U.S. Small Business Administration: Qualified borrowers can access up to $10 Million through the SBA 7(a) and 504 loan programs
Effective on America’s 250th Birthday, qualified borrowers can access up to $10 Million through our 7(a) and 504 loan programs. This is the highest lending capacity in SBA history! We are ALL-IN on America’s Supply Chain Resilience.
How regulatory and consumer expectations are shifting how partner banks compete for fintech deposits.
July 7, 2026 | Susan Cosgrove
For years, deposit competition was largely driven by pricing, where higher yields, promotional offers and convenience determined where customers placed their money. Deposit insurance was important, but it largely operated in the background — something customers assumed was there rather than something institutions actively discussed.
That assumption has changed. In today’s partner banking environment, trust, transparency and demonstrable deposit protection are increasingly shaping where funds flow and which institutions win.
In a recent R&T Deposit Solutions survey of 200 senior banking as a service and fintech executives nationwide, 74% said access to expanded FDIC deposit insurance coverage is highly important to winning and retaining deposits. Customers are asking harder questions about where their money sits, how it’s protected and whether institutions can clearly explain those protections. Regulators, meanwhile, are demanding greater visibility into how deposit programs are structured and managed. What was once viewed as operational infrastructure is now becoming part of the customer value proposition.
Deposit safety has moved to the front office
The rapid growth of embedded finance and partner banking models has accelerated customer expectations around transparency and security. Consumers and businesses increasingly want to know not only where their funds are held, but also how those funds are protected.
The regional bank disruptions of 2023 accelerated that shift. They reminded the industry that confidence can move more quickly — and so can deposits. Those disruptions and recent failures increased fintech leaders’ focus on deposit protection. Among BaaS executives, 96% reported they have already adopted a deposit insurance platform, such as deposit placement, sweep, and access to expanded FDIC insurance programs. That adoption rate suggests modern deposit infrastructure is no longer viewed as just an operational requirement. It’s becoming central to growth, customer trust and operational resilience.
In BaaS, trust has to be established quickly across sponsor banks, fintech partners, regulators and end users. Institutions that can explain protections plainly and bake that transparency into onboarding, reporting and customer communications create a real advantage: a trust dividend. That advantage can translate into faster acquisition, stronger retention and deeper partner confidence.
Regulatory expectations continue to rise
At the same time, regulatory expectations continue to shift rapidly. Nearly half of survey participants said regulatory expectations are evolving faster than operating models can adapt, while more than half of fintech executives cited regulatory uncertainty as a top near-term challenge.
Regulators are emphasizing stronger third-party oversight, clearer visibility into funds flows, auditability, customer disclosures and operational resilience, especially in complex partner banking models. Even so, most executives remain confident: 8 in 10 said their current deposit insurance approach would hold up in a bank failure scenario.
As a result, many organizations are pulling deposit infrastructure into the broader business strategy. Modernization is being driven not only by compliance considerations, but also by growth, partner expectations and evolving customer demands.
Customer expectations are becoming more dynamic
One of the clearest findings from the survey was how executives expect customer behavior to evolve over the next year. Nearly three-quarters anticipate greater sensitivity to where funds are held, and 57% expect increased customer willingness to switch providers. The implications are clear for banks and fintech firms alike: customers are more informed, more mobile and more focused on how their money is protected.
Institutions that can’t plainly explain protections risk losing customer trust, even if they are competitive on rates or features. But when protection is verifiable, embedded in onboarding, statements, dashboards and communications, institutions are better positioned to reduce risk and earn loyalty.
Rates still matter. They’re just no longer the whole story.
What comes next
Three practical moves can help banks and their partners compete in this new environment:
Operationalize transparency. Make it easy for customers and partners to see where funds are held and how coverage applies throughout the life cycle of the deposit, not just at account opening.
Build for scale and scrutiny. Pair pricing strategy with deposit infrastructure that can grow without creating blind spots around oversight, reporting or control testing.
Use regulatory readiness as a differentiator. Governance, resilience and auditability aren’t just compliance tasks. They help keep programs, partners and customers confident as organizations scale.
The market is moving toward a future where trust is a measurable competitive asset. The next deposit leaders won’t be defined only by who pays the most. They’ll be the institutions that combine safety, transparency and operational resilience into a model customers can verify and regulators can examine.
That’s the trust dividend, and it’s reshaping the competitive dynamics of partner banking.
Susan Cosgrove is chair and CEO of R&T Deposit Solutions.
ABA Banking Journal: CFPB releases its Fall 2025 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions
July 7, 2026
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, within the White House Office of Management and Budget, has released the Fall 2025 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, also called the URA. Published twice a year, the URA outlines federal agencies’ anticipated regulatory and deregulatory activities. While the Fall agenda is typically released by the end of the calendar year or in early January, this edition was delayed, and many of the projected actions may no longer be current.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s agenda is current as of Jan. 13, 2026, and identifies anticipated regulatory actions from January 2026 through November 2026. Several new items have been added, including proposed rulemakings addressing procedures for guidance documents, periodic review of bureau regulations, and contingency calculations for determining the average prime offer rate. The agenda also includes three new pre-rule actions focused on unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts and practices under Sections 1031 and 1036 of the Dodd-Frank Act, ability-to-repay and qualified mortgage requirements, and prepaid accounts under Regulations E and Z.
According to the agenda, the CFPB expects to issue proposed rules on Section 1033 personal financial data rights, payday lending, and APOR contingency calculations by the end of July this year. Four proposed “larger participant” rules are expected by the end of September 2026.
Several rulemakings have also advanced to the final rule stage. Final rules addressing Regulation X servicing amendments and remittance transfers under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act are expected by the end of summer 2026. The final rules relating to the Section 1071 reconsideration, Equal Credit Opportunity Act Regulation B disparate impact standards, and implementation of the Financial Data Transparency Act, have already been issued.
In the Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering space, FinCEN now expects to issue its long-awaited proposed revisions to the customer due diligence rule next spring. Notably, the agenda does not provide target dates for finalizing the Bank Secrecy Act program rule changes proposed in April 2026, and the Federal Reserve — which did not join that notice of proposed rulemaking — did not include any BSA program amendments in its own agenda.
FinCEN’s agenda includes seven proposed rules and three final rules, including GENIUS Act implementation (in coordination with the federal banking agencies and Treasury), the revised customer due diligence rule, a notice of proposed rulemaking expected in September to narrow customer identification program requirements for investment advisers, proposed Foreign Bank Account Report reporting changes intended to reduce burden for certain filers by March 2027, and finalization of its whistleblower rule. FinCEN also plans to finalize two Section 311 rulemakings and the March 2025 interim final rule on beneficial ownership reporting.
ABA Banking Journal: CRM and marketing automation remain core to modern bank marketing
The increasing influence of marketing analytics and data platforms highlights the trend of turning customer data into actionable insights.
July 7, 2026 | Sammy Fiorino
A March 2026 survey conducted by the ABA shows that while the marketing technology landscape continues to evolve, customer relationship management (CRM) systems and marketing automation platforms remain the foundation of bank marketing technology infrastructure.
Based on responses from 116 bank marketers, the survey highlights a consistent pattern across the last three years: despite the emergence of newer technologies and growing interest in AI-powered tools, marketers continue to rely most heavily on established platforms that support customer engagement, campaign execution, and operational efficiency.
Foundational platforms continue to lead
Across the past three years, CRM and marketing automation ranked as the top two categories in utilization among respondents, consistently maintaining their position at the top of the martech stack. Unsurprisingly, AI-powered marketing tools saw substantial growth between 2024 and 2026, from 16.9% in 2024 to 50.4% in 2026. However, that growth was not enough to displace CRM and Marketing automation as the most widely utilized technologies.
This broader increase in technology adoption is also reflected in the decline of respondents selecting “None of the above,” which fell from approximately 26% in both 2024 and 2025 to just 13% in 2026. The shift indicates that more marketers are actively using marketing technologies overall, even as the foundational platforms remain unchanged.
Core value drivers
The survey also measured which technologies respondents believed had the greatest impact on their marketing efforts. Reported impact from CRM systems increased from 12.3% in 2024 to 25.7% in 2026, reinforcing the growing role customer data and relationship management play in bank marketing strategies.
Marketing automation platforms also remained highly influential, though their trajectory was less linear. Reported impact rose to 25.4% in 2025 before declining slightly in 2026 to levels closer to 2024, at roughly 22%. While CRM and marketing automation continued to rank among the most impactful technologies, marketing analytics and data platforms gained momentum, moving from third place in 2025 to second place in 2026 and surpassing marketing automation by 1 percentage point.
Personalization at scale
For community banks, CRM and marketing automation platforms enable more targeted and effective customer engagement throughout the customer lifecycle. Common use cases include identifying cross-sell opportunities, onboarding new customers with personalized communications, nurturing loan and deposit prospects, re-engaging inactive customers, and supporting retention efforts through timely outreach. These platforms also help banks segment audiences by demographics, product usage, and behavior, enabling marketers to deliver relevant campaigns at scale while tracking performance and optimizing results. By automating routine marketing activities and surfacing actionable customer insights, CRMs and MAPs help community banks grow relationships, increase product adoption, and improve marketing ROI.
Marketing analytics and data platforms play an increasingly important role in helping banks maximize the value of their CRM and marketing automation investments. By consolidating campaign, customer, and channel performance data, these platforms provide marketers with deeper visibility into what is driving engagement, conversions, and revenue growth. As banks collect more customer and marketing data, analytics tools help transform that information into actionable insights, enabling marketers to refine audience targeting, optimize campaigns, allocate resources more effectively, and demonstrate marketing’s contribution to business outcomes.
Confidence continues to rise
In addition to utilization and impact, the survey asked respondents to rate their level of understanding and comfort with marketing technologies on a scale of 1 to 5. Interestingly, the order of technologies remained identical in every year surveyed. CRM systems and marketing automation platforms consistently ranked as the technologies marketers felt most comfortable using, mirroring their leadership in adoption and impact.
At the same time, overall comfort levels increased steadily across the industry. The average respondent comfort score rose from 2.68 in 2024 to 2.94 in 2025, before reaching 3.21 in 2026. The increase suggests that bank marketers are becoming more confident in navigating increasingly sophisticated marketing ecosystems. As organizations continue investing in digital tools, marketers appear to be gaining familiarity not only with emerging technologies but also with maximizing the capabilities of the platforms already at the center of their operations.
While much of the recent conversation around marketing technology has focused on rapid innovation and emerging AI capabilities, the ABA survey results suggest that establishing a solid foundation remains a defining characteristic of bank marketing technology strategies.
CRM systems and marketing automation platforms have remained the most utilized and impactful technologies throughout the last three years of the survey. Their continued dominance underscores the importance of reliable, integrated systems that support long-term customer relationship management and scalable marketing execution. At the same time, the growing influence of marketing analytics and data platforms highlights an increasing emphasis on measuring performance and turning customer data into actionable insights. Together, these trends suggest that banks are not only investing in foundational technologies but are also becoming more sophisticated in how they use and evaluate them. Just as notably, marketers’ comfort and confidence in these technologies continue to rise, reflecting both increased adoption and a growing ability to leverage these platforms strategically to drive measurable business outcomes.
Sammy Fiorino is marketing consultant and project manager at Capital Performance Group.
CISA News: Hackers breached DHS information-sharing network, people familiar say
The Homeland Security Information Network is used by government, international and private sector partners to share sensitive but unclassified information.
A key Department of Homeland Security information-sharing database was accessed by an unknown threat actor in recent weeks, potentially exposing sensitive data exchanged between federal, state, local and industry partners, according to two people familiar with the matter.
DHS investigators are probing the intrusion of the Homeland Security Information Network, said both people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the incident is sensitive. The hackers’ affiliation and whether any documentation was pilfered from the system are both unclear.
The department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis has conducted a damage assessment of the intrusion, which is believed to have occurred sometime between late May and early June, said one of the people. The hackers targeted HSIN servers and a SharePoint system used for collaboration efforts, the person added.
Approved users lean on the network to securely access data, exchange requests with partner agencies, manage operations, coordinate safety and security for planned events, respond to incidents and share mission-critical information needed to protect their communities, according to its website. HSIN carries unclassified but sensitive information shared among federal, state, local, territorial, tribal, international and private-sector partners.
The intrusion comes as the U.S. is overseeing security for World Cup games across the country, placing added scrutiny on the systems federal, state and local officials use to coordinate major events. A breach of the platform could raise concerns about whether hackers gained insight into security planning, interagency coordination or response procedures surrounding one of the most visible international events hosted predominately in the United States.
The platform supports real-time communication, document sharing, alerts, web conferencing and incident management. It’s also used to exchange information about persons of interest and potential threats to help agencies maintain situational awareness during emergencies and events.
“The Department of Homeland Security is aware of a recent cyber incident involving a specific, unclassified legacy information sharing environment. We immediately took action to isolate the affected systems, mitigate the vulnerability, and launch a comprehensive forensic investigation,” a department spokesperson said after this story published. “There is no indication that classified networks were impacted, and the system remains operational for our partners. As this is an ongoing investigation, we cannot provide further operational details at this time."
The development would not be the first time HSIN has faced security problems. In 2023, an access misconfiguration linked to a contractor’s coding error caused restricted HSIN data to be exposed to unapproved users inside the platform, according to a memo obtained by Nextgov/FCW.
The error let information intended for a limited set of authorized users be made available more broadly across HSIN, including sensitive U.S. person data and other personally identifying information. The full consequences of that misconfiguration are still unclear, according to a third person. Wired previously reported that incident.
Nation-state groups and criminal hackers routinely target U.S. systems to collect intelligence, steal sensitive information, disrupt operations or gain footholds inside government networks. In February, a suspected China-linked breach of an FBI surveillance system likely revealed phone numbers of targets being monitored by the bureau, Nextgov/FCW previously reported.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to include comment from DHS.
Graduate School of Banking: The Executive's AI Playbook
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If you've been meaning to submit your favorite South Dakota photos, now's the time! We can't wait to see the places, people, and moments that capture the spirit of our great state.
2026 SDBA Intro to HSAs Webinar: REGISTER BY JULY 11
July 14, 2026 | VIRTUAL
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are a popular health care option for employers offering coverage to employees and individuals/families not covered by employer-sponsored health care benefits. Financial institutions are beginning to see more complex transactions due to increased customer activity. This activity requires personnel to review their existing HSA procedures to ensure transactions are handled properly. This program also provides a solid foundation of operational and compliance issues associated with providing HSAs to customers, including opening, maintaining and distributing procedures.
Registration Opens July 15 for Fall Semester Career Fairs at SDSU
Registration is first-come, first-serve and booth spaces are assigned in the order of received registrations. Fairs will be visible in Handshake with more information closer to July 15th.
Are you new to Handshake? Email Jordan Feist to get an account set up!
Join us at the Women Lead Symposium to acquire the leadership skills you need to be a trailblazer at your bank and in our industry. Open to all professionals across the banking industry, this half-day, virtual program is designed to help you grow and become a more successful leader, whether you’re an emerging leader or a seasoned professional.
This joint effort between ABA and a select group of state bankers associations will also help you navigate key banking positions, cultivate a strong professional network and enhance your bank’s bottom line.
Fraud Academy is a pioneering initiative designed to arm bankers with the skills needed to detect and combat fraud. Our unique program features insights from experts across the DEA, FBI, the Secret Service, law enforcement, AARP, and the financial industry, offering a robust education in fraud prevention from those who know it best.
With fraud costing every bank valuable time and money, our curriculum targets over eighteen types of fraud, including check fraud, elder fraud, cybercrimes, and introduces effective prevention tools. Equipping bankers with the knowledge to minimize fraud-related losses and protect your institution's bottom line.
This two-and-a-half-day school will take a deep dive into the types of fraud most affecting financial institutions.
Participating in learning opportunities outside the bank can be challenging. Take advantage of the SDBA's extensive selection of webinars and on-demand training to enhance your banking expertise directly from your computer.
During this 90-minute webinar, we will bring you up to speed on all things BSA and OFAC for 2026. Take a new look at Unfair Banking and BSA.
What You’ll Learn: New! AML Fundamental Rule Change Proposal Update, Reputational risk and your risk assessments, 4 new FAQs on SARs: what do they mean?, Suspicious Activity Reporting – cyber, cash, and check fraud, SAR narrative templates and referral forms, Hot spots for examiners this year , Marijuana Update – Schedule III or no?, Streamline Act: where are we on legislation to change CTR numbers?, Beneficial ownership relief on existing customers, OFAC videos, search engine, record retention, new reports, and sanctions.
Learn how to put compliance management solutions from Compliance Alliance to work for your bank, by contacting (888) 353-3933 or [email protected] and ask for our Membership Team. For timely compliance updates, subscribe to Bankers Alliance’s email newsletters.
For years, deposit competition was largely driven by pricing, where higher yields, promotional offers and convenience determined where customers placed their money. Deposit insurance was important, but it largely operated in the background — something customers assumed was there rather than something institutions actively discussed.
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, within the White House Office of Management and Budget, has released the Fall 2025 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, also called the URA. Published twice a year, the URA outlines federal agencies’ anticipated regulatory and deregulatory activities. While the Fall agenda is typically released by the end of the calendar year or in early January, this edition was delayed, and many of the projected actions may no longer be current.
Registration is first-come, first-serve and booth spaces are assigned in the order of received registrations. Fairs will be visible in Handshake with more information closer to July 15th.
Fraud Academy is a pioneering initiative designed to arm bankers with the skills needed to detect and combat fraud. Our unique program features insights from experts across the DEA, FBI, the Secret Service, law enforcement, AARP, and the financial industry, offering a robust education in fraud prevention from those who know it best.
