Count bank executives as among those in the financial industry who started 2021 with high hopes about the economy, according to a new survey.

In a survey of 515 bankers conducted last month, 62% of the executives said overall economic for their bank had improved the previous 12 months, according to IntraFi Network, a banking industry fintech company.

When the company surveyed bankers in the fourth quarter of 2020, only 24% of respondents felt that way.

Looking ahead, 57% of the surveyed bankers said they expect economic conditions to improve over the next year, which was a jump of 19 percentage points from the previous quarter, IntraFi said.

"Projections on the economy have swung wildly over the past 12 months, but bankers are growing more confident that it's on the right track," Mark Jacobsen, co-founder and CEO of IntraFi Network, said in a prepared statement. "While challenges clearly remain, it's clear most bankers are optimistic about the future."

While many investors are worried that government stimulus could overheat the economy and lead to unbridled inflation, the surveyed bankers appeared less worried about the impact on prices. Only 26% predicted that inflation would rise enough to force the Fed to raise interest rates this year, IntraFi said. Sixty percent believed there would be only a "small bump" in inflation, and 14% expected no significant change.

A majority of executives (62%) said Congress and President Biden should finance all or part of the Biden administration's more than $2 trillion infrastructure initiative with tax increases, spending cuts, deficit spending, or a combination of the three.

The executives participating in the survey included CEOs, CFOs and presidents.

These were among the other findings:

• Bank executives remain somewhat skeptical of cryptocurrencies, with only 23% saying they expect the digital currencies to be part of their five-year business plans.

• Sixty-two percent of respondents expected loan demand to improve over the next year, a jump of 14 percentage points from the previous quarter.

• Asked when they expect to restore customer-facing staffing to pre-Covid levels, 41% predicted July 1, with 8% saying they may never return to pre-Covid levels.