BRENTWOOD, TENN., December 20, 2012 – Fifty-seven percent of banks want to grow through acquisition in 2013, according to the recently published results of the 2013 Bank Director & Crowe Horwath LLP M&A survey, but 89 percent have no intentions to sell. However, market stability and the implementation of Basel III could drive consolidation in 2013, says John Gorman of Luse Gorman Pomerenk & Schick, PC in a recent article for BankDirector.com.

Bank Director’s Acquire or Be Acquired conference returns to Arizona for its 19th year on Sunday, January 27, 2013, to explore acquisition strategies and financial growth options available to banks. The three-day event attracted more than 400 bank executives and directors in 2012, and record attendance is expected at the 2013 event.

Featured speakers at this year’s event include:

• Raymond P. Davis, president and CEO of Umpqua Holdings Corporation, will be the keynote speaker at the event. Umpqua, probably best known for its innovative branch strategy, recently broadened its reach in San Francisco through its acquisition of Circle Bank, and plans to open new flagship stores in San Jose and San Francisco in 2013
• The Banker’s Panel, featuring Peter S. Ho of Bank of Hawaii, William H. Fenstermaker of IberiaBank Corporation, and Joe Evans of State Bank Financial Corporation, the 2011 winner of Bank Director’s Bank Performance Scorecard, will explore the question “to sell or not to sell.”
• Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry will be featured in the L. William Seidman Lecture Series, honoring Bank Directormagazine’s late publisher Bill Seidman, former head of the FDIC. Curry will address the most pressing issues in banking today, including capitalization, asset quality and the general state of the industry.

The Bank Executive Audience Response survey, sponsored by Grant Thornton LLP, also returns in 2013, revealing how attendees feel about emerging trends in the banking industry. At last year’s event, 56 percent expected their banks to grow in 2012 through organic loan origination, while 26 percent planned to grow through mergers and acquisitions.

The complete agenda for Bank Director’s 2013 Acquire or Be Acquired conference is available online at BankDirector.com. For more information on this and other Bank Director events, visit BankDirector.com/conferences

ABOUT BANK DIRECTOR
Since 1991, Bank Director has served as a leading information resource for the directors and officers of financial institutions. Bank Director hosts a variety of conferences and director-training programs throughout the year designed to increase the effectiveness of directors, focusing on topics like growth strategy, compensation, lending, M&A, and risk. In addition to events, Bank Director reaches the leaders of the institutions that comprise America’s banking industry through its quarterly magazine, executive-level research, and its website, BankDirector.com. Bank Director is published by DirectorCorps, and headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee.

Contact: Emily McCormick, (615) 777-8450, emccormick@bankdirector.com