Bringing an Indiana voice to Washington D.C.

Editor's Note: Larry Myers, president and CEO of First Savings Bank, Clarksville, became chairman of the Indiana Bankers Association on Jan. 1. NorthWestern Financial Review reporter Matthew Doffing talked with Myers about his coming year as chairman. .Q. What have the recession years been like for First Savings Bank? .First Savings Bank has been around since 1937. We converted to a stock bank from a mutual savings bank in 2008. It was dumb luck but the timing could not have been better. We had a lot of capital and liquidity, which was just what banks needed at the time. It allowed us to decide our fate..Within 30 days of the conversion a bank up the road, Community First Bank, Corydon, came up for sale. The owners were selling the bank because they needed liquidity. We were the only ones who could write a check for it. The bank had about $242 million in assets..The merger doubled our size. We had contiguous markets. It was a great fit because they were more of a commercial bank and we were more of a metro bank. Since then we have grown about $230 million to a $730 million bank with 15 offices. I am proud to say our stock is up 250 percent since the conversion..Q. What issues are important to your bank?.Regulation is always a challenge. At First Savings Bank, we are a bit of a "tweener" bank. We are not small and we are not really a large bank. That brings unique challenges. When the regulators meet with a smaller bank, they can sometimes get some latitude because of their size. Larger banks are expected to have more people, procedures and documentation for compliance. For us and for similar banks, we are in the lens of being a larger bank with lots of resources..We were told by examiners, for example, that we needed more people devoted to compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act. My response was, "OK, but what are we doing wrong?" They said First Savings Bank was in compliance but needed more people. They said a typical bank our size has three people dedicated to BSA. They assume because of our size that we can spend the money..Q. What will you be working on during your year as IBA chairman? .Unreasonable regulatory expectations constitute more of a federal issue. I want to call bankers to visit the capital because the landscape has changed in Washington, D.C., after the November elections..Through the recession I have seen, as other bankers have seen, that elected officials need to understand the issues that affect banking. I would like to visit every Indiana bank and encourage the president, and another leader from the bank, to join me on IBA's Washington, D.C., fly-in. We had 50 bankers come last year. About 40 bankers attended in 2013. I would like to bring 80 bankers this year. I also want to encourage bankers to give their fair share to IBA's BANKPAC..I also would like to advocate for our Leadership Development Program. We have been able to build it to 78 bankers currently in the program from 15 just a few years ago. It is a very good program for young bankers who want to be trained in not only banking but in leadership..Q. What issues will IBA work on at the state level? .The issue we have our sights on is improving the foreclosure process. After the foreclosure boom, the state legislature passed new laws which attempted to give consumers more opportunities to rehab a mortgage. They really slowed the process down. Now we have a backlog of abandoned houses and the foreclosure process can take well in excess of a year..We do have a business friendly legislature. If we can show them that the abandoned housing problem is a symptom of the foreclosure laws, we can get some changes made. We have hope to get some traction with that now.