After my recent shift over from a more capital markets focused career to community banking, I have sometimes been asked by friends and colleagues ‘why’?  The soft answer centers on an appreciation of what community banking does in the many markets that are less well served by the large financial institutions.  The more direct and numbers driven answer is “economic impact.”  While it’s easy for many in finance to imagine running an asset management business or hedge fund as a career apex, I think that if you start breaking down the direct impact of various business models on the real economy, there are few other businesses as important to the economy as community banks.