Did you ever wonder what it's like to be a banker on the Last Frontier? On the latest episode of the ABA Newsbytes Podcast, co-hosts Evan Sparks and Shaun Kern interview Michael Martin, EVP, COO and general counsel of Northrim Bank, a community bank based in Anchorage, Alaska, with branches across the far-flung 49th state.

In the July Farm Credit Watch, I wrote that the Farm Credit System effectively accepts deposits, through the cash management services some FCS associations offer to their member/borrowers. As the article described, many associations in two of the four FCS districts — those funded by CoBank and AgriBank — accept deposits on behalf of the bank that funds them. That ...

Farm profitability continued to decline in the first half of 2017, according to the latest agricultural lenders survey conducted by ABA and Farmer Mac.

ABA announced today that Pennsylvania banker Michael H. Firestine will receive this year’s Bruning Award.

According to a recent press release issued by the on-line magazine Global Finance, the four FCS banks are among the world’s 50 safest commercial banks.

The American Bankers Association today expressed support for legislation introduced by Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) that would increase the lending limit and overall funding for the Farm Service Agency’s guaranteed farm ownership and operating loan programs.

Farmer Mac reported $414.3 million in net new business for the second quarter, bringing its outstanding business volume to $18.3 billion, a record high.

Bankers in many areas of the country have discovered that the FCS associations they compete against effectively are accepting deposits.

In a statement for the record in a Senate Agricultural Committee hearing on commodities, credit and crop insurance, ABA today called on lawmakers to reform the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s guaranteed farm loan programs in the 2018 Farm Bill.

The House Appropriations Committee today passed an agricultural appropriations bill that includes funding for its guaranteed farm ownership and operating loan programs.