A new Bank Director survey reports that 58% of bank executives and directors viewed fintech companies offering a range of products as a top competitive threat in 2026, up from 44% in 2025. The survey, sponsored by Jack Henry and reported in Bank Director’s fourth-quarter 2026 coverage, also found that other local banks and credit unions remained an ongoing perceived threat, while concern about big or superregional banks declined. For Missouri community banks, the shift raises a practical question: where can a local institution deepen relationships that depend on knowing its own market? Missouri Green Banc offers a way to explore that question through PACE lending education and free matching with local commercial property projects.
The competitive picture is changing
Bank Director’s 2026 Technology Survey asked bank leaders to identify their greatest competitive threats. Local banks and credit unions were cited by 61% of respondents, compared with 60% in 2025. Big or superregional banks fell from 53% to 48%. Fintech companies offering a range of products rose from 44% to 58% — a 14-percentage-point increase in a single year that moved fintech ahead of large banks in perceived threat.
These are perceptions reported by survey respondents, not measurements of market share. The results suggest that bank leaders are increasingly attentive to digital competitors seeking deposits and customer relationships. They do not show that large banks have become less competitive.
For a Missouri community bank, the strategic question is not whether to replicate a fintech’s digital products. It is where local knowledge, borrower relationships, and understanding of a community’s commercial properties offer a distinct advantage.
Local commercial relationships are an area to build on
Commercial property owners regularly face large improvement needs: replacing aging heating and cooling equipment, improving building efficiency, adding renewable energy, or making resiliency upgrades. These projects require capital and careful coordination with existing lenders.
A bank that understands the borrower, the property, and the local market can help its client evaluate financing options that may not fit a conventional loan structure. That does not mean every bank should provide every form of capital. It means lending teams can gain fluency in financing structures their commercial clients may encounter.
That is where Missouri Green Banc’s work with community banks begins: to inform, educate, and engage local institutions in PACE lending, so they can understand the structure, assess its relevance to their clients, and decide independently whether to participate.
A statewide framework with an established track record
Missouri Clean Energy District is Missouri's statewide statutory PACE authority, serving communities across the state since 2011. Together with its nonprofit administrator, Missouri Green Banc, the organizations have helped facilitate more than $2 billion in clean energy financing commitments and transactions through public-private partnerships.
MCED serves more than 300 member communities across Missouri. Through this framework, Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy financing, often called C-PACE, can support eligible energy, water, renewable energy, and resiliency improvements at commercial properties.
For a bank’s client, C-PACE is a capital-allocation structure, not simply another energy-efficiency loan. It can finance up to 100% of eligible hard and soft project costs, subject to program and underwriting requirements. Repayment is made through a voluntary property assessment, with a long-term fixed-rate structure set by the capital provider.
Missouri law limits the assessment term to 20 years or the weighted average useful life of the improvements, whichever is less, under § 67.2800 RSMo. For a property with an existing mortgage, lender consent is part of the process. The structure is intended to sit alongside existing senior debt, with consent and lien position addressed during transaction review.
A bank can advise even when it does not provide the capital
A community bank’s participation does not have to begin with funding a C-PACE assessment. Understanding the structure can help a lender discuss available options with a commercial borrower, whether or not the bank ultimately provides capital.
That knowledge can be useful when an owner is weighing an energy retrofit, a roof or HVAC replacement, or a broader renovation. C-PACE may preserve the owner’s upfront liquidity and allow capital to be allocated elsewhere in the project or business. It does not eliminate cost. Financing costs may exceed energy savings, and not every project will be cash-flow positive. Each property owner needs to review project economics, financing terms, and obligations with qualified advisors.
Missouri Green Banc does not lend, quote rates, or originate transactions. Rates and financing decisions come from capital providers, and each provider applies its own criteria and underwriting. The bank retains control over whether it participates and what it is prepared to finance.
Start with free, role-based training
For banks and credit unions that want to understand the framework before deciding whether to participate, MGB Academy offers free, self-paced online courses, including a dedicated bank and credit union track.
The bank track explains:
- How C-PACE works within Missouri’s statutory program.
- How the assessment can fit alongside existing commercial lending.
- Where a bank’s role begins and ends.
- How lender consent and lien position are addressed.
- What participation through NPCA looks like in practice.
The Academy is designed to build low-cost fluency. A commercial lending team can learn the structure before deciding whether it belongs in the bank’s product knowledge, client conversations, or capital-provider strategy. Completing the course also leads to registration on NPCA.
NPCA brings local project demand and capital providers together
The National PACE Capital Access platform (NPCA) gives community banks a way to see project demand in their markets. A qualified property owner describes a building and proposed project once. NPCA then surfaces capital providers and contractors whose self-stated criteria fit the project.
For a community bank, registration as a capital provider is free, participation is optional, and there is no fee or obligation to engage with a surfaced project. The bank sets its own criteria and independently decides whether to pursue an opportunity. A match signals alignment with those stated criteria; it is not a financing approval or substitute for the bank’s own underwriting.
NPCA is connective infrastructure, not a lender. It helps shorten the path between a project and potential capital providers, while the bank keeps the decision. To explore other resources for lenders, the MGB Community Tools page includes tools such as a lender consent package builder and a useful-life and term calculator.
A practical next step for Missouri banks
The survey’s competitive figures do not prescribe a strategy for any individual bank. They do point to a changing environment in which leaders are considering how to maintain customer relationships and respond to new competitors.
For Missouri community banks, learning about CPACE financing is one way to build knowledge around a locally grounded commercial lending opportunity. A bank can start by taking the free MGB Academy course, then register on NPCA to set its criteria and see how local project demand aligns. Registration does not commit the bank to lend.
Missouri’s PACE program provides a statutory framework; Missouri Green Banc provides education and access to matching infrastructure. Together, they give community banks a structured way to explore commercial energy financing and long-term fixed-rate commercial financing for eligible building improvements, while preserving the bank’s judgment, underwriting standards, and client relationships.
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