Gov. Kristi Noem yesterday laid out a framework for up to $400 million in Coronavirus Relief Funds (CRF) to assist South Dakota’s small businesses negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“South Dakota is in a good spot as we rebound from COVID-19, but some of our small businesses were still hurt by this pandemic,” said Gov. Noem. “These folks are the lifeblood of our communities and economy. When I asked folks to adjust their way of life to help us flatten the curve, South Dakotans exercised their personal responsibility and responded. That adjustment significantly impacted the day-to-day operations, customer traffic and supply chains of a number of small business owners across our state. It’s my hope that this proposal will help folks stay open and overcome the unprecedented times we’ve faced these last several months. I’m looking forward to discussing it with the Legislature.”

Don't miss out on three opportunities to take part in this year's SDBA LEAD STRONG: Women in Banking Conference set for Sept. 23-24. Join us live at the Sioux Falls Convention Center, join a watch party in Rapid City at the Mount Rushmore Society Room or join virtually via Zoom from the comfort of your home or office. All sessions will be recorded for viewing at your leisure.

Banks of all sizes are suffering significant monetary and reputational losses from increasingly-sophisticated phishing scams targeting their customers. We want to change that.

The ABA is calling on all banks across the country—members and nonmembers alike—to register for the #BanksNeverAskThat anti-phishing campaign—a fresh, bold, plug-and-play campaign created to educate consumers about phishing scams and how to thwart them.

South Dakota bankers are invited to join bankers and industry leaders from across the Midwest for a virtual meeting with agency leadership and lawmakers. A Virtual Washington Fly-in for bankers in the Midwest Region (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin) is set for Oct. 5, 6 and 8.

In partnership with the state bankers associations, the ABA is hosting this year’s Virtual Washington Fly-in to ensure policies crucial to the banking industry remain front and center and to provide a forum for critical questions from your bank. You will not want to miss out on this opportunity to speak directly to regulators about the need for commonsense policies and smart reform that will help America’s banks better serve their communities and grow the economy.

Monday, Oct. 5
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: ABA Federal Issues Briefing
1-2 p.m.: FDIC Briefing with Chair Jelena McWilliams

SDBA Chair Steve Bumann announced on Tuesday the hiring of Karl Adam as the 11th president of the SDBA.

Following his attainment of undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, Adam spent four years with the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C. Upon his and his wife, Joan’s, return to South Dakota, Adam spent three years working in business recruitment, development and financing at the South Dakota Governor’s Office of Economic Development in Pierre.  

The Board of Trustees of the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado (GSBC) announced Wednesday that Timothy Koch, president, will retire following the July 2021 annual school session.

"July 2021 will mark the end of an incredible era of community banking education led by Dr. Koch,” said GSBC Chair Mary Kay Bates, president and chief executive officer of Bank Midwest (Iowa). “His extraordinary leadership and vision for banker education has made GSBC what it is today; we are sad to see his time as GSBC’s leader come to an end, but are excited to see what the future holds for the school as well.

Hackers associated with North Korea have resumed targeting banks worldwide to initiate fraudulent money transfers and ATM cashout schemes, according to an advisory yesterday from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Treasury Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Cyber Command. “The recent resurgence follows a lull in bank targeting since late 2019,” the advisory said.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on Tuesday delayed a 50-basis-point fee it had planned to start imposing on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refinanced mortgages. Instead of taking effect Sept. 1, the fee will be imposed Dec. 1, and it will exempt refinance loans with balances of less than $125,000 to preserve refi accessibility for low-income borrowers.

ABA SVP Joseph Pigg described the delay as “an important step in the right direction,” adding that “we will continue to urge FHFA to carefully assess whether this fee, even delayed until December, could unnecessarily harm struggling homeowners and the broader economy.”

In the latest issue of Money Smart News, the FDIC shared success stories from educators in adapting the Money Smart curriculum for virtual training sessions while continuing to meet community needs. The issue also includes COVID-19 resources for banks and consumers and new instructional videos released for Money Smart for Adults trainers. Read more.

The SDBA will hold the 2020 New Accounts Seminar as a three-part webinar series on Oct. 13, 14 and 15.

The webinar series will encompass opening personal, business, trust, and fiduciary accounts and is customized to South Dakota law. It provides answers to the most complicated and challenging questions asked by customers and employees. Day one agenda will cover opening personal and consumer accounts, day two will cover business accounts, and day three will cover trust and fiduciary accounts.

There is still time to register for the SDBA's Virtual Bank Technology Conference on Sept. 9-10. 

The conference is designed to provide support as you keep on top of technology trends and scams, navigate the business of banking, and build and sustain your bank’s technology strategy. Join host and emcee, Trent Fleming, as we discuss timely technology topics that can help you as you make decisions that impact your bank, your staff and your customers. 

The SDBA has again retained BLR – Business & Legal Resources, a division of Simplify Compliance LLC (“BLR”) to publish the 2021 South Dakota Bank Directory. BLR of Brentwood, Tenn., has an excellent reputation in directory publishing throughout the United States.

BLR will be emailing update forms for the 2021 South Dakota Bank Directory to all SDBA member banks next week. 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.

The ABA yesterday welcomed the bipartisan Rural Equal Aid Act, which would provide six months of payment relief for borrowers using the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development loan programs. The bill—introduced by Rep. Cindy Axne (D-Iowa) in the House and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) in the Senate—provides equal treatment for RD loans to that provided under the CARES Act for Small Business Administration borrowers.

“Banks are an important part of rural America, and the Rural Equal Aid Act will allow banks to better serve their customers in rural areas,” ABA said in a letter to Axne. “ABA has long supported USDA Rural Development lending programs and was very involved in the development of OneRD, which streamlines the loan making process within USDA Rural Development.” Read the letter. 

We don’t know about you, but we at the SDBA are COVID-ed out! Our yoga pants are worn out from working at home, we still haven’t mastered “new math,” and it’s the “freshman 15” all over again. Never have we needed each other more. Never have we needed a diversion more. Never have we needed some FUN more!

Join us Sept. 23-24, 2020, for Lead Strong: Women in Banking, which promises to educate, enlighten and engage. This year, we are providing three registration options. Join us live at the Sioux Falls Convention Center, join a watch party in Rapid City at the Mount Rushmore Society Room or join virtually via Zoom from the comfort of your home or office. All sessions will be recorded for viewing at your leisure.

ABA is seeking participants for its agricultural lenders survey, which the association conducts annually with Farmer Mac. The survey examines overall industry sentiment of the farm economy, expectations on land values, prospects for the coming year and issues facing the broader economy. Lenders who have already signed up or who have participated in previous surveys should have already received an email invitation to participate in this year’s survey. New respondents can sign up here to participate in the survey. For more information, contact ABA’s Tyler Mondres.

As Senate leaders continue to negotiate provisions in the latest round of legislative coronavirus relief, the 51 state bankers associations yesterday urged them to include S. 4159, the E-Sign Modernization Act, in the package. Originally authored by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the bill would streamline how consumers consent to receiving electronic documents, such as bank statements, account information and contracts.

The bill would update the 20-year-old E-Sign Act to reflect advancements in technology and shifting consumer preferences. Specifically, it would remove the current requirement for consumers to reasonably demonstrate that they can access documents electronically before they can receive an electronic version—which the groups noted created obstacles for companies of all sizes during the coronavirus pandemic.

IRAs are one of the most complicated areas of bank personnel responsibility, and it is not possible to learn and understand everything. Continual education is necessary to ensure confidence. Working with IRAs is a process and must start with a strong foundation. The SDBA’s 2020 IRA School on Sept. 29 to Oct. 2, which will be offered live in Sioux Falls and virtually, can provide this foundation through a comprehensive curriculum. 

Days one to three of the school will cover new and current IRA material, and previous topics covered at the school will be expanded. Day four of the school, which is optional, is for anyone who is involved indirectly or directly in IRA operations, reporting, auditing or compliance and covers how the SECURE Act will affect bank operations. 

These past few months have seen rapid, unprecedented changes as firms grapple with the fallout of the coronavirus and resulting shutdowns, as well as civic unrest and questions about the future of financial services. It’s a tumultuous time, and it’s not easy to sort out the important information from the noise.

To make that easier, Promontory Interfinancial Network has started a podcast, Banking with Interest, which is dedicated to talking directly with experts about the forces reshaping financial services—and what the industry should be doing to meet the challenges of the moment.

With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to disrupt the normal circulation of coinage in the U.S. economy, the U.S. Coin Task Force convened by the Federal Reserve issued a statement last Friday describing the circulation slowdown and urging consumers to get coins back into use.

The task force—which includes ABA, alongside representatives from the Fed, the U.S. Mint, the armored car industry, food distribution and other sectors—urged consumers to start spending the coins they have at home (while observing coronavirus-related precautions), deposit coins at their financial institutions and redeem coins at retail coin kiosks. The task force also urged people to use the hashtag #getcoinmoving in social media posts to help the public understand that the circulation slowdown is not a coin shortage.

With H.R. 7777, a bill to simplify the forgiveness process for Paycheck Protection Program loans, recently introduced in the House, ABA continues urging bankers to use the Secure American Opportunity grassroots platform to ask their members of Congress to support the bill.

This legislation—which has a companion bill in the Senate—would allow PPP loans of $150,000 or less to be forgiven once the borrower completes a one-page forgiveness attestation. ABA asks bankers to add their voices to the chorus and contact their representatives. The bill is expected to ease the forgiveness process for approximately 86% of PPP borrowers, in addition to saving an estimated $7 billion and hours of paperwork. Contact your representative now.