Sometimes, bank treasurers might feel like they’re living in a make-believe world. It’s really tough to stay focused when they’re worried about things like a war in Iran, economic uncertainty, political instability, Fed uncertainty, and big changes like moving to instant payments, rapid industry consolidation, and new, empowered fintech competitors, NDFIs, and AI—all at the same time. They also need to adjust to a new tone with their bank supervisors. This month’s newsletter podcast talks about these challenges and how bank treasurers are navigating through all these rapid changes and 10X volatility.

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Tried as he might on his African safari vacation, your editor in chief could not ignore the news from back home. He saw a lot of lions, giraffes, zebras, rhinos, hippos, elephants, cheetahs, and leopards, witnessed real-life drama when a cheetah tried and failed to kill a baby wildebeest, and spent countless hours with a guide to point out all the amazing birds in the Serengeti. But all he could focus on was the Kevin Warsh nomination, the FDIC’s new willingness to approve Industrial Loan Company charter applications, and the OCC’s approval of stablecoin-related trust bank charters. If that was not enough to occupy his attention, he could not stop thinking about how the Small Business Administration’s new Small Business Investment Company could be good news for bank treasury.

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Trump’s feud with Powell adds to the chaos in financial markets, but recalls many other episodes in American history when presidents and central bankers clashed. From Andrew Jackson and Nicholas Biddle fighting over the future of the Second Bank of the United States, to Harry Truman firing then-Fed Chair Tom McCabe, which led to the 1951 Treasury Accord, politicians and the Fed manage an uneasy alliance with implications for the future direction of interest rates and the economy. Bank treasurers might think that the Fed’s political independence is sacrosanct, but forget that when the politicians in Congress chartered the Fed in 1914, the Treasury Secretary was a voting member of the FOMC. Bank treasurers who successfully manage through market and economic uncertainty are only doing their jobs by delivering consistent performance through ups and downs.

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AI is the future, and the future is now, at least it is one of next year's top priorities for every bank treasurer at large and small banks and credit unions. The question is how? How do you implement AI? The answer to that question is another question: what do you want to do with it? Answering that question is not the IT department's or the intern's responsibility. The use cases need leadership at the top to decide and see implementation through if pilot projects are ever to yield the productivity gains the technology promises.

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You heard about the business with the pennies, right?

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Dear Bank Treasury Subscribers, Connecting the dots is an age-old pastime, but the dots that bank treasurers see these days are very confusing and challenging to connect, at least without some form of AI. Even the voting members of the FOMC are not sure what picture they see. Amid significant market volatility and economic uncertainty, bank treasurers are just trying to keep their eyes on the horizon and keep their net interest margins steady.

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Dear Bank Treasury Subscribers, Deposit insurance reform is back in the news. You must have heard about it. The Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on it this month, and judging by the comments from the committee members, they could not have chosen a better bipartisan topic to take up and do some legislating like they get paid to do.

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Dear Bank Treasury Subscribers, If you are like most of the bank treasurers who talk to our editors these days, you probably think that the stablecoin hoopla is a fad, a distraction from what you are thinking about right now. We hear you.

Subscribe to The Bank Treasury Newsletter and Podcast at thebanktreasurynewsletter.com for professional Insights and commentary on bank treasury issues, investment portfolio strategy, and more. Listen on Apple Podcasts,Spotify, and Amazon. Follow us on LinkedIn.