Our community banking industry has changed quite drastically over the last 5 or so years. The number of banks has been cut roughly in half, mergers and acquisitions have been the primary driver. On the whole this is probably a positive for the banks as it should allow them to operate more efficiently. In response we now include banks up to 3 billion dollars in assets in our definition of a community bank.

So roughly 2,962 banks meet our definition of a community bank across the United States, with total assets of $1,109,331,000. While arbitrary in our experience banks that reach a certain size and operate across multiple communities lose that personal touch with their communities; put another way it is difficult for their customers to maintain contact with the real decision makers.