On the Reynolds Center for Business Journalism site journalist Jodi Schneider from the American Banker, has some tips for financial journalists looking for local banking stories in the aftermath of the credit crisis .
For local publications, community banks are a good source of stories and a way to localise the financial services story playing out on the national and world stage.
While her advice focuses on American processes, the general ideas could be adapted for the UK banking scene.
Story tips include: looking at other areas of a local economy which are suffering and how they may impact on local financial institutions; or investigating banks’ capital levels to predict whether they may be in danger of regulatory action.
More general advice covers what to include in any banking story, from the size of the institution and recent earnings, to capital standings and recent regulatory actions.