News

• ABA: Crypto in America
• ABA: #BanksNeverAskThat Campaign Launches NEXT WEEK
• The Virginian-Pilot: Protecting consumers from scams requires all of us
• ABA Banking Journal: Senate bill would create process for raising bank regulatory thresholds
• ABA survey: Voters overwhelmingly support legislation to crack down on fraudulent social media ads
• CISA News: Cybersecurity Awareness Month

SDBA Updates

• Record attendance at 2026 SDBA LEAD STRONG: Women in Banking Conference

SDBA Events

• 2026 Security Seminar
• 2026 NEXT STEP: Emerging Leaders Summit

Online Education

• Additional Educational Opportunities

Crypto in America

ABA's Brook Ybarra joins podcast to discuss Clarity Act, banks' crypto engagement 

With the Clarity Act stalled in Congress, ABA’s Brooke Ybarra joined the Crypto in America podcast to discuss bankers' concerns with the current version of the bill, as well as how banks are engaging with digital assets.

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ABA: The #BanksNeverAskThat campaign launches next week

That means right now is your chance to register — and position your bank as a leader in the fight against fraud. Registration is completely free for all banks, and comes with access to a robust, easy-to-use toolkit full of everything you need to participate. Plus, you can decide for yourself what participation looks like for your bank.

Register for ABA’s #BanksNeverAskThat campaign today and explore everything the toolkit has to offer your bank, and your customers. Then, join the industry-wide campaign launch on October 1.

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The Virginian-Pilot: Protecting consumers from scams requires all of us

Almost daily, customers come into our bank holding their phone with the same worried question: “Is this real?” The text message looks legitimate. The phone number appears familiar. The email seems to come from a trusted source. But too often, it is a scam already in progress, and the clock is ticking.

In Virginia, there were 57,867 fraud reports in 2024 totaling nearly $294 million in losses. The median loss per victim was $450. These are families, retirees and small business owners whose finances and peace of mind have been disrupted by increasingly sophisticated criminals.

Banks such as ours take fraud seriously because we see firsthand the damage it causes in our communities. We monitor accounts around the clock, send alerts and step in when something looks suspicious. Recent national research shows that 9 in 10 consumers believe banks take proactive steps to protect them from fraud, and 96% find their bank’s fraud alerts valuable.

Many scams begin long before a bank ever has the opportunity to intervene. Fraudsters are reaching consumers through fake social media advertisements, spoofed phone numbers, fraudulent text messages and deceptive online communications. By the time a customer arrives at a bank or initiates a transaction, the scammer may have already built trust and convinced the victim to act.

We have seen the impact of some serious scams that end up impacting a person’s livelihood. Scammers will spend weeks and sometimes months gaining their victims’ trust through building psychological safety through their ongoing conversations. Many times, this will cause the victim to trust the scammer more than close friends or family members.

When one of our customers is impacted in this manner, it takes much more than explaining to them that they are being taken advantage of. Often, the bank must reach out to social services or law enforcement for assistance. Those experiences reinforce an important reality: Banks are often the last line of defense, not the first.

The impact extends far beyond financial loss. Scams cause emotional stress, embarrassment and anxiety for victims and their families. Older adults are particularly vulnerable to financial exploitation, which is why protecting seniors has become a focus across the banking industry. Many banks have been recognized with the AARP BankSafe Trained Seal for their commitment to helping employees identify and respond to potential exploitation of older customers. While banks work diligently to prevent losses, even a successful intervention cannot always erase the emotional toll these crimes inflict.

That is why it makes sense for all of us to stop scams earlier in the process. Consumers overwhelmingly support stronger efforts to prevent fraud at its source. People want responsibility shared across the system, not placed solely on individuals after they have already been targeted.

The Safeguarding Consumers from Advertising Misconduct (SCAM) Act being considered in Washington helps us move in that direction. It strengthens tools to combat caller ID spoofing, improves accountability for scam-related communications and helps close gaps that scammers routinely exploit. Importantly, it does so while preserving legitimate fraud alerts and consumer protections. It is a practical, common-sense response to a growing problem.

I thank lawmakers for taking this issue seriously and working across party lines to protect consumers. Fraud has become too large, too sophisticated and too coordinated for any one industry to tackle alone. Banks will continue investing in technology, education, fraud prevention teams and customer protection.

But lasting progress requires every participant in the communication chain to share responsibility for stopping scams before they reach the people they are designed to harm.

Passing the SCAM Act would help protect families, seniors and small businesses before scammers ever have the opportunity to make contact. 

That is a step worth taking now.

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ABA Banking Journal: Senate bill would create process for raising bank regulatory thresholds

A proposed Senate bill would raise the asset-based regulatory thresholds for banks and establish a process to update them periodically going forward.

The Tailoring and Indexing Enhanced Regulations, or TIER, Act, introduced by Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) would make a one-time adjustment to certain key statutory thresholds to reflect historical economic growth, according to a statement by Britt’s office. It would also require the Federal Reserve to evaluate whether nominal gross domestic product or the consumer price index is the more appropriate measure for the thresholds and periodically adjust them to reflect future economic growth.

“When our economy grows but these thresholds remain frozen in place, banks can be pushed into regulatory categories that Congress never intended for them to be simply because of economic growth,” said Britt, who is a member of the Senate Banking Committee. “The TIER Act provides a commonsense solution that preserves strong safety and soundness standards while ensuring our regulatory framework remains appropriately tailored and grounded in economic reality.”

In a statement on X, the American Bankers Association welcomed the introduction of the TIER Act while noting that Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) has introduced a similar proposal in the House.

ABA said the lawmakers’ leadership on this legislation will “ensure regulations better reflect economic growth and risk, ensuring midsize and regional banks can better serve their communities.”

Original Article

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ABA survey: Voters overwhelmingly support legislation to crack down on fraudulent social media ads

Americans overwhelmingly support congressional efforts to crack down on fraudulent ads on social media platforms and hold online companies accountable for preventing scams, according to a new national survey of registered voters conducted by Fabrizio Ward on behalf of the American Bankers Association.

The Safeguarding Consumers from Advertising Misconduct Act (SCAM Act), introduced in both the House and Senate earlier this year, would require social media companies to take responsible steps to remove fraudulent advertising from their platforms, which would help stop countless scams before they start. The survey found broad support for the legislation, with Americans backing stronger protections against online financial fraud.

According to the survey, 87% of voters agree that online financial fraud is on the rise, while nearly three in four are concerned that they or a family member could become a victim of online financial fraud. Nine in 10 voters agree that social media companies should verify the identities of advertisers on their platforms to help prevent fraud.

“Americans are sending a powerful and unmistakable message: social media companies must do more to stop scammers from exploiting their platforms,” said Rob Nichols, ABA president and CEO. “Consumers, families and businesses are paying the price when fraudulent ads are allowed to spread online. Voters overwhelmingly support common-sense measures like the SCAM Act that would require social media platforms to verify advertisers, remove scam ads quickly and take meaningful steps to prevent fraud before it occurs.”

The survey found overwhelming support for key provisions of the SCAM Act, including:

• 96% support requiring social media platforms to take down fraudulent ads quickly once they are reported.
• 95% support requiring platforms to put systems in place to detect and prevent scams before they reach consumers.
• 94% support requiring platforms to verify advertisers are legitimate before allowing ads to run.
• 93% support holding platforms financially accountable if they profit from fraudulent ads and fail to act.
• 92% support allowing consumers and the government to penalize companies that permit fraud and scams to spread on their platforms.

Overall, 92% of voters support the proposed legislation after learning about its provisions. The survey also found that 75% of voters would be more likely to support a congressional candidate who backed the legislation, while only 5% would be less likely to do so.

When presented with competing arguments, voters sided overwhelmingly with supporters of the proposal by a margin of 82% to 8%, rejecting the argument that social media companies can voluntarily police fraudulent advertisers without government involvement.

CISA News: Cybersecurity Awareness Month

Securing the Next 250

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month! 

Original Article

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Record attendance at 2026 SDBA LEAD STRONG: Women in Banking Conference

September 22-23, 2026 | Sioux Falls

There are some events where you can simply feel the energy in the room—and this week’s SDBA LEAD STRONG: Women in Banking Conference was one of them. 370 women -- in one room. We were blown away! 

That’s pretty remarkable—and a powerful reminder of the talent, leadership and momentum within South Dakota’s banking industry. Thank you to everyone who attended, presented, sponsored and helped make this year’s event our best yet.

Watch SDBA’s social media channels for photos, highlights! Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | X

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Online Education

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