Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen this week called on House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) to include in the reconciliation package the Biden administration’s controversial provision that would require financial institutions to report information to the IRS on gross inflows and outflows on customer accounts above a de minimis level of $600—a provision strongly opposed by ABA.

In a letter to Rep. Neal, Yellen claimed that the proposals “were designed to ensure that there will be no increase in taxpayer burden associated with this regime” and that “for already compliant taxpayers, the only effect is a distinct benefit—a lowered likelihood of costly and burdensome audits.” In addition, the letter claimed that the provision is “designed to minimize costs for financial institutions.”

First Interstate Bank, headquartered in Billings, Mont., yesterday announced a definitive agreement to partner with Great Western Bank (GWB), which is headquartered in Sioux Falls.

Two hundred bankers from across the state came together in Sioux Falls for the SDBA's fourth annual LEAD STRONG: Women in Banking Conference. The event is designed to encourage, support and inspire women to succeed in the workplace.

The event began Tuesday evening with a reception at R-Wine Bar in Sioux Falls and continued on Wednesday with a full day of sessions at the Sioux Falls Convention Center. Topics included creating the most awesome version of you, strong communication and listening skills, how courage plays a part in leadership, overcoming imposter syndrome, building a powerful presence, roundtable networking and a panel discuss with women banking industry leaders. 

The SDBA will hold its 2021 Annual Security Seminar on Oct. 6 at the Hilton Garden Inn—Sioux Falls Downtown in Sioux Falls. This well-rounded seminar focuses on a range of issues of concern to security officers, facility personnel and management. 

ABA VP Tanner Daniel will join a panel of bank regulators and industry experts in a webinar on cannabis banking issues on Tuesday, Sept. 21 at 1 p.m. CDT. The webinar—hosted by Brennan Manna Diamond and co-sponsored by the Arizona and Colorado Bankers Associations and the Ohio Bankers League—will include banker perspective on offering cannabis banking service and address FinCEN guidance both deposits and lending, electronic payment systems, and legislative or regulatory changes that would promote bank participation in the cannabis industry. Learn more and register.

ABA’s campaign to educate the public about credit unions and their tax status has been rebranded as Reform Credit Unions. The campaign was updated to further emphasize the need to take action and demand reform to the laws and regulations related to credit unions.

The SDBA is calling on bankers to contact Sen. John Thune, Sen. Mike Rounds and Congressman Dusty Johnson and express opposition to new reporting requirements for banks to track and report customer accounts and financial transactions to the IRS.  

The U.S. Senate will reconvene next week, and it is anticipated that lawmakers will develop details of the proposed $3.5 billion social spending infrastructure plan, which would have far-reaching tax reporting requirements including reporting bank account inflows and outflows to the IRS by banks. While this may do little to add revenue, it would come at a massive cost to the banking industry—and it would also heighten consumer concerns about the privacy of their banking relationships. 

ABA is calling on bankers to contact their lawmakers and express opposition to any new reporting requirements for banks to track and report customer accounts and financial transactions to the IRS. A vote on the issue is expected in the coming days.

The Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR) in cooperation with AgUnited for South Dakota, South Dakota Dairy Producers, South Dakota Corn Utilization Council, Central Plains Dairy Foundation and East River Electric Power Cooperative have released an economic contribution study of South Dakota agriculture.

There is still time to register for the SDBA's Bank Technology Conference to be held Sept. 8-9, Wednesday and Thursday, in Sioux Falls. This conference will provide attendees the opportunity to learn from industry experts, network with IT colleagues, and visit with exhibitors to see and experience the latest in products and services.

Sessions at this year's event include: cryptocurrency, ransomware and disaster recovery planning, staying viable in the fintech future, how to know your security program is effective, speed networking, the art of communicating to the board and vulnerability management. The conference will begin with a reception with exhibitors on Wednesday evening. 

In a letter to House Financial Services Committee leaders on Monday, ABA expressed opposition to a bill that it called a “backdoor effort by the credit union industry to expand its membership rolls at the expense of tax-paying banks.” The Expanding Financial Access for Underserved Communities Act would allow credit unions to further expand the already broad field of membership requirements under the premise of promoting access to banking services for low and moderate-income (LMI) communities.

NEXT STEP: Emerging Leaders Summit is designed to help cultivate, connect, engage and empower South Dakota’s future bank leaders. The SDBA will hold the 2021 NEXT STEP: Emerging Leaders Summit on Oct. 26-27 at the Hilton Garden Inn Sioux Falls Downtown in Sioux Falls.

This event will encourage emerging bank leaders to find and express their voices within their organizations, communities and the banking industry and provide opportunities to network and exchange ideas with other industry professionals. It will also increase emerging bank leaders’ knowledge of topics of interest to the banking industry and promote involvement and advocacy. 

In a new resource guide developed at the request of bankers, ABA SVP Paul Benda answers several frequently asked questions about the recent surge in coronavirus cases connected to the Delta variant and discusses how it has changed the game. He also offers several strategies banks can use to mitigate heightened risks.

The SDBA has again retained BLR – Business & Legal Resources, a division of Simplify Compliance LLC (“BLR”) to publish the 2022 South Dakota Bank Directory. BLR of Brentwood, Tenn., has an excellent reputation in directory publishing throughout the United States.

BLR is emailing the update forms for the 2022 South Dakota Bank Directory to all SDBA member banks. The purpose of this questionnaire is to obtain data about your bank—including correct address, telephone numbers, officers and directors. It is important that you respond promptly with the information requested by Sept. 23. If you assign this responsibility to someone else on your staff, please share the letter with them and forward the questionnaire to the appropriate person as soon as it arrives.

Minnwest Bank, a family-owned bank based in Redwood Falls, Minn., will acquire Roundbank, based in Waseca, Minn.

Minnwest Bank has 32 branches throughout Minnesota and South Dakota and $2.27 billion in assets. The bank has South Dakota locations in Big Stone City, Florence, Sioux Falls, Summit and Wilmot. Roundbank has four branches in Minnesota and $385 million in assets.

Technology and innovation have been transforming financial services since long before artificial intelligence and iPhones, and your role as an IT professional is ever-changing, especially in today’s environment.

ABA on Tuesday wrote to Senate leaders in support of an amendment to the budget resolution put forth by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) that would prevent the Internal Revenue Service from establishing a new information reporting framework for individual or business bank accounts with flows of $600 or more. Such a framework was included as part of the Biden administration’s tax proposal earlier this year to help shrink the tax gap.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last Thursday issued a long-awaited interpretive rule providing clarity on how the newly-enacted Juneteenth holiday affected the timing of disclosures required for mortgage transactions in process. President Biden earlier this summer signed legislation recognizing Juneteenth as a new federal holiday. Since June 19 fell on a Saturday, the federal government observed the holiday on June 18. However, given the short timeframe between the law’s enactment and the observed federal holiday, questions arose about how it would affect mortgage closings.

The guidance addresses Regulation Z timing requirements related to rescission of closed-end mortgages and the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures. It clarifies that “if the relevant closed-end rescission or TRID time period began on or before June 17, 2021, then June 19, 2021, was considered a business day, but nothing prohibits creditors from providing longer time periods. Therefore, it would also be compliant for creditors to have considered June 19, 2021, a Federal holiday for purposes of these provisions.”

The hotel room block for the SDBA's LEAD STRONG: Women in Banking Conference will be released on Sunday, Aug. 15.

This year's Women in Banking Conference will be held Sept. 15 at the Sioux Falls Convention Center, with a reception the evening prior at R-Wine Bar in Sioux Falls. Sessions include: "The Spectrum of Awesome," "Human Trafficking: Closer to Home Than You Think," "Leadership--Courage Within,"  Sit Down, Gordon. I Am Enough." and "Building a Powerful Presence." 

Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu said that the OCC has aggressive internal timelines for working with the Federal Reserve and FDIC to put forward a joint rulemaking that strengthens and modernizes the Community Reinvestment Act.

“The teams are working very quickly,” Hsu said. "We have given internal, kind of aggressive timelines on that, but it is a complicated rule and we want to make sure that we do it right and we will be working with all deliberate speed.” He later added that “we currently have groups that are working pretty much around the clock on coming up with options to strengthen the CRA to make sure that low and moderate-income communities have their needs met.”