UMB Bank president and CEO, Jim Rine, recently spoke with the Kansas City Business Journal to share how relationships are central to UMB’s success and how that is being driven by several areas of the business. Below, he provides more on his outlook for the bank and how UMB has successfully managed its return to office.
What is your outlook for the bank now that we have reached the midpoint of 2022?
We continue to have strong performance throughout the organization. We’re experiencing strong loan growth and have capacity to continue to lend – both critical to our success and a positive outlook. Our regions outside Kansas City also continue to grow and make a more sizable impact, particularly our Texas, Arizona, and Colorado markets. And, while smaller in volume than our traditional commercial lending business, our energy lending, commercial real estate, treasury management and card businesses are also providing positive additions. This geographic and business diversity in our commercial business continues to be beneficial to our growth.
From a consumer perspective, we have also seen significant growth in our mortgage balances year-over-year. Our recently launched down-payment assistance program is also gaining traction with $920,000 in down payment assistance provided to new homeowners.
Additionally, our private wealth management business has also realized strong asset growth in the first half of the year, as customers continue to recognize the exceptional value and service provided by our comprehensive financial planning and investment management teams. Year-to-date this team has brought in nearly $750 million in new assets, which puts us significantly ahead of 2021.
We also recently announced an agreement to acquire Old National Bancorp’s HSA business‡. As our Healthcare Services’ team continues to focus on the direct-to-employer space, this acquisition provides an extremely strong team, along with more than $400 million in deposits that will complement our organic growth efforts.
Finally, our corporate trust business continues to be a standout in our institutional offerings. We rank as the third largest municipal trustee and paying agent in the United States and year-to-date new business volumes have increased 15% in corporate trust and escrow services and 68% in specialty trust.
What has returning to the office looked like for UMB?
It’s critically important we maintain our position as a highly sought-after employer of choice. Our goal is to attract and retain the best talent in our industry, which means we are laser-focused on understanding our associates’, and potential associates’, preferences. That said, we also know we must balance those desires with our client and operational needs.
One of the top priorities we have and continue to hear is the importance of office flexibility. We now offer a more flexible work environment to many of our associates and will continue to evaluate our model to ensure we’re mindful of associate preferences while also preserving our culture and the excellent service we’re known for delivering to our customers.
While some positions remain in person due to the nature of their work, many of our associates now have a remote or hybrid schedule, which has generated extremely positive feedback. We believe this has been central to our associate turnover remaining relatively flat to pre-pandemic levels and positively navigating a very competitive talent market.
Our success is directly tied to our associates and their work experience, and we will maintain our focus on ensuring a best-in-class culture and work environment. We’re monitoring this very closely, as perfecting this formula will continue to differentiate us in the future—as both an employer and a business partner.
Are you concerned about the economic volatility impacting the bank’s outlook?
As I look at the headwinds currently facing us, including the ongoing competition for deposits, rising interest rates and recessionary risk, I remain confident in our ability to weather any economic environment. As we have for the past 109 years, we’ll stay true to our values and discipline as a lender, while embracing entrepreneurialism and taking calculated risk. This approach, plus our strong client relationships, talented team, and our commitment to being an employer of choice will continue to fuel UMB’s success.
For more insight about UMB’s growth, read Jim Rine’s interview in the Kansas City Business Journal‡.
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