Far Out Friday: Battle of the Banker Bands

A new competition is giving finance professionals a chance to indulge their rock 'n' roll fantasies

A successful career in finance doesn't mean you have to give up your dreams of being a jukebox hero, with stars in his eyes. A new competition is giving finance professionals a chance to indulge their rock 'n' roll fantasies.

Musically inclined mortgage bankers are invited to submit their band’s video for a chance to become rock stars for a day at this year’s Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) conference in Washington DC.

This is the first year of the event, dubbed Battle of the Banker Bands, but reaction and number of applicants has already been positive, said Randy Lightbody, executive vice president of sales, marketing and strategy for Digital Risk, who is organizing the event.

Lightbody said part of the inspiration for the competition came from Digital Risk’s own house band, Breaking LUSY.

“The more we talked to people in the industry, the more we realized how many industry bands there are,” Lightbody said. “It’ll be a great way to end the conference.”

Though they considered opening the competition to a public vote via social media, it hasn’t yet been decided how the top three bands to perform at the conference will be chosen, Lightbody said. But once at the conference, the bands will be judged by Ricky Phillips, the bass player from the Styx, and Dave Amato, lead guitarist from rock band REO Speedwagon. A third judge – a leader in the mortgage banking industry – will also sit on the panel but is yet to be announced.

Potential entrants can post their videos on the Battle of the Bankers Facebook page, but can only enter if at least 2/3 of the band members are in the mortgage industry.