You're right d**k, they don't have contracts, but they get significant bonuses that we had to detail to the regulators every year. Their bonuses are moe than many para-professional associates make in three to four years.
Part of those are paid based on profit, policy growth and headcount (among others).
Headcount, hmmm. So profit is down, we are losing policies so headcount is one way to hit some targets...
Layoffs!! Baby needs a new pair of shoes.
“Executives” don’t have contracts. They’re not professional baseball players.
I'd like to see the stipulations in the executive contracts so we can know what their special bonuses are based on. I'd be willing to bet they are based on reducing costs with absolutely no stipulations to ensure profitability or the long-term health of the company.
So these execs are probably laughing all the way to the bank as they slash and burn the company. If that's the case, the board is getting exactly what they deserve. Too bad they won't feel any pain, seeing as how SF is not a publicly traded company.
Any idea how many people are opting out? I imagine most people will take the money and run. This new group of execs think very highly of themselves. I'm not sure why they think they can do better with no experience and losing any talent across the board.
The Bank needs innovative leaders. Spend 10 minutes with JT and then try and convince me he is either one of those things.
“...JT...neutered...” is half right. He never had a pair.
MS, EM, KM, KF, and TM all had one common skill: The ability to send headcount sky high without an underlying business need. Now the new regime must undo their atrocious mismanagement of Bank. The problem is a lot of good people that they would like to keep will take the severance and run. Bank will continue to be a mess for the foreseeable future.
Bank is dying a slow death. KM is yet another over inflated ego who somebody thinks can save our bank. He doesn’t have anymore knowledge than EM. We need outside knowledgeable executives who have successfully run a bank to be brought in. Who we have now has gotten drunk off the kool-aide!
Thankfully got rid of MS and EM among others. Not sure KM will do anything special. He hasn’t yet. He blindly followed behind and supported whatever EM wanted. His resume lists he was at only one other bank and didn’t do anything special there. We had a couple good Directors who could have done wonders but saw the writing on the wall and left for better opportunities. We need qualified people not KM I am afraid.
Insurance people running a bank when they have no clue or banking experience. All the good bank people, who could effectively run the business, left many years ago due to this. That’s when the demise of the bank started happening. The bank will fail!
JT actually had a solid basis for making positive changes at the Bank before he was neutered by SF culture. KM never had it. He was neutered before he came to SF.
JM and DP should have cleared out all of MS's terrible AVPs. MS didn't create this Bank mess on his own. JM and DP will regret not having done a clean sweep.
JT a bank minded exec? No. He’s a doofus, makes bad decisions and is afraid of his own shadow. The only one worse is the meek man.
ME was a buffoon and so are the lackies in STL that drag the rest of us down.
Whoever said this I suggest you look in the mirror to see the real buffoon.
Mortgage will be the first product wound down. From there, we'll see. Right now, they're positioning the bank so that they can execute on a total wind down, if they decide to. KM and JT don't know their own fate. They're simply perceived by JM and DP as having more knowledge in banking than their no longer with us peers. Time will tell but the soured leadership culture of years past will likely only get worse with KM and JT being allowed to influence. Both are self preservationists and failures at leading for effective results. The prospects for the bank are low and day to day will only get worse with the self focused leaders still in place. Another example of State Farm morphing into something totally different. Hopefully, it'll be good in the long run but based on the last 5-6 years it's not looking pretty.
Quacking hate to reference you that way but that is what you named yourself in the previous post. what is the USAA mortgage model?
They will eventually evolve to the usaa mortgage model OR create a broker model for their agents w external help (doubtful) or stop doing mortgages all together. I see the later, cost to originate is not their friend. They have NO bank minded execs, except for JT.
Our new Executive team appears to be primarily Insurance executives, not Banking....thoughts? Tipsords new message was focused on turning agents into investment advisors... what's happening with mortgage?
If you’re housed in St. Louis, you need to take the money and move on with your career. They publically stated the decision to stay was a matter of convenience. The cheap lease on that space is less than the cost to move. Simple. But don’t think they have any issue with letting a leased facility sit empty. You’re just delaying the inevitable to stay and you’ll be subjecting yourself to this again. It can be a tough pill to swallow, but you need to move on.
KM running both WILL be an issue w the OCC, that includes one director running operations for all products. Odd they chose to go that route.
KM running both credit and product is 100% going to be an issue with OCC, as I've been in the meetings with them when they have clearly stated the case in the past. Unless they found some way to skirt this with OCC up front, like layers of management under him or handing off loan authority to a subordinate director, then they will always have that hanging over them.
The best way to evaluate the new Bank Exec team is by the decisions they make. The 1st decision we’ll see is who they’ve picked as Directors. For someone who hasn’t been around that long or high enough up to be in the know what names am I looking for to inspire confidence or vice versa?
KM now has control of both Products and Credit. It was mentioned by someone here two weeks ago that could be viewed as a conflict of interest by the OCC. Is that really the case?
@SCXlUP0-2ajk - my advice would be to take the money and run. I left voluntarily last fall without a package and would do it again in a heartbeat. I put up with the stress of not knowing what was going on & how long I would have a job for far too long. As I was telling an old co-worker last week, the way things are playing out, if you stay and compete, your prize for winning is being buried in work. Honestly, how in the hell are significantly fewer people supposed to get the same amount of work done as the old number of people? No, take the buy out and find something else. Life is too short...
EM is no longer listed in Exchange. Officially retires June 1. TM, KF, and AB are but without reports. Not sure if it's a matter of time before they are gone from directory or if being considered for other spots. RK at the moment still heads Info Sec but not sure about future.
Whatever happened to AVPs TM, AB & EM?
I'm an STL employee thinking of taking the voluntary. What's everyone else leaning towards? On the one hand I'm going to take a huge pay cut but on the other hand I don't feel confident our building will remain open after the lease expires and who knows how bad it will get after everyone leaves in August. Debating how much I can stomach and if it might just be worth it to take my severance and move on with my life.
I don't think these moves are precursors for a sale. They appear to be giving it another chance with a leaner organization. They are trying to cut costs to increase profitability and make their rates more competitive with other online banks. I think over time they will back off the Home Equity and Mortgages businesses as their bread and butter are Vehicle Loans. For the analysts who will attempt to stay I hope Bank first makes the right choices as far as Directors and Managers, keeping the good ones and cutting the dead weight.
Any ideas of the future of the bank? Will it be sold?
You are 110% correct.
Cards were a mess too. And look at who the leaders were TN, LZ and RK. Two has beens and a never was. TN was much like ME. LZ would go in whatever direction the wind would blow. RK was just a fool that sold his soul and is living proof of the peter principle.
Sorry for all of my friends impacted by this shake up. Just glad I got away when I did and riding the pension rainbow.
All of this is water under the bridge and insignificant considering 20% of the staff is RIF’d.
agree with SCXlUP0 completely.
Cards were right up there with the MOA. Auto lending issues were overblown by everyone and I should know because I was in Compliance. The auto lending issues, as innocuous as they were - affecting 4 applications- were recommended by consultants, approved by JC, Compliance and Legal. Morons at SFBank self-reported the problem, btw. Stupid.
The RV loans were all approved by Bloomington, some by the current credit wizard, JT.
The BLC specifically did not recommend these loans because of fishy characteristics.
This was verified by Audit looking for heads to ax.
Auto lending operations have been a disaster for years. Inept technology, undertrained and uneducated sales force, agency pushback to any change that would make the bank more secure and profitable, agents that are allowed to call and cry until they get their way and push through bad loans, fraud swept under the rug because the loss isn’t substantial enough, upper leadership that didn’t know their own product, technology projects that are years behind, no vision for the product. I can continue...
And how many auto loans never got titles or liens perfected?
Solid operations.
Hey @ blc
Do I need to list the reasons SFB was forced into a Memorandum of Understanding with the OTS. Sure other products had issues but auto lending's continued fair lending violations had us almost shut down multiple times.
Or perhaps the RV fraud ring that cost millions because no one was knowledgeable enough to catch it?
ME was a buffoon and so are the lackies in STL that drag the rest of us down.
Yes, ME was an a$$ho to the max.
Constantly battling Bloomington and their insanity. Not State Farm nice, IMO.
Very supportive of good employees, tho.
@lakk doesn’t have a clue. SFB is an auto lender, period. The product is profitable not a drag. The only reason compliance and the regulators were an issue was because of Bloomington ‘s ineptitude.
ME hadn't had a new idea since the 70's. I worked with him several times over the years and he was the root of the evil that is BLC. And JC let him have carte blanche.
Yes, ME in particular was hard-nosed on many issues. He probably had way too much autonomy for a startup operation like the BLC. Got the job done, but it wasn’t pretty. He never adequately staffed for the tremendous growth and worked associates to death.
On the other hand, we didn’t have the BA’s and other unnecessary ancillary employees that are the basis of these layoffs now.
Yes, Bloomington management is terrible. But ME, MH and JC were much worse. The auto lending group has always been a drag on bamk resources and a huge target for the regulators, thanks to their lack of leadership. Good riddance.