Washington, D.C. – Fifteen student teams from universities nationwide have advanced to the second round of the 2026 CSBS Community Bank Case Study Competition.

The teams partnered with local community banks to examine their approach to interest rate risk, lending decisions, and inflation since 2020. Teams also analyzed how banks manage and maintain adequate capital through various strategies.

Now in its twelfth year, the competition welcomes undergraduate students from all fields of study nationwide, offering a unique, hands-on opportunity to deepen their understanding of the banking industry. The teams advancing to the second round were selected from a competitive pool of 35 student teams representing 28 colleges and universities.

The following universities have teams advancing to the second round:

• Illinois State University, Illinois
• Iowa State University, Iowa
• Mercer University (Team 1), Georgia
• Messiah University, Pennsylvania
• Purdue University, Indiana
• Samford University, Alabama
• Southeast Missouri State University, Missouri
• Tennessee Technological University, Tennessee
• Trine University, Indiana
• University of Maryland, College Park (Team 1), Maryland
• University of Maryland, College Park (Team 2), Maryland
• University of Northern Iowa, Iowa
• University of Tennessee Martin, Tennessee
• University of Texas at El Paso, Texas
• Western Michigan University, Michigan

CSBS will announce the results from the second round of judging on April 29 and the top three teams on May 13 at the State-Federal Supervisory Forum in Seattle. 

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 work published in the journal. 

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.