by Brian Pillmore | Apr 13, 2023 | Brian's Blog
No need to blame anyone else – Ever. My personal philosophy in life is that I take responsibility for everything. It’s not always fun… But it’s part of being a leader. When you’re in charge of a business, YOU are the one that’s responsible to stakeholders for...
by Brian Pillmore | Apr 12, 2023 | Brian's Blog
UBS will be SIGNIFICANTLY bigger than the GDP of Switzerland. Roughly $5T in assets to Switzerland’s $0.8T GDP. So what happens if Switzerland decides they want additional regulations on UBS and UBS decides they don’t like that?? If I’m perfectly honest, I don’t know...
by Brian Pillmore | Mar 31, 2023 | Brian's Blog
One of the first things the bank will look at is your Balance Sheet Leverage. Total Debt / Tangible Net Worth In other words: “How much debt does the business have compared to the worth of the company?” But the question they are really trying to answer is: “How much...
by Brian Pillmore | Mar 31, 2023 | Brian's Blog
But they chose to have 100% of nothing instead of 50% of something. It started back in 2019 when SVB made a push for a Held-to-Maturity bond portfolio. They proceeded to POUR capital into that portfolio, About $20B / Quarter. When interest rates started going up, they...
by Brian Pillmore | Mar 31, 2023 | Brian's Blog
This was a great question from Senator James Lankford to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that highlighted the short-sightedness of the decisions currently being made. In just the last 10 years,The US banking system has gone from over 10,000 banks...
by Brian Pillmore | Mar 28, 2023 | Brian's Blog
It’s a recipe for mediocrity. I have friends approach me time to time about starting a bank with them. I never take them up on it, but “don’t be a generalist banker” is always the advice I offer. “Begin with the end in mind,” as Covey said. Be laser-focused on a few...
