Bank & Credit Union Insights

For over 40 years, the DCG advisory consulting team has started our week with an internal discussion of market trends, regulatory developments, and the real experiences of our bank and credit union clients. Here are the notes from this week’s Monday Morning Meeting.

Five key ALCO considerations for 2026.

Even the most engaged ALCO meetings can fall short of their goals if they can’t translate their best intentions into real strategy. Successful ALCOs follow their data’s lead and take a more structured approach to consider the impacts.

I have observed a number of common themes regarding asset / liability management and the business of banking that still ring true (to me). So, in the spirit of my 22nd work “anniversary,” here are 22 observations (in no particular order).

The biggest challenge with dreadful ALCO meetings isn’t a lack of data. It’s deciding what matters.

How do you take a sleepy meeting like ALCO that can be Dreadful, and transform it into a standing-room-only and engaging meeting?

What have we learned from previous rate cycles, and what strategies should you consider this time around?

Five key questions for the upcoming year that ALCOs should be devoting their time to.

What are you missing as 2025 approaches with continued earnings risk uncertainty? Here are four considerations to advance change at ALCO.

Recent volatility put interest rate risk models to the test. Here are five steps to regain trust in your risk model.

How can a deposit study capture dynamic movement and provide meaningful clarity to ALCOs? Here are four strong considerations.

How can you transform a stale and Dreaded ALCO meeting into one that members look forward to attending? You need to flip the script.

Below are five serious questions that we believe the ALCO at your institution should be discussing and finding your own answers to.

How does the economic value of equity computation (EVE) provide more comprehensive information than current standards for disclosures?

Many financial institutions over the past 24-36 months have lost confidence in their interest rate risk models.

One of the most common questions we get from our clients is, “What should we do about our deposits?”

When I reflect on the state of the community banking industry, I can’t help but see a close likeness to those difficult adolescent years.

No one can predict the rate and economic environment. Yet, we can make sure we have strong risk management cultures in place.

The Darling Consulting Group team has been in contact with hundreds of banks and credit unions since the bank failure situation unfolded.

The ability to lag deposit pricing is clearly over and retaining balances, let alone growing new funds, will be a challenge.