Hopkins concludes service as 2025-26 ICBA chair

Sioux Falls, S.D.-based CorTrust Bank President/CEO Jack Hopkins capped off his 12 months as 2025-26 chair of the Independent Community Bankers of America with a short address March 7 during Independent Community Bankers of America LIVE in San Diego. BankBeat magazine transcribed his farewell address, which included a brief conversation with ICBA President/CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey..Romero Rainey: As you look back at your year as chair, what helped you personally?Hopkins: Banking, and small businesses, and farms are the engines that drive our economy. They are what make us the best and strongest economy in the world. Community bankers in this room are what supply the gasoline that runs it.Romero Rainey: What are you most proud of as chair?Hopkins: The people in this room. The engagement we have gotten from the bankers this year has been overwhelming. When we have asked them to step up, stand out, be heard, they have done that. They have been very supportive. I go out, deliver the message and get more people involved.Romero Rainey: What is your outlook for the next 12 months?Hopkins: I have optimism. We see a regulatory environment that has gotten a little more friendly for community banking compared to the last 15 years. That gives me a lot of optimism that we will get some clarity with some of the regulatory burden we are suffering under. But I also have concerns, whether it is the consumer protections that are lacking in the crypto industry, or the potential deposit flight. There are different things we are worried about. Everybody wants to become a bank without bank regulations.Romero Rainey: Let’s do it by the same rules, right?Hopkins: The same set of playbooks and we will compete fairly.Hopkins, continued: Last year I compared the banking environment to a Peloton. The regulatory, political and economic headwinds sometimes slowed us down, but we kept pushing forward. Now we are at the apex. It has been a year filled with twists, turns and shifting winds. But through it all we have put our heads down and kept pedaling. Despite the challenges, we have had some fantastic wins and we have had a few challenges we have had to overcome. What we have made all the difference in is the engagement with the community bankers in this room and across the country.When ICBA calls, you speak out. Last year we sent over 73,000 letters to protect and promote community banking to Congress. We have come so far but we have further to go. I am asking you to keep up that momentum. I have always thought we have the best banking model in the world, but that was proven true last year when I was invited to be at the World Savings Bank Institute in our nation’s capital. There were representatives from various countries on this panel, including the gentleman who was responsible for writing the Basel capital rules for the EU following the financial collapse to the subsequent rates recession.Faced with navigating our dual banking system—or being confined by the rules that were never intended for community institutions like our overseas counterparts—our system works every time because when we are fighting against regulations—or right-sizing regulations that suit our size and risk profiles—we have ICBA. They are working to ensure we are at the table of conversations that affect them or threaten our industry.There are real threats ICBA is diligently working to defend against, whether it is Section 1033 open banking rules or crypto players seeking bank-like privileges without the safeguards regulation provides. But they cannot do it alone. We need to be dialed in. I am asking you all to come to Washington, D.C., maybe the ICBA Capital Summit. It is your personal stories from your constituents that influence how our elected politicians vote. A senator once told me, ‘If I do not hear from you, I assume you do not have a problem with proposed legislation.’Let us make sure we are heard. Sometimes policymakers take for granted our role in financing the small businesses and family farms, the fueling of job creation, feeding our communities and anchoring local economies. It is our job to make sure they never forget to protect and preserve community banking and the ways we serve our communities.