Former Bankers Bank leader brings Midwestern charm inside Beltway

Northwestern Financial Review, Feb 15-Feb 29, 2004 by Bengtson, Tom

The Independent Community Bankers of America announced last April that Camden Fine would replace its retiring president and CEO Ken Guenther. Fine left Midwest Bankers' Bancorporation in May to join the trade group's Washington, B.C. office. MBB, located in Jefferson City, Mo., is the holding company for Nebraska Bankers' Bank and Midwest Independent Bank, which Fine helped to charter in 1984. On March 17, at the ICBA's annual convention in San Diego, Fine formally begins his new role. North * Western Financial Review Editor Tom Bengtson was in Washington recently and talked to Fine about the transition.

What personal characteristics will you be able to apply to your ICBA leadership role?

One of the unique aspects that I bring is my 20-plus years of banking experience actually working in the trenches, going through exactly what our member banks go through. I have sat across the desk from examiners. I've been in good exams. I've been in bad exams. I've complained about the regulatory burden along with the rest of my colleague bankers. I also think I will be able to assist in the area of association services. We have a huge services network, with several for-profit corporations. And those corporations provide services to our member banks, many of the same products that our bankers' bank provided to our respondent banks. I have an understanding of that. I know how community bankers think. I know a great deal about their needs. That will be an area where I can bring immediate expertise.

You came front a bankers' bank. Is there a special relationship between ICBA and the bankers' banks?

Having chartered a bankers' bank and been out there for 20 years running a bankers' bank, I know there are areas where both ICBA and the bankers' banks provide the same products to pretty much the same constituency. But I have always regarded that as friendly competition. My philosophy has been that a particular community bank will make the decision that is right for that community bank, whether that's the ICBA product, or a bankers' bank product. There is enough room out there for everyone. Competition is what the industry is all about. I do think the bankers' banks and the association have been strong allies in the political arena. One of the things I hope to do is explore the products area with the idea of finding opportunities where the bankers' banks and ICBA can work together.

You are living and working inside the beltway now. Anything about it surprise you?

The pace is almost light speed. And it is something am adjusting to. The demands on my time for political advocacy or regulatory advocacy are substantial. Washington is on a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, time clock. And there is always something going on in the political and regulatory arena, every single day. And everything has national implications. So when you are making policy here it doesn't affect just the Missouri banks or Nebraska banks. It affects banks in 50 states. It affects tens of millions of people. And so you have to keep that in mind when you are discussing an issue. The other thing is that it is hardball politics, all the time. When you are dealing with the political folks, it's like swimming around in a shark tank. It is a take-noprisoners world. Everyone has a strong opinion. And they are advocating that opinion. To be heard and to be effective you've got to play hardball right along with the rest of them.

Being from, the Midwest, does that get you any additional respect in Washington, D.C.?

In Missouri, we're the "show me" state. We tend to approach issues in a very down-to-earth, pragmatic way and I think that is an advantage here. Fortunately, Midwesterners tend to be plainspoken; that takes a few people around here off guard. I try to cut through the doublespeak and get down to the bare facts. And I think that is an advantage. There is an earthiness about the Midwest that can play effectively here if one uses it correctly.

Do you get a sense the lawmakers take community banking seriously? It's so easy to just think about the large banks that get most of the headlines. When you talk about a $25 million bank in a town no one ever heard of, do you find the lawmakers are interested?

By and large, they are. Remember, there are community banks in just about every congressional district in the country. The congressmen pay attention to that because that community bank is generally the leading business in that community and county. I find the interest in community banks among politicians is in direct proportion to the number of community banks in that particular region. So you tend to see that the interior states, where there are hundreds and hundreds of community banks - Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, the Dakotas, etc., the politicians in those states are very attuned to community banks. And there are hundreds of community banks in California, plus hundreds more all up and down the East Coast. So I would say the answer is yes, they do pay attention to what their community bankers are saying. The key is for community bankers to understand that they do pay attention and their voice needs to be heard.