Fed Chair Yellen Will Open 2017 Fed/CSBS Community Banking Research Conference

ST. LOUIS ― Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will give opening remarks at the fifth annual Community Banking in the 21st Century research and policy conference that will be held Oct. 4-5 at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

The conference, hosted by the Federal Reserve System and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS), brings together community bankers, academics, policymakers and bank supervisors from across the country to discuss the latest academic research on community banking, as well as important policy issues facing the sector.

Cynthia Blankenship, vice president, chief financial officer and corporate president of Grapevine, Texas-based Bank of the West, will give the keynote speech on the first day of the conference. Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams will give the second day’s keynote.

Other guest speakers will include Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard, CSBS Chairman Albert L. Forkner, state banking commissioner of the Wyoming Division of Banking and CSBS President John Ryan.

The call for papers for this year’s conference closes today. The conference welcomes submissions that address all aspects of community banking, including but not limited to: the role of community banks in the U.S. financial system; advantages and disadvantages of the community bank business model; the effects of government policy on community banks; significant challenges faced by community banks and new opportunities for community banks.

For more information, see the conference website at communitybanking.org.