Top Issues on Bankers’ Minds
Community bankers were asked to select the number one non-technological issue “most likely to affect the financial industry in 2024.” Their responses offer insight into how they perceive the environment, and the range of pressures they face heading into the new year.
Bankers Predict the Most Impactful Industry Issues for 2024
In anticipating the most impactful industry issues, financial professionals identified the following key concerns.
A substantial 35% of bankers view interest rates as the foremost concern for the upcoming year.
How Banks are Responding to High Interest Rates
Coming in second, fraud was identified by 30% of respondents as the most pressing issue.
Most Common Types of Fraud and Prevention Effectiveness
The remaining options each took less than 15% of the vote.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Ranking third, mergers and acquisitions gained prominence, with 14% of the vote—a notable increase from the 5% reported last year. Rising consideration of mergers and acquisitions could signal increased attention to market consolidation and plans for heightened M&A activity, recovering from the 2022 slowdown and headwinds throughout 2023.11
Recruiting and Retaining Employees
Only 11% of bankers selected talent acquisition and retention, significantly declining from last year’s top spot (34%). In other words, bankers sense a stabilizing job market or potential to streamline operations, a likely factor contributing to overall optimism.
Regulatory Change
Contrary to the 27% reported last year, a mere 8% of bankers now view impending regulatory changes as the most pressing issue. While other responses prove that regulatory change and scrutiny remain top of mind, the drop from last year likely stems from a heightened focus on other issues at the time of response.
Although the above issues only scratch the surface of considerations, a minimal 1% selected “other” issues, reinforcing the pressure of the above and related topics.