The 19th annual Community Bankers Symposium, Community Banking: Charting the Course, took place Friday, Oct. 10, at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and co-hosted by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

Community banking professionals were invited to attend and hear from senior policymakers and industry experts about the challenges and opportunities impacting banking, with a special focus on current industry developments, cyber risk, commercial real estate, fraud vigilance, contingency funding and other important bank supervisory issues. A virtual attendance option was available for those unable to attend onsite.

This year’s symposium featured keynote speaker Brandon Milhorn, CSBS president and CEO, who discussed his perspectives on the current state of community banking; George Wade, senior strategic cyber threat intelligence advisor for the Federal Reserve National Incident Response Team, who discussed the latest cyber risks; Steven Gonzalo, president and CEO of American Commercial Bank and Trust, who talked about fraud in the banking industry; Kendra Ramirez, CEO of KR Digital Agency, who also spoke to the use of artificial intelligence; and credit risk supervisors from the Federal Reserve Discount Window who lead discussions on contingency funding.