Oklahoma Bankers Association We make bankers better!
In This Issue…
• Grassroots support on regulatory relief still needed
• Work continues on various regulatory issues
• Register for OBA’s 2018 Contact Banker Program
• OBA education corner …
Grassroots support on regulatory relief still needed
As we noted in last week’s Banker Direct, the OBA is part of an effort by other state bankers associations and the ABA. The OBA also supports any and all efforts by the ICBA to help the collective effort of getting the regulatory relief bill – S. 2155 – on the Senate’s agenda as soon as possible.
Our ask of you: please take five minutes to send a message to both of our senators asking them to co-sponsor S. 2155. You can click on the link below to register your support for the bill and ask them to sign on as a co-sponsor of the bill.
In addition, ask them to encourage Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to put the bill on the Senate’s agenda and bring it up soon. This isn’t the best bill of our dreams; it is just the “down payment” on a still-needed effort to do more for your bank and your customers.
Right now, there are 24 co-sponsors, including 12 Democrats! Assuming all 51 Republicans agree to support the bill, then we should be good in terms of getting it to a vote and passed soon.
You can click here to access the automated system that will let you formulate a message directly to both Sens. Inhofe and Lankford. It’s easy to use, easy to make changes if you choose, and let them know you’re watching the progress on this bill.
This should be a slam dunk, but for some reason it has not been insofar as getting the two senators to sign on as co-sponsors.
As we said last week, the reason this is so important is because the folks in Washington don’t think much of your profession. Moreover, they don’t think you care very much about anything that goes on at Capitol Hill.
This is a consumer bill. It’s all about being able to better serve your customers! It’s about getting the economy rolling more, growing and creating benefits for consumers and the communities in which they live, and which YOU serve!
Please. Ask all of your employees to take five minutes or less, click on the link, and send your message. The OBA is100 percent because this is of critical importance to the people we serve. Please help us. It’s important, because they do count the emails.
Thank you very much!
Work continues on various regulatory issues
FASB Meeting — As you know, we work closely with our colleagues in the other states and the ABA in Washington. Last week, the Financial Accounting Standards Board addressed some of the concerns they had expressed about the impact of the new tax law on bank regulatory capital calculations. FASB announced it will soon issue a proposal in an effort to “adjust” regulatory capital balances that were unexpectedly affected by the new tax reform law. FASB plans to issue the exposure draft next week with a two-week comment period, in an effort to have a draft finalized in time for companies to apply the new standard to their 2017 results.
The proposal won’t change the impact the new tax law will have on net income. But it WILL at least soften the blow and craft a method that will make sure your bank follows the FASB rules properly.
CECL Meeting — Last week, ABA and a number of member banks meet with federal banking regulators to get their latest views on what the proposed Current Expected Credit Loss will mean when the bank’s regulatory capital standards are analyzed by examiners. The biggest concern ABA noted is that this new way to calculate loan loss reserves under this new procedure has the potential of having your bank be required to set aside double reserves for the same asset. That’s nonsense, of course.
According to the ABA, the regulators were very interested in receiving feedback from banks about what they estimate the financial impacts of the new accounting rules.
CRA Intentions — In yet another meeting, ABA reports that Treasury will consult with bank regulators and issue recommendations “early this year” on modernizing the Community Reinvestment Act. ABA has previously outlined its recommendations, both in meetings with Treasury. ABA has shared its “white paper” on the subject with the Treasury Department.
Register for OBA’s 2018 Contact Banker Program
We have set the dates for the 2018 Contact Banker Program. Many of you are seasoned veterans of the program and we look forward to seeing you again this upcoming year.
Click here to find a sign-up form that has all the dates listed for this year’s program. We ask that you look and see what dates work best for you and send it back to me. Once we have the groups finalized, we will send you an email confirmation of your date.
On the date you have selected, we will meet at the Capitol around 8:30 a.m., with groups usually consisting of 10-15 bankers. Once the group has arrived, we will have a short briefing about the issues we are tracking and what our plan is for the morning. Please know, we will stay together as a group the entire morning. We will go and meet with your individual senator and representative and you will have a few minutes to chat with them about anything you want. Depending on what week you select, the group will sit in on a committee meeting or we will sit in the gallery of both chambers and watch action on the floor. We try to finish our business about 11:30 a.m. – afterward, the OBA will take everyone to lunch to discuss the events of the morning. There is no charge to attend; the only cost is your time.
This is our 18th year to have this program and it gets more popular every year. All legislators know that on Tuesday’s there will be bankers at the Capitol and we always have legislators asking when their bankers are going to visit. The fact legislators know bankers are involved in the process and watching what they do is very valuable to your industry.
Many of you are probably thinking you haven’t been to the Capitol since you were in elementary school. This is the perfect opportunity to come back and see all the changes. We encourage you to sign up and bring as many employees as you would like.
Please fill out this form and send it back. Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Adrian Beverage at the OBA.
OBA education corner …
The calendar has flipped over to a new year – make your resolution to further your banking education during the next 12 months! You can start with the following:
- Health Savings Accounts, Jan. 23, webinar — This two-hour, extremely informative webinar will give you the information you need to make sure you are setting the accounts up correctly and performing the proper maintenance and reporting.
- Compliance Roundups 2018, Jan. 23-Oklahoma City; Jan. 25-Tulsa — The OBA’s annual compliance roundup seminars provide a comprehensive review of new bank compliance laws, amendments to existing laws and regulations, important court cases and common compliance mistakes.
- Smart Social Media, Jan. 25, webinar — One simple post can destroy years of building trust and goodwill!
- Basic Business Entities & Other Commercial Borrowers, Jan. 31, webinar — Key issues for business entities include who, if anyone, has personal liability for the debts of the business and what is the impact of federal, state and local taxes on the business and its owners.
- Dealing With Subpoenas, Jan. 31, webinar — On a daily basis, a financial institution is faced with having to comply with a multitude of legal documents that are served on it.
- What To Do When A Customer Dies, Feb. 1, webinar — We’ll walk you through the complicated process of dealing with a customer’s death — both on the deposit side and the loan side.
- Developing and Organizing an Effective Remote Deposit Capture Program, Feb. 1, webinar — We’ll outline the detailed information you should add to your documents and processes to support a thorough due diligence, risk assessment, and annual oversight of your customers.
- Excel Explained: Building Error-Proof Spreadsheets, Feb. 2, webinar — In this comprehensive session, Excel expert David Ringstrom shares a variety of tricks and techniques you can use to improve the accuracy of your Excel spreadsheets.
- 2018 OBA Commercial Lending School, March 4-9, Oklahoma City — This school is an intensive, week-long functional school designed for bankers with a basic understanding of credit and financial analysis.
One education program, in particular, to be aware of is the OBA Intern Program. The Intern Program will again be active in 2018 and we’re looking for participating banks! For more information on this IMPORTANT program – important not only to aspiring students, but also to participating banks – Click here for more information or contact the OBA education department at (405) 424-5252!
Finally, make sure to save the date for the 2018 Community Bankers Leadership & Senior Management Conference, set this year for April 8-10 in Las Vegas. If you work for a community bank or if you’re looking for ways to improve your bank’s performance, then this event is for you! Click here for more information.