The Road Warrior: Equity Bancshares CEO Talks Town Halls, Credit Quality, M&A

Brad Elliott discusses his in-person visits to the Kansas bank's markets, the state of credit quality and what makes merger math difficult.

Hello again, Bank Slaters

This is going to be an unusual week with July 4th coming up on Thursday. Then, believe it or not, we’re about to go through yet another earnings season. I still can’t process that we’re already in July.

We have some great Convo guests lined up for the summer: Brad Elliott from Equity Bank, Ed Francis from InBank, Jim Rieniets at Insbank, and Krista Snelling from Santa Cruz County Bank. Remember that, with a premium sub, you get early access to these podcasts!

I also contributed an article for Bank Director looking at the challenges of hiring and retaining compliance officers, building on a piece I shared with you all a few weeks ago. This one includes added commentary from folks like Kristina Schaefer at Fishbank Financial and Sean O’Neal at Chartwell Partners.

Let’s talk about Equity Bancshares in Wichita, Kan.

The $5.2 billion-asset parent of Equity Bank is strategically positioned in the heart of the Midwest, with 74 branches across six states. It has completed 11 acquisitions since its 2015 initial public offering. It bought Bank of Kirksville earlier this year, and it is close to completing its acquisition of KansasLand Bancshares.