ABA Chairman Jeff Szyperski’s path into banking was due in large part to the same personal touch evidenced when he seems to know everyone he passes in Kilmarnock, Va.—his love of getting out there and working with people. (ABA Banking Journal)

Sales of new homes in the U.S. slumped for the fourth-consecutive month and inventories swelled to the highest level in years, suggesting the housing market is falling deeper into a weak stretch. Purchases of newly built single-family homes fell 5.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 553,000 in September, the slowest rate in about two years. (Wall Street Journal)

The share of U.S. households that are unbanked continued falling in 2017, reaching 6.5 percent, according to the FDIC’s biennial survey of unbanked and underbanked households released this week. Representing the lowest rate yet recorded by the FDIC survey, the drop is attributed to improvements in the socioeconomic circumstances of U.S. households. (ABA Banking Journal)

In his remarks at the ABA Annual Convention this week, ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols issued a challenge to the industry’s leading core providers, calling on them "to empower banks with the modern, innovative tools they need to compete effectively in today’s marketplace." (ABA Banking Journal)

In this podcast episode, Iowa Bankers Association Chairman Peg Scott discusses how she teamed up with investors in her community to keep Union State Bank independent, and provides advice for community bankers seeking to follow the same path. (ABA Banking Journal)

Younger people today are much less likely to own a house than their parents at the same age, according to a new investigation into generational housing trends by the Stanford Center on Longevity, a trend that could affect their long-term financial security (CNBC)

Payment fraud remains rare, representing small fractions of 1 percent of the total number and the total value of payments, according to the recent Federal Reserve Payments Study. However, the study did show that while fraud rates edged up between 2012 and 2015 on certain kinds of card transactions, overall they held steady or declined from 2015 to 2016. (ABA Banking Journal)

Nearly 95 percent of consumers think retailers should take steps to better protect consumer data from hackers, according to an Ipsos Public Affairs survey conducted for ABA. Seventy percent say retailers should be installing EMV chip-enabled card readers as soon as possible and nearly 80 percent of consumers think the government should hold all companies involved in the payments system to the same security standards. (ABA Banking Journal)

Luanne Cundiff—president and CEO of First State Bank of St. Charles, Mo., and vice chairman of ABA’s Community Bankers Council—was one of six community business leaders and the only banker to join a recent meeting with President Trump and members of his cabinet at an event highlighting the Trump administration’s regulatory reform agenda. (ABA Banking Journal)

A Federal Reserve official has sounded a warning about "material loosening" of terms, as well as insufficient risk management, in the leveraged loan sector. Speaking at a recent industry event, Todd Vermilyea, a senior official in the Fed’s supervision and regulation division, identified three areas of concern in the $1.3 trillion leveraged loan sector, which accounts for about 29 percent of the $4.5 trillion syndicated credit market tracked through the interagency Shared National Credits program. (ABA Banking Journal)

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida, in his first major policy speech since being seated at the central bank, said more interest rate increases are likely warranted as the economy continues to gather strength. (CNBC)

The FDIC is set to issue a proposal that would rescind Part 350 from the Code of Federal Regulations, removing an annual disclosure requirement that was duplicated by data publicly available on the FDIC’s website. The 1987 requirement called for FDIC-insured state non-member banks and foreign branches, but not state thrifts, to prepare annual disclosures of Call Report and other data. (ABA Banking Journal)