:45:37.239 --> 00:45:40.440
make sure you never missed an episode. Subscribe to leaders in Hi.

689
00:45:40.679 --> 00:45:45.360
I'm David brand scup of Lending Operations
as share in the Federal Credit Union number

690
00:45:45.360 --> 00:45:49.800
of stars you think after we saw
a spike in both mobile activity and personal

691
00:45:49.840 --> 00:45:50.480
loans, we