Wisconsin’s bank CEOs feel confident in the state’s economic and banking conditions, according to the latest biannual Bank CEO Economic Conditions Survey conducted by the Wisconsin Bankers Association.
About 66 percent of the 95 respondents said the current health of the Wisconsin economy is good, while 33 percent said it is fair and 1 percent said it is excellent. None of the CEOs responded “poor.”
Looking ahead to the second half of the year, 63 percent of bank CEOs expect the Wisconsin economy to stay the same, while 31 percent expect it to grow and 6 percent project weakness.
When it comes to banking conditions, business loan demand was rated “good” by 45 percent of respondents and “fair” by 44 percent. Commercial real estate demand is only fair, according to 44 percent of the CEOs, while 42 percent rated it good and 10 percent said it is excellent.
Residential real estate is good, according to 59 percent of respondents. Residential is excellent, according to 25 percent, while 13 percent say it’s fair. Agricultural loan demand was rated fair by 65 percent, good by 20 percent and poor by 13 percent.
In the second half, 64 percent of the CEOs said they expect business loan demand to stay the same, 67 percent said they expect commercial real estate demand to hold steady, 57 percent said residential demand will remain the same and the same percentage project agricultural will hold steady.
About two-thirds of respondents expect businesses in their markets to maintain current staffing levels in the next six months, while 30 percent expect businesses will hire employees. Banks themselves are about the same on hiring, with 69 percent expecting to hold steady and 29 percent expecting to hire employees in the second half.
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