SDBA eNews

January 7, 2021

SDBA to Hold  Virtual Cannabis/Hemp Banking 101 Webinar

Picture of cannabis products. With the passage of Amendment A and Initiated Measure 26 legalizing medical and recreational use of marijuana in South Dakota, the SDBA is committed to supporting its member banks during this transition.

The SDBA, in conjunction with the Montana Bankers Association, is hosting the Cannabis/Hemp Banking 101 Webinar on Jan. 20-21. The webinar, which will be held virtually via Zoom, is an opportunity to learn cannabis/hemp banking basics and a chance to ask questions of industry experts. 

The webinar on Wednesday,  Jan. 20, will be held at 1-4:30 p.m. CST. Sessions are: Update on Marijuana Legalization: Status of States and SAFE Act, Legal Considerations, Lessons Learned/How to Avoid Inadvertently Banking the Marijuana Industry and How to Bank the Marijuana Industry, Compliance and Transparency.

The webinar on Thursday, Jan. 21, will be held at 10 a.m.-1 p.m. CST. Sessions are: Hemp, Federal Regulatory Considerations and State Bank Regulator Panel. Learn more and register


SDBA to Hold State Legislative Day Virtually 

Picture of state seal.The SDBA will hold its 2021 State Legislative Day on Feb. 10 virtually via Zoom. This is your opportunity to stay up-to-date on both state and federal legislation which could affect the banking industry and make sure our industry is heard. 

Featured speaker Joan Woodward, president of Travelers Institute and executive vice president of public policy at Travelers, will present "Woodward on Washington: An Economic and Political Outlook." Prior to working for Travelers and Goldman Sachs, Woodward worked on Capitol Hill for 12 years as deputy chief of staff for the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. She also was the chief economist for the Senate Governmental Affairs and U.S. House Budget committees.

The day will also include the SDBA Legislative Committee meeting, a Washington update from Sen. Mike Rounds and Gov. Kristi Noem has been invited to speak. The day will conclude with a “call to action” where participants will be asked to connect virtually with their respective state legislators. Learn more and register.


SBA Releases Details, Rules for PPP Relaunch

Community financial institutions will be able to submit loan applications for the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program for at least two days before other lenders, SBA said late last night as it released interim final rules covering the pending relaunch of the PPP. However, SBA did not announce the date on which it will reopen its portal for applications for the $284 billion round. ABA staff are reviewing the rules closely, and ABA will communicate with members as new information and dates become available.

The dedicated window for community financial institutions is part of SBA’s efforts to ensure businesses that most need PPP funds can get them. While noting that “PPP loans have been broadly distributed across diverse areas of the economy, with 27% of the funds going to low- and moderate-income communities, which is in proportion to their percentage of the population,” the law reauthorizing the PPP set aside specific pools of funds for first-time PPP borrowers, very small businesses and small businesses in LMI neighborhoods, as well as for loans from community financial institutions.

The first interim final rule amends the existing PPP rules to reflect changes made by Congress, including on fees, borrower eligibility, loan amounts, eligible expenses, reliance on borrower certifications and loan increases, as well as a new registration requirement for all lenders. However, “most of this document restates existing regulatory provisions to provide lenders and new PPP borrowers a single regulation to consult on borrower eligibility, lender eligibility and loan application and origination requirements, as well as general rules on increases and loan forgiveness for PPP loans,” SBA said.

Meanwhile, the second rule governs the second-draw loans now available for borrowers with 300 or fewer employees, that saw a 25% or greater revenue drop in 2020 compared to 2019 and that have used the full amount of their first-draw PPP loan. “Second-Draw PPP Loans are generally subject to the same terms, conditions and requirements as First-Draw PPP Loans,” SBA said. The maximum loan amount is $2 million or two and a half months’ worth of average payroll costs, whichever is less. The rule covers several calculations to determine eligibility and loan amounts.


ABA Condemns Capitol Riots on 'Dark Day for Our Democracy'

ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols yesterday condemned the violent intrusions into the U.S. Capitol seeking to halt the certification of the 2020 Electoral College results.

“This is a dark day for our democracy,” Nichols said in a statement. “The violence playing out on Capitol Hill and in the streets of Washington is reprehensible and should shock and sadden all of us. Our nation is better than this. At this challenging moment for our country, and for so many Americans, our elected leaders must immediately condemn today's mob riot and do everything they can to support the peaceful transfer of power.”

In an email sent to all bank CEOs last night, Nichols added that “as bankers, you know well how much the success of our industry depends on trust. So too do political transitions here in Washington. We must be able to trust our leaders, as well as our fellow Americans, to be loyal to higher principles. I hope that you’ll join me in praying for our nation at this critical moment.”


SDDH Launches New COVID-19 Vaccination Info Tools

The South Dakota Department of Health yesterday released two tools designed to better inform South Dakotans on the ongoing COVID-19 vaccine distribution and administration process. These tools are in addition to the already available dashboard, which is updated daily.

The first tool is a county-by-county map linking residents to the health care system(s) charged in overseeing vaccine distribution and administration in their area, in collaboration with the Department of Health. The second provides residents an estimated timeline of vaccine availability, depending on which priority group (A-E) they belong to in accordance to Phase 1 of South Dakota’s vaccination plan. The latter is also available in Spanish. Detailed information on prioritized populations can be found here: English/Spanish.

Bankers are in priority group Phase 1E, and SDBA President Karlton Adam suggests that banks begin developing a list of whom they wish to have the vaccine first.

"Many of our member banks have multiple locations across South Dakota in large communities and small towns as well. As a result of the size of the community, the number of doses available by community and number of individuals that are within priority group, Phase 1A through 1E will vary," Adam said. "In each of your bank locations, you may want to develop a list of whom you wish to have the vaccine first, in the likely event there are not enough vaccines to inoculate all bankers at the same time."

For additional information and the latest resources, visit COVID.SD.GOV.


IRS 'Get My Payment Portal' Now Live

The Internal Revenue Service on Monday announced that the Get My Payments portal—available in English and Spanish—is now live for individuals to log on and view the status of their economic impact payment. The IRS began issuing $600-per-person EIPs last week via ACH and also began issuing paper checks, which will continue to be sent through the month of January. The IRS this month will also begin issuing payments via prepaid debit cards for certain EIP recipients.

With regard to the ACH payments, the IRS acknowledged that “because of the speed at which IRS issued this second round of payments, some payments may have been sent to an account that may be closed or no longer active." The IRS clarified that economic impact payment recipients who had their ACH payments erroneously sent to an account that is closed, inactive or a temporary account, will not receive their payment and must instead claim the Recovery Rebate Credit when filing their 2020 tax return electronically.

In an updated set of frequently asked questions, the IRS noted that eligible EIP recipients can check the status of their payment on the IRS’ Get My Payment tool, which was updated as of Jan. 5. Individuals whose payments were sent to the wrong account will see “Payment Status #2—Not Available.” 

The ABA has updated its resources on EIPs—including a backgrounder and talking points to help banks field questions from reporters and customers—to reflect the latest developments.


Congress Overturns Trump's NDAA Veto, Enacting AML/BSA Reform

The House and Senate last week voted to overturn President Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021. Passed in December, the now-enacted legislation includes several improvements to anti-money laundering rules long advocated by ABA.

Among other things, the law directs the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to establish and maintain a national registry of beneficial ownership information that banks may in turn rely on when complying with customer due diligence requirements.

It also requires the Justice Department to report on how law enforcement uses Bank Secrecy Act data; calls for the Treasury Department to review BSA reporting requirements with an eye toward streamlining them, including reviewing current thresholds; and provides for financial institutions to share BSA compliance resources, among other measures. Read ABA’s staff analysis of the AML/BSA provisions. 


$50 Million Gift Kickstarts First Need-Based Scholarship in South Dakota

First PREMIER Bank, PREMIER Bankcard and T. Denny Sanford yesterday announced a gift of $50 million to establish a need-based scholarship in South Dakota. The $50 million gift is just the start of what will be a $200 million endowment to fund future need-based scholarships in perpetuity. 

“Today’s announcement is historic for South Dakota and will help us retain talented young people in our state for generations,” said Gov. Kristi Noem. “We’ve identified the need for this type of scholarship for years, and I'm asking the Legislature to match this incredibly generous gift so that we can continue to make South Dakota stronger for our kids and grandkids.”

South Dakota is the only state in the country that does not offer need-based scholarships to public or private universities. Initially, the PREMIER Scholarship will be awarded to eligible students at each of the six public universitiesSouth Dakota State University, University of South Dakota, Dakota State University, Black Hills State University, Northern State University and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technologyalong with Augustana University and the University of Sioux Falls. The amount of money available to each university will be pro-rated based upon each school’s enrollment, with allocations ranging between $200,000 to $1.25 million per school. 

In exchange for their PREMIER Scholarship, recipients will be required to work in South Dakota for three years following graduation. Students qualify for the scholarship based on a formula that takes the cost of attendance (tuition, fees, room/board, books, etc.) less the family income and expected contribution to determine financial need.

PREMIER is hopeful this announcement will encourage South Dakota lawmakers, area businesses and local philanthropists to step up and help provide the additional funding.


Resources Available Regarding SolarWinds Cyber Attack

In response to the major cyber attack announced by SolarWinds—a security vendor that serves a wide range of military, private companies, government agencies and academic institutions—the ABA has created a webpage on aba.com to provide bankers with incident response resources. The page is updated frequently to include the latest resources and links to security advisories, webcasts and information on countermeasures being taken as they become available. Visit the webpage 

According to SBS CyberSecurity, an SDBA endorsed vendor and associate member, any organization or persons deploying the SolarWinds Orion platform version 2019.4 HF 5 through 2020.2.1 released between March and June 2020 can be affected. SolarWinds Orion is an IT performance monitoring platform that manages and optimizes IT infrastructure, and Orion is one of SolarWinds' many product offerings. The malicious update was signed digitally by SolarWinds and has been publicly available since March 2020. 

SBS has been collecting data from the security community at large about the SolarWinds Orion and UNC2452 supply chain compromise and is providing information and guidance on its website


 Compliance Alliance

Compliance Alliance offers a comprehensive suite of compliance management solutions. To learn how to put them to work for your bank, call 888.353.3933 or email and ask for our Membership Team.

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Contact Alisa Bousa, SDBA, at 605.224.1653 or via email.