Community banks are now Georgia’s frontline financial partners

Throughout my career – as both a Georgia State Representative and the executive team at Synovus Bank, a community bank serving Georgia and Alabama – I’ve always worked to put people first. Whether it’s helping families build financial security, ensuring small businesses get off the ground, or empowering entire communities to rise together, I’ve seen how real change starts locally. And more often than not, it starts with community banks.  These institutions are more than just a place to deposit a paycheck or apply for a loan. They are partners in our local prosperity, especially in places that too often fall through the cracks for national and international competitors. Over the years as a State Legislator in the Georgia General Assembly, my constituents would tell me they wanted access to tools that would help them achieve their financial goals, including buying a home, sending their kids to college, and even launching their own business. To do so, they needed local entities that would listen, understand, and help them move forward. And that’s exactly what community banks do. By and large, community banks are built on personal relationships. They know your name, your family, your neighborhood, and your business plan. They’re embedded on Main Street and are often the only lenders willing to take a chance on a first-time business owner or homebuyer. But while community banks have the desire and local knowledge to serve families here in Georgia and Alabama, they also need the right resources to keep up with today’s rapidly evolving financial landscape. That means more than just having local depositors – it means access to diverse and modern funding sources that allow them to compete, grow, and innovate for their customers’ best interests.  During my career in the banking industry, I came to understand the gap between what community banks want to offer and what they’re financially able to deliver. Traditional funding streams, while still an essential foundation, are often not enough to meet the needs of a modern customer base. To stay viable, community banks must tap into new partnerships with financial apps, third-party platforms, and other nontraditional sources like Raisin. Tools like these can help provide the liquidity and flexibility to serve every customer well, and help community institutions expand their geographic reach, tapping into secure deposits from other geographies.   That’s why it’s time for our leaders in Washington to step up for their constituents’ financial well-being. Our elected officials must support community banks by modernizing the systems that drive capital access and encouraging funding innovations that level the playing field. With this mindset, smaller institutions will face fewer burdens from regulations designed for banks many times their size.  In Georgia and across the Southeast, community banks remain trusted, resilient, and indispensable as home-grown financial partners. They kickstart local businesses, support first-time homebuyers, and elevate customers who’ve been overlooked by traditional systems. They make our local economies stronger and our futures more secure. Supporting these institutions is not just smart policy. It’s a commitment to the people and communities we were elected to serve. Let’s give community banks the resources they need to thrive so they can continue doing what they do best; putting people first. The post Community banks are now Georgia’s frontline financial partners appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta.