How a community bank is handling uncertainty and a new crypto age

The latest data show that, although the value of the U.S. dollar is limping along, consumers are continuing to spend. So let's hear about the entities that tie both of those pieces together: banks.

Laurie Stewart is the CEO and president of Sound Community Bank in Seattle, Washington. She joined “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal to talk about banking in an age of uncertainty and crypto. An edited transcript of their conversation is below.

Kai Ryssdal: How are things at Sound Community Bank? Here's the easy first question.

Laurie Stewart: Well, things at Sound Community Bank are good. You know, in this world we live in that has an awful lot of uncertainty, I would still say that our local bankers are doing well, and we're collecting deposits and making loans and supporting our communities.

Ryssdal: Can one assume, then, that if the banks are doing well, your clients are doing well?

Stewart: Well, I think that's true, but, increasingly, clients are talking to me about concerns of sustained high gas and grocery prices. And the thing we've also noticed, Kai, is that commercial borrowers who have approved loans are kind of sitting on their hands as opposed to coming to the closing table and using that hand to sign loan docs. I wouldn't call it a big trend, but definitely a trend the last couple of weeks, again, that signals to me uncertainty.

Ryssdal: Yeah, keep going with that because it does seem to me that in the last couple of weeks, and, you know, we extrapolate that to, you know, eight weeks or so, and uncertainty has magnified. Other than uncertainty, what do you make of it?

Stewart: Well, I don't think it's overt panic by any means, not by any means. But I do think it's that kind of concern that says things are changing so fast, should I just put this off for another week and see what happens? Right? And part of that's hope too, right, hope that a week from now things will change.

Ryssdal: I like the hope, that's good. Let me ask you to step out of your local community banking mindset and use your decades of experience in this industry at large. I want to ask you a couple of sort of very big picture things. Okay, private credit and the challenges that we're seeing in that space. You worried about that?

Stewart: I certainly have it on my list of things that merit watching. It's not keeping me up at night. It's very opaque. It's really hard to understand what the ramifications could be. So it's on my list of things. I probably read something about it, if not every day, every other day, and try and learn more.

Ryssdal: Yeah, you and me both. Speaking of learning more about something and also something being opaque, talk to me about what you're thinking about crypto and stablecoins and that whole new regime of money that seems to be coming.

Stewart: Well, let me talk about stablecoins, because that's on the mind of every community banker if you'll indulge me for a minute. I think lots of us see business use cases for stablecoin and an accelerated payment system. What's got us all anxious is that, basically, our business is not super complicated. We gather deposits and we lend them out. But if I can get some kind of reward that's like getting the rate on my money market account, I might be incented to park those former bank deposits in stablecoin. And if we don't have deposits, we're not gonna make any loans. So I think it's a little bit of a complicated issue, but I think we can solve it if we continue working together.

Ryssdal: Stablecoin, I should have said, is a form of crypto that's tied to the dollar, supposed to be stable, unlike most, most of the rest of crypto. So I looked back in our files, looks like it's about a year since we talked to you last. If that schedule holds, we're going to talk to you in March or April of 2027. What's the next year looking like for you and for your slice of this economy?

Stewart: Well, again, if you'd asked me that question in February compared to April, I would have had a much different answer. You know, the year got off to a nice start, but with the conditions we're seeing and the hesitation on the parts of businesses and consumers, I don't think it'll be a bumpy year, but there won't be as much growth as we anticipated. Then again, this too may pass, and I might be saying something different.