35 teams will examine interest rates and inflation

Washington, D.C. – Thirty-five student teams from 27 colleges and universities have entered to compete in the 2025 CSBS Community Bank Case Study Competition. Each team has partnered with a local community bank to explore the impact of interest rates and inflation on the business of banking, with a focus on planning for the future through branch strategy, technology, and managing regulatory burden.

This is the eleventh year of the competition, which is open to undergraduate students nationwide in all fields of study as an opportunity to gain valuable first-hand knowledge of the banking industry. The teams will undergo three rounds of judging. CSBS will announce teams that advance to the second round on June 3 and the top three teams on July 14.

In addition to being invited to present at the annual Community Banking Research Conference each student member and faculty advisor of the first-place winning team will receive a $1,000 scholarship. Their work will be published in the annual Journal of Community Bank Studies. Teams that place second and third will also receive scholarships and have their works published in the journal.

Student teams participating in the 2025 CSBS Community Bank Case Study Competition attend the following universities:

• Adelphi University, New York
• Arkansas State University (Two Teams)
• Ball State University, Indiana
• Central Washington University
• Clark Atlanta University (Three Teams), Georgia
• Eastern Kentucky University
• Illinois State University
• Iowa State University
• James Madison University, Virginia
• Mercer University (Four Teams), Georgia
• Messiah University, Pennsylvania
• Mississippi State University
• Murray State University, Kentucky
• Rosemont College, Pennsylvania
• Southeast Missouri State University
• Southeastern Louisiana University
• Trine University (Two Teams), Indiana
• Truman State University, Missouri
• University of Arkansas
• University of Maryland - College Park (Two Teams), Maryland
• University of Mississippi
• University of Southern Mississippi
• University of Tennessee at Martin
• University of Texas at El Paso
• University of Wisconsin Whitewater
• Ursinus College, Pennsylvania
• Western Michigan University 

Learn more at www.csbs.org/bankcasestudy. 

Contact: Susanna Barnett, 202-407-7156, [email protected] 

X: @CSBSNews 

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) is the national organization of financial regulators from all 50 states, American Samoa, District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. State regulators supervise roughly three-quarters of all U.S. banks and a variety of non-depository financial services. CSBS, on behalf of state regulators, also operates the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System to license and register non-depository financial service providers in the mortgage, money services businesses, consumer finance and debt industries.