SDBA eNews: February 26, 2015

In This Issue

SDBA/NDBA Annual Convention Sponsorship Early Signup Deadline Feb. 27

 
The deadline for business partners to sign up as a sponsor of the 2015 SDBA/NDBA Annual Convention and be listed in pre-convention marketing materials is Friday, Feb. 27. Those who confirm their convention sponsorship by this date will be listed in registration materials which will be sent to all banks, branches and associate members in March.

The 2015 SDBA/NDBA Annual Convention will be held June 7-9 at the Sioux Falls Convention Center/Sheraton Hotel in Sioux Falls, S.D. This year’s event will refresh bankers on the basics of banking and provide an arsenal of ideas and practical ammunition to help bankers emerge as winners in the regulatory battle.

For questions on sponsoring or advertising, contact Alisa DeMers. For more information on exhibiting, contact Nadine Kepford.


Deadline to Apply for GSBC Scholarship is March 1


The application deadline for the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado's Future Leaders Scholarship is March 1.

Recipients receive $1,325 per year for three consecutive years and must enter as a first-year student. Second year direct students do not qualify.

Candidates will be notified by March 30 of selection decisions. This year's GSBC's school  session is July 12-24 in Boulder, Colo.


Upcoming Events

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Sponsorship Opportunity

Learn more about sponsoring the SDBA eNews.


Questions/Comments

Contact Alisa DeMers, SDBA, at 800. 726.7322 or via email.

SDBA Seeks Candidates for Three Board Seats


Elections for the South Dakota Bankers Association’s Board of Directors for 2015 are scheduled for March and April. Three directors have terms that expire on April 30, 2015. Elections will take place in geographic Group II and the Country Bank Category and Large Commercial Bank Category.

The Group II seat is currently vacant and was previously held by SDBA Vice Chairman Paul Domke, Heartland State Bank, Redfield. Country Bank Category Director Monte Troske, Farmers State Bank, Turton, and Large Commercial Bank Category Director Ken Karels, Great Western Bank, Sioux Falls, have both served two consecutive terms and are not eligible to run for re-election.

If you are interested in a Board position, please contact one of the nominating committee members by Thursday, March 19, 2015. Newly-elected Board members will take office on May 1, 2015, and serve a three-year term expiring April 30, 2018.


ABA Seeks Letters to Congress on Data Breach Legislation

 
With the House and Senate working on legislation to respond to breaches of customer data, ABA is urging bankers to write to Congress to help ensure that the legislation reflects the priorities of the banking industry.

Retailers, who accounted for the vast majority of compromised customer records last year, oppose legislation that would include more stringent requirements for how they protect their customers’ data. In contrast, ABA supports high data security standards for every participant in the payments system -- standards that acknowledge the high standards that banks already uphold.

ABA encourages bankers to share their data breach stories with their members of Congress, explaining the efforts and costs entailed in responding to breaches, in order to help build the case for a strong national standard for data protection. Take action now.


CFPB to Temporarily Suspend Card Agreement Submissions


The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday proposed a rule that would suspend the requirement for credit card issuers to submit card agreements to the bureau while it develops a more streamlined automated submission system. The temporary suspension would apply to the next four quarterly submissions that were due April 30, July 31, Oct. 31, and Jan. 31.

Under the CARD Act, issuers are required to post the latest agreements on their websites and submit them to the bureau for inclusion in a searchable central database. The bureau said the existing process was too cumbersome for issuers and would thus be suspended while a new system is tested and put in place.

The proposal would not suspend the requirement for issuers to post agreements publicly on their own websites. Comments are due 15 days after publication in the Federal Register. Read the proposed rule.


White House Renews Push on 'Fiduciary' Definition


President Obama announced on Monday that the Department of Labor would re-propose in the coming weeks a rule redefining who counts as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. ABA -- which successfully advocated for DOL to withdraw a similar effort in 2011 -- is closely watching the rulemaking process to ensure that the administration protects banks’ ability to offer 401(k)s, IRAs and retirement financial planning to their customers.

Many banks offer these products and services to their retail customers, and they have expressed concern that including administrative and educational aspects of these services under a fiduciary standard would limit the ability of banks to offer them to a wide range of customers -- by extension reducing the availability of retirement savings products and investment advice for low- and middle-income Americans.

“Banks have a long history of helping our customers save and prepare for retirement, through IRAs and other suitable services,” said ABA EVP Wayne Abernathy. “We will review the proposed rule carefully when it’s released to ensure it doesn’t adversely affect the participants, beneficiaries and account holders it’s intended to protect.”

Speaking at AARP yesterday, Obama expressed concern that “there are no uniform rules of the road that require retirement advisers to act in the best interests of their clients.” The White House argued that by selecting higher-fee investments recommended by advisers, savers may be unwittingly foregoing $17 billion per year in investment returns. Read more about the White House initiative. For more information, contact ABA’s Cecelia Calaby or Tim Keehan.


Agencies Revise Call Report

The federal banking regulators on Monday announced further revisions to Schedules RC-R and RC-L in the Call Report based on the final Basel III regulatory capital rules and scheduled a teleconference for tomorrow to discuss the changes. The new RC-L would require all institutions to report the amount of securities borrowed or lent. The revised RC-R would continue aligning the Call Report with Basel III, with specific changes to reporting requirements for risk-weighted assets.

The final regulatory capital rules give institutions that do not use advanced approaches the ability to exclude Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income from their Basel III regulatory capital calculations. This election to exclude AOCI, or opt-out, is a one-time selection that must be made on the March 31, 2015, Call Report -- when these revisions take effect. The opt-out will be in Part I of Call Report schedule RC-R, line item 3a.

Read more. For more information, contact ABA’s Alison Touhey.


ABA, Trade Groups Share Patent Reform Principles with Congress


In advance of today’s House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on patent reform, ABA and several other trade groups submitted a statement urging the committee to incorporate the financial services industry’s principles into any legislation dealing with patent troll demand letters.

Financial firms, along with other businesses, are frequently harassed by letters demanding licensing fees for using common technology described by low-quality patents that are held by non-practicing entities, also known as patent trolls, the groups said.

They urged Congress to make patent litigation more efficient by protecting end users and limiting discovery expenses, to enhance transparency by ensuring that demand letters be more specific and that patent sales are publicly recorded and to improve the quality of patents. Read the statement.