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Picture this:
You're juggling a dozen spinning plates.
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Interest rates,
cybersecurity,
regulations,
talent wars,
loan quality
—each one demanding your attention every single day.
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Now imagine someone asking, "Are you ready to sell your bank?"
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Your first thought?
"I'm not selling!...
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You've spent years building the perfect team.
Late nights, tough decisions, and yes—probably hiring a few people who didn't work out.
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But now you have them: the stars who make your bank run like clockwork.
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Here's the question that keeps successful bank CEOs awake at night:
What happens ...
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Remember this fundamental truth:
Banks are bought, not sold.
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Buyers acquire your bank because they believe their institution will become more valuable with yours added to it.
They care less about your past performance and more about the future potential you bring.
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When two banks togethe...
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What if I told you that thinking like a buyer is the key to getting the best price for your bank?
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Here's a powerful exercise that changed how we saw our own bank's value:
Reverse engineering the perfect acquisition.
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The Magic Wand Exercise
Imagine you have a magic wand that lets you buy...
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What separates successful bank sales from disappointments?
It's not market timing.
It's not luck.
And it's certainly not the latest M&A trend.
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It's preparation.
When you're prepared, two things happen: your decisions become more confident, and the entire process seems to "slow down" – all...
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Let's have an honest conversation about bank valuations.
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I hear it in boardrooms across the country: "We'll consider selling when the multiples improve."
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Or my personal favorite: "We won't even look at offers under 2x book."
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Here's the truth: If you're waiting for multiples to determi...
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The deal closed.
There are a whole host of emotions.
How do you celebrate?
And, with whom?
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Management Team
It’s important to celebrate this milestone with your team and to affirm their transformation into the value-driven leaders they have become.
Sadly, many leaders are so competitive w...
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The deal closed.
The bank you were CEO of, and the holding company (if applicable) no longer exist.
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The duties you had related to the distribution of the merger consideration will remain until they have been fully disbursed.
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Employees and customers begin to look beyond your authority to ...
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In addition to the organic customer calling that has taken place since the announcement, you will have a customer calling blitz as well.
That is a concentrated effort to go to the customer’s place of business for a face- to-face meeting.
The goal of the calling blitz is to make certain you can ...
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The deal has closed, the signs have changed, and as you can imagine, the shareholders are interested in when they receive the merger consideration.
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When selling a home, the documents get signed and the keys are exchanged for the sales proceeds.
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This transaction isn’t that simple, so commu...
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You’ve closed on the merger.
Legal counsel has communicated that everything is done.
Documents have been exchanged, and the deal has closed.
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The paying agent has the funds for distributing the cash merger consideration when shares are surrendered, according to the instructions the sharehold...
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When the announcement for the definitive agreement signing is made, you can only estimate when the closing will be because things like the regulatory approval timing are not in your control.
So, your communication of the closing is typically within a range of a business quarter.
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Because of t...