Due to a scheduling conflict, Mark Zinder will be taking the place of Bob Sellers as the keynote speaker at the SDBA State Legislative Day on Wednesday, Feb. 12, in Pierre.

Are you interested in becoming an officer of the South Dakota Bankers Association?

The South Dakota Bankers Foundation is asking for assistance from bankers in promoting its scholarship opportunities. The Foundation currently offers five named scholarships to be awarded directly to South Dakota college or university juniors (seniors in the fall of 2020) with an expressed interest in banking, finance or business. These scholarships are:

• Alan M. Graff Scholarship—$4,000
• Herman Lerdal Scholarship—$3,000
• Joyce Hazeltine Scholarship—$3,000
• David S. Birkeland Scholarship—$3,000
• Deb Gates Scholarship—$1,500

More details and application forms can be found on the SDBA's website. There is also a one-page flier that banks can print and display at their organizations. The application deadline is March 27, 2020. Questions, contact Halley Lee at 605.224.1653 or via email.

Our Founding Fathers could not have envisioned 24-hour cable news networks, viral videos or fake news purveyors in foreign countries trying to influence elections, but they did expect politicians to be politicians--and humans to be, well, human. Learn about the latest in the Mueller investigation, legislation which could affect you directly, and executive orders which could change the direction of federal policy at the SDBA's State Legislative Day on Feb. 12 at the Ramkota Hotel & Conference Center in Pierre.

The Graduate School of Banking at Colorado (GSBC) partners with the SDBA to offer the GSBC Future Leaders Scholarship. The scholarship, in the amount of $1,460, will be awarded to a recipient each year of their schooling. The scholarship will be awarded to one banker per state, per year, and the student must enroll as a first-year student. 

Compliance is one of the most crucial and consuming issues in the financial services industry today. Regulatory agencies are making it clear through their examinations that no institution can afford to be without a comprehensive, well-managed compliance program. Your compliance officer must be able to run the process, including a bank-wide training program, like a well-oiled machine. 

The Minnesota Bankers Association will hold its Bank Compliance School on March 30 to April 2, 2020, in Minneapolis. The purpose of this school is to provide students with the knowledge and understanding of laws and regulations that impact lending practices, deposit functions, marketing and management by: 

The University of South Dakota's Beacom School of Business Career Success Center will hold a speed networking event for employers to come on campus and network with students on Thursday, Jan. 23, from 3-5 p.m. in Vermillion. 

Dacotah Bank has signed agreements to purchase First State Bank of Claremont and Stohr Agency, which include the Groton and Langford locations.

The SDBA 2020 State Legislative Day on Feb. 12 at the Ramkota Hotel & Conference Center in Pierre is your opportunity to stay up-to-date on both state and federal legislation which could affect the banking industry, visit with state legislators and constitutional officers, and make sure our industry is heard.

Jack Hopkins, president and CEO of CorTrust Bank, has been selected BankBeat magazine’s 2020 Banker of the Year. According to BankBeat, Hopkins receives this recognition for his ongoing commitment to growing his bank in an era of increasing consolidation, along with his career-long commitment to leading the community banking industry forward.

The SDBA is offering holiday signs that banks can print and display to notify customers when the bank will be closed. 

The SECURE Act was passed on Dec. 19, 2019, containing the most changes to retirement plans since the Pension Protection Act of 2006. JM Consultants will hold a webinar on the retirement plan changes in the SECURE Act on Jan. 16 and Jan. 22. The webinar will provide an overview or a snapshot of the changes to both IRAs and QRPs, in addition to other changes affecting IRA procedures.

Although additional guidance on the SECURE Act should be issued in the near future, it is important for IRA personnel to be aware of the changes as a majority took affect on Jan. 1, 2020. More detailed information will be provided in future training programs provided by the SDBA or by scheduling in-house customized training programs for you financial organization.

In a move supported by ABA, the Federal Reserve last week finalized new operating hours and procedures for the National Settlement Service and Fedwire Funds Service to facilitate adoption of a third same-day ACH processing and settlement window.

How can we work together to foster equitable community investments? The 2020 National Interagency Community Reinvestment Conference (NICRC) on March 9-12, 2020, in Denver is your chance to connect with leaders and peers from across the country and find out what works.

The Dakota School of Lending Principles, hosted by the NDBA and co-sponsored by the SDBA on April 14-17, 2020, in Bismarck N.D, is a learning event with one foot grounded in the classroom and one foot in the bank. This school allows students to learn the theory and process of basic lending and then put this knowledge to work in actual nuts-and-bolts sessions.

In the four modules on loan types (consumer lending, real estate lending, analyzing small business loans and loan documentation, and agricultural lending), learn the lending process by studying elements applicable to each loan type: terminology, the application process, interviewing, investigation, credit analysis, loan structure, decision communication and selling. Case studies and exercises provide hands-on learning experience. 

The Professional Appraisers Association of South Dakota (PAASD) will sponsor two seminars of interest to lenders and appraisers on Jan. 15 in Chamberlain at Arrowwood Cedar Shore Resort. The two seminars will total seven hours of continuing education.

The VA Home Loan Program for Real Estate Professionals will provide an all-new, four-hour seminar from 8 a.m. to noon. The seminar will provide a base knowledge of the Department of Veterans Affairs' guiding policies behind the Home Loan Guaranty Program for Veterans. The VA will have two presenters for the seminar--an underwriter and an individual from their appraisal team.

The SDBA 2020 State Legislative Day on Feb. 12 at the Ramkota Hotel & Conference Center in Pierre is your opportunity to stay up-to-date on both state and federal legislation which could affect the banking industry, visit with state legislators and constitutional officers, and make sure our industry is heard.

The South Dakota Grassland Coalition will hold the Holistic Resource Management Roadshow and Annual Meeting across South Dakota next week. The event will be held in Watertown on Monday, Dec. 16; Chamberlain on Tuesday, Dec. 17; Bell Fourche on Wednesday, Dec. 18; Hot Springs on Thursday, Dec. 19; and Faith on Friday, Dec. 20. Times are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Now is the perfect time to make plans to attend the NDBA/SDBA Bank Management Conference on Feb. 14-15 in Scottsdale, Ariz. Six keynote speakers will provide executive-level officers, bank directors and senior-level bankers with timely insights on the economic landscape, M&A trends, balance sheet management, talent acquisition, FinTech opportunities and top strategies for 2020.

Bankers value strategic information and networking with colleagues, and the Bank Management Conference offers plenty of both, in addition to some of the best hospitality Arizona has to offer. The conference will be held at Westin Kierland Resort & Spa, an AAA four diamond resort located adjacent to Kierland Commons. The conference will also include a golf tournament and programs for spouses and guests. 

Governor Kristi Noem on Tuesday announced that President Donald Trump had approved a presidential disaster declaration for September storm damage done in South Dakota, including the three tornadoes that struck Sioux Falls and the extreme flooding in communities such as Madison and Mitchell.