ISU team competes in community bank case study competition

2019 Community Bank Case Study video The 2019 Community Bank Case Study Competition, sponsored by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, is an annual competition that is open to undergraduate students in all fields of study as an opportunity to gain valuable first-hand knowledge of the banking industry. This year's competition addressed how community banks will benefit from the new Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act (EGRRCPA or Public Law No: 115-174). Fifty-eight undergraduate teams from 44 schools across the U.S. competed.

Iowa State's team, which was awarded 16th place in the competition, was comprised of Casey Cunningham, senior in finance and accounting; Marcus Holloway, senior in economics and finance; Nathalia Kimmell, sophomore in economics; and Thu Tran, sophomore in economics.

With the contest deadline of April 22, the students started meeting the first week of spring semester, first deciding which angle to take and then determining and calculating the financial impacts of the regulation. The results were a 25-page paper, "Strategic Responses to the 2018 EGRRCPA at Bank Iowa," and a nine-minute video

Casey Cunningham, Marcus Holloway, Nathalia Kimmell, Thu TranThe students partnered with Bank Iowa, which has $1.3 billion in assets and serves 22 communities in Iowa. Many of these branches are located in small towns that are losing population, but the bank also has branches in the suburbs of Des Moines, the fastest growing market in Iowa. Peter Orazem, university professor, and Zachary Martin, PhD grad student, served as the team’s faculty advisers.