2020 Azbee Awards of Excellence

Category

Online > Podcast > Northeast

Awarded to

John Heltman, Staff Reporter
Rob Blackwell, Editor-in-Chief
Meen Choi, Artistic Director

Entry details

Bankshot

Issue or publication date: July 19, 2019
Publication name: American Banker
Publishing company: SourceMedia
Website home page: www.americanbanker.com

Please describe the publication's mission and readership:

American Banker is the essential resource for senior executives in banking and financial services, keeping its users updated on vital developments and focusing sharply on their most important concerns — innovation, transformation, and disruption; technology, regulation, and reform. Financial industry professionals turn to American Banker, every day and throughout the day, to stay maximally informed — drilling down on complex issues, keeping up with breaking news, and downloading research and data. Paid subscribers and registered visitors engage deeply with an authoritative community of analysts, practitioners and innovators through opinion content, research panels, social media, and live events.

Please describe the enterprising work that went into this entry and its significance or impact on readers:

American Banker created the Bankshot podcast to bring the energy and professionalism of 2018’s “Nobody’s Home” podcast to a range of topics.

Reporter John Heltman traveled across the country to examine subjects such as the lack of real-time payments in the U.S., the future of the bank branch, elder financial abuse and pending revamps to housing finance and the Community Reinvestment Act.

During his trip to Amish country, Heltman talked with a pig farmer, bankers and consultants to find out what was behind the staggering levels of debt farmers are taking on just as commodity prices and trade wars are putting more pressure on them. It could spell trouble for the farmers and the banks that lend to them.

Another episode studied the end of Libor, the interest rate benchmark that underpins more than $200 trillion of variable-rate loans and derivatives contracts. He interviewed everyone from market experts to a student loan borrower in New Orleans about what might happen once the scandal-plagued standard expires after 2021.

The podcast also tackled the sensitive issue of whether politics is overwhelming banking. Large banks are increasingly under pressure to take stands on issues like gun rights and climate change, and some say the trend is going too far.

At 21 episodes and counting, Bankshot has become a must-listen for the industry, racking up tens of thousands of downloads and earning fans among regulators, bankers and academics who regularly reach out to offer feedback.

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Entry URL(s), if applicable:
https://www.americanbanker.com/podcast/bankshot#group-Ep-11-P00T1zsLGD

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