Here I mean the interplay of three key factors: (1) the uneven global economic growth; (2) the uncertainty of the oil price path and the ambiguity of the underlying drivers of the oil price decline; and (3) the resulting divergence in monetary policy stance among major advanced economies.
Today, there are more than 4,800 community banks in the United States.2 Nearly 80 percent of these have assets totaling less than $ million, with roughly 40 full- and part-time employees, on average. The vast majority of these community banks are financially strong, and are the backbone of the towns and cities they serve, providing loans to individuals and businesses in the local area.