Community banks are the lifeblood of small business. According to the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), despite making up less than 20 percent of the banking system’s total assets, community banks account for more than 50% of the loans made to small businesses.

Further, the same study by ICBA found that Community banks were the most likely to make a loan, extending financing to 76 percent of loan applicants while large banks approved just 58 percent.

Clearly community banking is crucial to entrepreneurs and local economies, and that is one reason why BoardPaq is proud to be the trusted partner and affordable board portal of choice of more than 150 community banks.

And BoardPaq wanted to share a few ways its current community banking partners are using board portals—specifically BoardPaq—to increase their performance and focus more on mission, and less on administration.

1. Board portals are helping to free community banks to focus more on actual banking.

Anyone who has ever prepared meeting books for any board meeting knows how much time is spent collecting, organizing, and distributing all of that paper. The time spent copying, stapling, and punching holes in paper is time you can never get back.

And that time is always better spent doing something else.

By their nature community banks are small organizations. Time and resources are precious—including staff time. Your bank simply doesn’t have excess manpower, and what manpower it does have should be focused on activities that grow your bottom line and impact the community you serve.

BoardPaq’s community banking partners are using our board portal’s Admin Center to make a dent in that time. Staff are no longer preparing cumbersome board books, and are able to use that time to do what community banks do best—create opportunity in the places we call home.

2. Board portals are ensuring information security compliance at the board level.

Nowhere is information security more important than in the financial sector. BoardPaq wouldn’t be the board portal of choice for community banks if we didn’t take the security of your information seriously.

That’s why BoardPaq incorporates the following security features:

•  2-Factor Authentication
  
•  256-bit Encryption In-Transit and At Rest
  
•  Document Access Control
  
•  User Terms
  
•  3 Levels of Admin Access
  
•  Password Controls
  
•  Session Time-Out and App Logout
  

BoardPaq takes your information security compliance seriously—as seriously as your regulators do.

3. Board portals are increasing collaboration among directors and executive loan committee members.

Collaboration between directors and executive loan committee members is one of the strongest assets you have. The easier it is for information to flow between committee and board members, the healthier, more dynamic, and more innovative your bank will be.

BoardPaq’s Board Apps have a suite of features that help facilitate dialogue and collaboration between your board of directors and executive loan committee members.

Community banking is important to entrepreneurship, local economies, and the business community at large. As a result, community banking touches each and every one of us.

That’s why BoardPaq is proud of each and every community it partners with.