This ABA Banking Journal newsletter is a free, twice-monthly supplement to the ABA Banking Journal magazine intended to help you stay on top of industry and policy news.
You can also stay abreast of banking news by visiting aba.com/BankingJournal, home to ABA Daily Newsbytes stories, digital exclusives, the ABA Banking Journal Podcast and more.
Community banks are putting technology to work for their customers and have been for decades, ABA Chairman Jeff Szyperski wrote in a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal published this week. Szyperski—the chairman, president and CEO of Chesapeake Bank in Kilmarnock, Va.—was responding to a page-one Journal article from March 2, that used a single example of a struggling community bank to imply that smaller banks can’t offer the technology customers want. (ABA Banking Journal)
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U.S. consumer sentiment rose by more than expected as optimism picked up for incomes and the economy, suggesting support for growth in coming months, according to the University of Michigan’s preliminary March sentiment index. (Bloomberg)
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As more banks prepare to move to the cloud, CFOs and CIOs can follow an approach inspired by private equity, creating an accelerated glide path to increase return on investment. (ABA Banking Journal)
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With the Current Expected Credit Loss standard for loan loss accounting coming into effect for many banks—and the vast majority of bank assets—on Jan. 1, 2020, where are bank CFOs and managers in the process of implementing CECL, and what challenges are they seeing? ABA accounting experts provide a CECL update on the latest issue of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast. (ABA Banking Journal)
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JPMorgan Chase has announced that it will open 90 new branches by the end of the year, centered on markets where the bank hasn't yet entered. New branch openings are noteworthy, given that branch closures hit a record high in 2018, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. (Marketplace)
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Mortgage interest rates are now decidedly lower than a year ago, and home shoppers are buying in, but most are wealthier consumers purchasing more expensive homes. Mortgage application volume rose 2.3 percent last week from the previous week and the average loan size jumped to a record $326,000, well above the nation’s median home value. (CNBC)
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As the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing this week on the financial crime, the ABA joined eight other financial trade organizations in a letter to committee leaders highlighting the need for a national beneficial ownership registry. (ABA Banking Journal)
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In a recent comment letter to the financial regulatory agencies, ABA offered feedback on a joint proposal to harmonize the Volcker Rule regulations with the S. 2155 law. ABA commended the agencies for their work to exempt qualifying community banks from the rule entirely, and to allow certain name-sharing arrangements between a covered fund and an investment adviser that is a banking entity. (ABA Banking Journal)
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The Federal Reserve does not see problems in the U.S. economy that warrant an immediate change in its policy, and it will be careful not to shock financial markets as it stabilizes its bond portfolio, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said recently. (Reuters)
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Mar 30-Apr 5, 2019 Compliance School – Foundational Tucson, AZ Mar 31-Apr 1, 2019 Mutual Community Bank Forum Washignton, DC
Apr 1-3, 2019 Washington Summit Washington, DC
Apr 1-4, 2019 Compliance School – Intermediate Tucson, AZ
Apr 7-9, 2019 Risk Management Conference Austin, TX
May 1-3, 2019 ABA-Wharton CEO Lab Philadelphia, PA
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