ABA Banking Journal
January 4, 2021

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.

Industry News
As with everyone, our year at the ABA Banking Journal was dominated by the coronavirus crisis and the banking industry's response. From February to April, our site traffic quintupled as bankers—and the general public—sought information and insight on regulatory guidance around lobby closures, the passage of the CARES Act and most of all the subsequent implementation of the Paycheck Protection Program.
 
Mixing automation technology with useful data and smart communication encourages seamless connections that solve problems during a busy season.
 
What venture capital sees when it surveys the bank tech landscape.
 
Data Center, Inc. (DCI)
Computer Services Inc
Although 2020 was a fairly slow year for AML compliance, 2021 will likely usher in the beginning of significant changes. Regulatory concepts that have been on the back burner for years have already started evolving into real plans and actual action.
 
Consumer Sentiment rose in December to 80.7 according to the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index. December’s figure is 18.7 points below the December 2019 index. The Current Economic Conditions Index rose 3.4 points from the previous month to 90.0, but the reading is 22.1 points below the December 2019 index. 
 
Banks moved heaven and earth to help clients through COVID-19. While examiners are stepping cautiously in exams, bankers must prepare for more probing questions.
 
Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.
New Deposits at a Fraction of the Cost
By utilizing two key Jack Henry solutions, the SilverLake System® core processing platform and the Banno Digital Platform™, St. Louis-based Midwest BankCentre launched a separately branded digital institution (Rising Bank) in only six months. In its first year, Rising gathered over $130 million in new deposits at a fraction of the cost of traditional branch banking.

Read the Celent case study.
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Policy News
The Federal Reserve has announced the members of its 2021 Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council, which includes several ABA member bankers.
 
With the passage of a coronavirus relief package that includes a second wave of Paycheck Protection Program funds, ABA joined a group of financial trade groups in requesting the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration issue and finalize all rules and guidance of any PPP enhancements or new small business relief programs.
 
A new rule proposed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency would require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to develop resolution plans to facilitate their rapid and orderly resolution in the event that the FHFA is appointed receiver.
 
Appraisal Institute
Cummins Allison
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the OCC’s creation of a new special-purpose national bank charter for nonbank companies and the impending charter approval of fintech Figure Technologies. The complaint is an extension of a 2017 lawsuit initiated by CSBS that argued OCC had gone beyond the authority granted to it by Congress under the National Bank Act and other federal banking laws in granting a bank charter to a nonbank company.
 
Amid calls by investors and others to increase environmental, social and governance-related disclosures, ABA has advised two organizations of the challenges in setting sustainability-related disclosure standards as both organizations sought comment on their respective sustainability accounting and reporting frameworks.
 
The Federal Reserve has proposed changes to Regulation D, which address reserve requirements of depository institutions. The proposal would eliminate references to an “interest on required reserves” rate and to an “interest on excess reserves rate.” The Fed would replace these with a reference to a single “interest on reserve balances” rate.
 
Columbia Business School Executive Education®
The Strategic Leader Program (Live Online): How to Excel as Your Responsibility Increases
Designed for leaders transitioning to senior executive roles, this six-day program from Columbia Business School Executive Education broadens your knowledge, perspective, and understanding of strategic leadership, equipping you to deal with the demands of the more complex and disruptive environment of tomorrow.
 
The program offers concepts and tools that will enable you to enhance your personal, strategic, and interpersonal effectiveness.
 
The program begins October 4.

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Training

January 4-29
Facilitated Training: The Banking Industry

January 7 
Webinar: New Opportunities in Ag Banking

January 11 - February 5
Facilitated Training: Marketing in Banking

January 11 - March 19
Facilitated Training: Introduction to Mortgage Lending

January 19 - March 12
Facilitated Training: Introduction to Agricultural Lending

January 21
Webinar: Wealth Management Strategies for Market Fluctuations

January 25 - February 19
Facilitated Training: Bank Lines of Business

January 25 - February 26
Facilitated Training: Managing Funding, Liquidity and Capital

January 25 - March 12
Facilitated Training: Analyzing Bank Performance

January 28
Webinar: Connecting Sales, Marketing and The Front Line – Move from Transactions to Relationships!

February 1 - May 21
Facilitated Training: Money and Banking

 
 

 

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