Week of April 3

April 3, 2018

In This Issue…

• Greetings from Guy
• Board nominees selected for consideration by membership
• Agencies finalize technical revisions to Call Report
• Parts of NCUA field of membership regulation struck down
• 2018 OBA Professional Member college scholarship available
• OBA education corner …

Greetings from Guy

There is not much new to report from Washington on regulatory reform this week as both the House and the Senate are on Easter recess. We hope the House will take up the regulatory reform bill when it reconvenes April 10.

Oklahoma politics, however, continue to provide plenty of drama and entertainment. As of Tuesday morning, we are entering day two of the teacher walkout. It appears the OEA has clarified its demands, including passing legislation that would replace the $50 million funding hole created by the repeal of the hotel-motel tax, pass “ball and dice” legislation, which would allegedly provide $22 million in revenue to education, and repeal capital gain exemptions to generate additional revenue for education.

I think we can all agree that as a state we need to pay competitive salaries to our educators. It appears teachers won a major victory last week with passage of legislation that moves teacher pay above the regional average. Leadership in both the House and the Senate has pledged to continue to work on the issue. It would seem that it is time to get back to educating young Oklahomans and let the legislative process work.

Unlike Washington, our state cannot print money. Thankfully, as a state we are forced to live within our means. This requires budgeting priorities to be set by our legislature. This process may be painful and ugly at times, but that is how our system works. As taxpayers, we must demand that our tax dollars are spent wisely and efficiently. I believe teacher pay is a wise investment for our state. I also believe we need serious discussion on education reform to efficiently and effectively educate young Oklahomans.

I look forward to seeing bankers from Northeast Oklahoma tonight at Bankers’ Night Out in Tulsa.

Respectfully,

Guy

Board nominees selected for consideration by membership

Pursuant to Article V, Section 5.4 of the By Laws of the OBA, notice is hereby given of the slate of nominees that have been selected by each of Board’s nominating committees to serve a three-year term on the Board of Directors. The slate of nominees will be considered by the membership on May 22 at the annual meeting and convention of the OBA, to be held at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa.

The Board consists of 25 members, 18 of which are elected for three-year terms, with three directors being elected from each of the OBA’s six geographic groups. Within each group, the terms of the Board members are staggered and they represent banks in the upper one-third of banks holding deposits in the Group, the middle one-third of banks holding deposits in the Group and the lower one-third of banks holding deposits in the Group. This year the nominees are for those Board seats representing the lower one-third of banks holding deposits within each group.

The nominees are as follows:

Group 1: Aaron D. Johnson, president, CEO and chief lending officer
The Farmers Bank, Carnegie

Group 2: David Cook, president and CEO
Bank of Laverne, Laverne

Group 3: Terri Thompson, president and CEO
American Exchange Bank, Henryetta

Group 4: Danny Seibel, president and CEO
First National Bank, Lindsay

Group 5: Priscilla Cude, president and CEO
First Bethany Bank & Trust, Bethany

Group 6: Mark Richey, president
Oklahoma Capital Bank, Tulsa

Agencies finalize technical revisions to Call Report

The federal banking agencies on Friday finalized additional technical revisions to the Call Report, which will take effect June 30, 2018. The revisions – which are part of the agencies’ ongoing effort to reduce Call Report burden on banks – will remove or consolidate several data items and add or raise certain existing reporting thresholds in three versions of the report.

To help bankers understand the changes, the agencies will hold a webinar at noon on April 5. The webinar will also address revisions to the reporting of equity securities taking effect March 31, 2018, instructional changes resulting from the agencies’ regulatory capital transitions rule and reporting implications of the recently enacted tax law.

ABA has been heavily involved in the Call Report revision process, which the agencies initiated in response to ABA comments submitted through the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act process. The association has facilitated numerous conversations between bankers and regulators to explain Call Report burdens and offer suggestions for its improvement.

Click here to read more about the revisions, courtesy of the FFIEC. Click here to learn more about the April 5 webinar.

Additionally, banks with defined benefit pension plans will need to make previously unanticipated changes in first quarter Call Reports, according to banking regulators. The changes – which are outlined in the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Accounting Standards Update 2017-07 – require an employer to dis-aggregate the service cost component from the other components of the net benefit cost of defined benefit plans. This will cause a reclassification of these costs in first quarter Call Reports. Banks that are not “public business entities” within the FASB definition will have until 2019 to implement the changes.

ABA urges bankers to carefully review the first quarter Call Report instructions to assess where these costs will now be reported. Click here to read the accounting standard.

Parts of NCUA field of membership regulation struck down

Two provisions of the National Credit Union Administration’s field of membership regulation was struck down last week by a federal judge.

The judge stated that certain parts of the regulation were “unreasonable and manifestly contrary to statute.” The parts he struck down dealt with the size of statistical areas being ruled as local communities or rural districts.

The judge, however, did uphold certain parts of the regulation. You can read about the ruling in American Banker by clicking here.

2018 OBA Professional Member college scholarship available

Each year, the Oklahoma Bankers Association awards a $1,000 scholarship to an incoming freshman who has a parent, grandparent, sibling or spouse who is a Professional Member of the Association. The student must enroll in an accredited Oklahoma institution of higher education. The applicant must also be graduating from an Oklahoma high school. A panel of bankers will select the winning applicant.

Click here for the application for the 2018 scholarship application. Applications are due May 1, 2018.

Anyone interested in becoming a Professional Member of the Association should contact Megan McGuire at our office at 405-424-5252 or by e-mail at megan@oba.com.

OBA education corner …

Remember to stay current with everything that’s coming up on the Events Calendar at OBA.com, but also take note of the following:

Commercial & Business Lending Basics for Support Personnel, April 9, webinar — This program takes the perspective of a non-lender, and what goes on during the process of analyzing and approving a loan, focusing on commercial and business loans.
Reg E Compliance — Five Best Practices for Handling Disputes, April 11, webinar — Our topic for the webinar will focus on several simple steps to handle Reg E customer disputes and inquiries. Understanding the rules will help you satisfy the regulators but can also SAVE YOUR FINANCIAL INSTITUTION MONEY by only paying the claims that you are required to reimburse for unauthorized transactions.
Marketing & Advertising Compliance, April 12, webinar — With everything happening in the financial services industry, now more than ever it’s important that your advertising and marketing efforts are effective.
Excel Explained: Creating Interactive Spreadsheets, April 13, webinar — Identify how to create spreadsheets that are interactive, accurate, and user friendly.
Essential Teller Issues Seminar, April 16 – Oklahoma City; April 17 – Clinton; April 18 – Tulsa — The program zeroes in on six modules that remind your tellers of the importance of what they do, how they do it, what they say and how they deliver customer service.
Robbery Prevention & Response, April 18, webinar — Learn how to make your location more attractive to customers and less attractive to criminals.
BKD-OBA CECL Workshop, April 18 – Oklahoma City; April 19 – Tulsa — The workshop will provide examples and group discussions to assist bankers in developing or refining processes to develop process to implement the CECL standards.
Legal Issues of Checks, April 19, webinar — Understanding endorsements and handling checks is crucial to making sound check cashing decisions.
Advanced Commercial Lending Series (register for all or separate days), May 9 – Advanced Financial Statements Analysis; May 10 – Advanced Tax Return Analysis; May 11 – C&I Real Estate Lending/Commercial Real Estate Lending — Commercial lenders, credit analysts, relationship managers and credit administrators would benefit from these programs.

Also, the OBA will be hosting women banking professionals for a morning at the state Capitol as part of its Women in Banking program. While there, we will hear from various elected officials regarding issues impacting our state. Click here for more information.