You Can't Hire Your Way Out of the Treasury Talent Gap
Ask most community bank leaders what keeps them up at night, and core deposit growth is near the top of the list. Right alongside it, according to ABA's 2026 Community Bank CEO Priorities survey (362 top officers, published March 2026), is a quieter problem that makes the first one harder to solve: recruiting and retaining talent. It ranked among the top threats to growth prospects, alongside core deposit growth, competition from nonbanks, competition from other banks, and competition from credit unions.
Those two problems aren't separate. They're the same problem wearing two different hats.
Why treasury and commercial deposit roles are especially hard to fill
Treasury and commercial deposit positions sit at an unusual intersection. The person in this seat needs to understand cash management mechanics (ACH, remote deposit, sweep structures, fraud controls) well enough to speak fluently with a business client's CFO or bookkeeper. They also need the relationship and sales instincts to actually grow the portfolio, not just service it. That's a narrow combination to find in an external candidate, and when you do find it, you're usually hiring that person away from a competing bank at a premium, only to have the same thing happen to you a few years later.
External hiring in this function tends to be slow, expensive, and a little bit of a zero-sum game between institutions in the same market. Every bank is fishing in the same small pond.
Why building beats buying right now
The more reliable path, and the one more community banks are leaning into, is developing the treasury and commercial deposit talent already inside the building. A branch manager, relationship banker, developing commercial banker, or ops team member with the right instincts can grow into this role with the right structure around them: real training, a clear path, and exposure to the technical and relationship sides of the job together, not just one or the other.
This isn't a new idea, but it's an underused one in community banking specifically. Larger institutions may have structured rotational or development programs for exactly this reason. Most community banks don't, often because the treasury function is usually one or two people deep and there's rarely time to build a formal program around it. And while there are plenty of Commercial Lending Schools, the smaller pool of Treasury Managers makes larger training programs hard to find.
What a real development path looks like
A few elements worth building into any internal treasury development effort:
Structured, not informal, onboarding. Shadowing a busy colleague for a few weeks isn't the same as a real curriculum covering products, compliance, growth strategy, and client conversations in a defined order.
Exposure to both sides of the job early. Someone who only learns the technical side (ACH file specs, product setup) without the relationship side (how to actually grow a portfolio) will plateau. The reverse is also true.
A named path, not an open-ended one. People invest more in their own development when they can see where it leads, whether that's a defined track to treasury officer or a clear set of milestones along the way.
Outside perspective where it's useful. Internal training goes further when it's paired with exposure to how other institutions approach the same problems, rather than reinventing everything in isolation.
The takeaway
The banks that solve their commercial deposit growth problem over the next few years are unlikely to be the ones that out-hire everyone else. Hiring externally for treasury and commercial deposit roles will keep being slow and expensive as long as every bank in the market is competing for the same small pool of ready-made candidates. The more durable answer is building that capability internally, on purpose, instead of hoping the right person shows up.
That's exactly why we're building the Treasury Lab and other custom training programs, to support new, solo, and small treasury teams who are growing into the role rather than being hired away from a competitor. Reach out if you or your team would benefit.
Source: ABA Banking Journal, "ABA survey: Most community banks see growth opportunities in 2026," March 2026 (American Bankers Association Community Bank CEO Priorities survey, 362 respondents).
The banks that solve their commercial deposit growth problem over the next few years are unlikely to be the ones that out-hire everyone else. Hiring externally for treasury and commercial deposit roles will keep being slow and expensive as long as every bank in the market is competing for the same small pool of ready-made candidates. The more durable answer is building that capability internally, on purpose, instead of hoping the right person shows up.
That's exactly why we're building the Treasury Lab and other custom training programs, to support new, solo, and small treasury teams who are growing into the role rather than being hired away from a competitor. Reach out if you or your team would benefit.
