1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 Last week on the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — in&amp;nbsp;part one&amp;nbsp;of a two-part series — co-host Evan Sparks took listeners on a trip to Tupelo, Miss., the smallest city in the country to have two banks with more than $10 billion in assets headquartered locally.&amp;nbsp;The Tupelo economy is thriving today, with strong employment numbers, a diversified economy, robust GDP growth, quality schools, a best-in-class hospital and a vibrant downtown. Tupelo’s economic performance compares very favorably with similarly situated peer cities. On this week’s episode, Sparks digs into the unique role — and the special difference — that the bank headquarters play in driving Tupelo’s economic performance: attracting a skilled workforce, providing robust competition for business loans, recruiting new companies to the region and benefiting from bank leaders’ executive-level local knowledge. Bank headquarters are disappearing a little more each day as the industry consolidates. Even major cities may not have a single large bank headquarters, and yet Tupelo has two. Is&amp;nbsp;that&amp;nbsp;an X-factor driving Tupelo’s performance? Read the cover story in the March/April 2019 issue of the ABA Banking Journal on the Tupelo story. ABA Banking Journal Podcast https://bankingjournal.aba.com/tag/podcast/ <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/8902025/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/content/36101351