James Ja Hillebrand is a Bellarmine Alumnus, CEO of Stock Yards Bank & Trust, and recently elected chairman of the board for Stock Yards. Newsweek Magazine recently named Stock Yards Bank & Trust one of America’s best banks for 2021 and named them the Best Small Bank in Kentucky. Listen to Jim and Ja discuss issues related to COVID’s Impact on our economy and where we go from here.
Founded in 1904, Stock Yards Bank & Trust is based in Louisville and expanded to Indianapolis, and Cincinnati. Stock Yards is a publicly traded company (SYBT on the Nasdaq). Stock Yards has approximately $4.3 billion in assets. One thing that makes them different from other community banks is their wealth management and trust department which oversees approximately $3.5 billion. Ja explains how and why the bank decided to expand to its current regional presence.
What Does the Term Community Bank Mean?
Ja discusses the many things that makes a community bank different, and he states that the key difference can be seen in the service style. This means keeping decisions local, listening to customer needs, and taking care of them first. It’s about building true relationships with their customers. The regulatory oversight is the same as that of other banks. Localized decision-making enables Stock Yards to make decisions more quickly regarding customer needs.
Stock Yards is primarily commercial bank. The bank can handle commercial real estate loans, equipment leases, lines of credit, merchant services and other financial opportunities. Relations typically expand into personal banking services and retirement plans for the company owners, managers, employees and their families.