Interview: Matt Williams

Editor's Note: Matt Williams, chairman and president of Gothenburg State Bank, Gothenburg, Neb., is chairman-elect of the American Bankers Association. Publisher/Editor Tom Bengtson recently had the opportunity to visit with him..Q. How do you prepare for the ABA chairmanship?.It's quite a long process. I would say I have been preparing for the last 40 years. The ABA does an excellent job of helping you develop the tools necessary to represent the industry well. But I think what really happens is generally a person develops a passion for the industry and I certainly have that. This industry has been very good to my family. I am fourth generation in banking, I like having the opportunity to give back and to pay my dues, so to speak..Q. What are some of the issues you are particularly passionate about?.The elephant in the room is the implementation and structure of Dodd-Frank, and how we help our banks through this challenging time of adapting to more regulation and more examination processes. Along with that, something I am very passionate about is unity in our industry. Speaking with a united voice is very important. We have seen what happens when we are not united; our industry was divided over Dodd-Frank and we got legislation that was a net negative to the banking industry. I believe whole heartedly that if we had been united, we would have achieved a better result. Some people like to think they can use banking issues as a source of membership for their association. My pledge is that under my leadership we are going to do what is right for banking, regardless of what that means to membership to an association. .Q. ABA has been promoting unity for years. Do you think the message will take?.It's clear we are having luck with that right now. We are being heard in Washington, being heard with banks of all sizes. We are the only bankers' association that represents banks of every charter type, every size, every business model and every geographical location. We have been able to do that well, and we recognize there are differences with our members. That is why we do not need to have a regulatory system or an examination process that is a one-size-fits-all. We have been painted by some that that is what we want. That is certainly not the case. We believe in a multi-dimensional, flexible system that recognizes that we have different charter types, that we have different asset sizes, that we have different business models, and that they need to be looked at differently in regulation..Q. What are your thoughts on industry consolidation?.We have been in an industry that has been consolidating for years and years. When I started in banking in the early 1970s, in Nebraska we had more than 450 banks; now we have 211. And that is the kind of consolidation we have seen nationally as well. I do not subscribe to the fact that Dodd-Frank in itself is going to cause massive consolidation. I think there are other issues out there. The other thing we tend to forget is it is hard to find an industry that is not consolidating. So consolidation is kind of a way of life..Q. As you travel around the country representing ABA, have you been surprised by anything?.I am learning every day. The one thing that I expected and I have confirmed is that bankers are great people, and care about their communities and work hard for their communities, whether they are in Florida, Texas, Nebraska or California. That said, right now we have various challenges in different geographical areas of our country. We happen to be an ag bank in the middle of Nebraska. Agriculture has been very strong. Unemployment in the state of Nebraska is slightly below 5 percent. We are not having the economic woes of some other geographic areas. There are other areas of our country that are still struggling very desperately. One of the things that I believe is that banks, in particular community banks, need to be part of the solution to helping us out of these economic issues..I have the honor of serving on FDIC Acting Chairman Gruenberg's advisory committee and one of the comments he made last October at our convention really hit home: The community banks hold slightly less than 10 percent of the total banking assets in our country. Yet those same community banks make more than 40 percent of the loans to small businesses which create the majority of the jobs in our country. So there is a unique role for banks in our country. .And one of the things that we have to recognize when we talk about large and small is many of us as community bankers do not have the size and the sophistication to handle the international, large kind of things that our bigger members have the ability to do. We need that in this diverse, global economy. With that, I continue to jump up and down and applaud bankers who are good people, working hard for their community, making things happen. And we will survive these times. I have no doubt about it.