Iberville Bank relies on ICBA membership for strength

It’s unclear how Iberville Bank in Plaquemine became a member of Independent Community Bankers of America in 1939. But the bank’s leaders are sure of one thing: ICBA membership strengthens Iberville Bank through the group’s significant collective voice, linking it to other community banks—and plenty of resources. “There’s no other unified voice acting for community banks,” says Scott Gaudin, business development officer for Iberville Bank, in the Independent Banker. “Community banks have always and will always face challenges as far as not being as big, but with ICBA we don’t have to be the little guy in a sense. There is strength in numbers.” The Wilbert family founded and opened Iberville Bank in 1931 during the Great Depression. They named the bank after the single parish it could serve under existing state laws. At the time, thousands of banks were failing. In response, President Franklin Roosevelt instituted the “national bank holiday,” and Congress created the FDIC and federal deposit insurance and enacted the Glass-Steagall Act, prohibiting the common ownership of banks, insurance companies and securities firms. With so much changing in the industry, Iberville Bank saw a need for community banks to have their own representation in Washington—the same need that inspired community bankers to found ICBA in 1930. So the bank signed up 73 years ago to become an ICBA member, and has remained a member ever since. It now has $220 million in assets and operates 11 locations in six parishes across Louisiana. To read more, click here.