SDBA eNews

November 8, 2018

2019 High School Scholarship Program Application Now Available

The South Dakota Bankers Foundation has allocated $90,000 for the High School Scholarship Program for 2019. Matched by recipient banks, the program will result in a total of $180,000 in high school scholarships awarded to high school seniors throughout South Dakota in 2019.

Scholarship are available in $500 increments to the first 180 banks/branches who agree to match an equal amount. Banks who participated in the High School Scholarship Capital Campaign are eligible to apply for funding. 

Students who receive the scholarships must be high school seniors who plan to attend an accredited South Dakota college, university, vocational technical school or community college on a full-time basis. Winners must agree to have their names released to the media. Other scholarship eligibility requirements may apply as determined by the sponsoring bank.

The deadline for SDBA banks to apply for high school scholarship funding is Dec. 21, 2018. Learn more and apply.


SDBA Partners with New Job Posting Resource for Financial Services Industry

The SDBA is excited to announce a new partnership with BankTalentHQ to connect top talent nationwide (including candidates who are outside of the industry currently) to our banks. Brought to you by an alliance of state banking associations working together, BankTalentHQ is dedicated to attracting candidates to the financial services industry. The main focus for the website is the job board.

As an introduction to this new resource, the SDBA is currently offering member banks and associate members an unlimited amount of 30-day job postings on BankTalentHQ for free until end of the year. 

Once you register as an employer on BankTalentHQ, the promotional code is LAUNCHSD18. You can then post unlimited, complimentary, 30-day postings until the end of the year. To post multiple job openings, you can contact BankTalentHQ at [email protected] to find out how they can upload them for you.

While we are offering BankTalentHQ as a national job posting resource, the SDBA will continue to offer its classified service on the SDBA’s website and in the SDBanker Magazine. When BankTalentHQ’s free promotion ends, the SDBA will waive its $50 classified posting fee if you also place the listing with BankTalentHQ. Questions, contact the SDBA's Alisa Bousa.


ABA Issues Analysis of 2018 Elections

ABA’s congressional relations and political engagement teams have prepared an analysis of how Tuesday's midterm elections--which saw Democrats regain control of the House of Representatives while Republicans expanded their Senate majority--will affect the banking industry.

With Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) possibly having the option to take up the chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee, the analysis outlines what to expect from Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), a former bank director who would be next in line to chair the banking panel. It highlights potential policy areas the committee might work on, including housing finance reform and access to capital.

On the House side, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) is the presumptive incoming chairman of the Financial Services Committee, which "will present one of the more pronounced reorderings of legislative priorities in many years." The analysis indicates that the Waters-led Democrats on the committee may find common ground with Republicans on data security, anti-money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act reform, GSE reform and cannabis banking issues.

The analysis also outlines results from ABA's political engagement efforts, including BankPac and the Voter Education Fund, and it also covers results in key ballot initiatives. Read the analysis


Podcast: What the 2018 Midterm Elections Mean for Bankers

On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, James Ballentine, head of congressional affairs for the American Bankers Association, joins Elizabeth Coit, who leads the ABA Voter Education Fund, to discuss the results of the 2018 midterm elections, which saw Democrats seize a House majority while Republicans expanded their Senate majority, and their implications for bankers.

The guests talk with co-hosts Joan Gregory Saenz and Shaun Kern about the results in key races, including the races in which ABA participated via independent expenditures made through the VEF. They also talk about the new composition and agenda of the House Financial Services Committee under Democratic leadership, the chance of leadership changes on the Senate Banking Committee and the possibility for bipartisan compromises following the loss of a few key moderate lawmakers. Listen to this episode


Senators Urge FDIC to End Choke Point Practices

Months after the Trump administration ended Operation Choke Point--an Obama-era policy that sought to curtail disfavored businesses by working through regulators to pressure banks into ending customer relationships--a group of 13 Republican  members of the Senate Banking Committee including South Dakota's Sen. Mike Rounds wrote to FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams yesterday calling on the FDIC to ensure that these practices are discontinued. The lawmakers raised concerns over recently released internal FDIC documents suggesting that banks have been verbally encouraged to curtail business relationships with disfavored but legal industries.

Specifically, the senators called on the FDIC to “review all options available to ensure lawful businesses are able to continue to operate without fear of significant financial consequences. They also asked the agency to review how it communicates policy internally.

“There is no place for a political agenda in oversight of the banking system. Operation Choke Point, and its associated culture and Choke Point-like regulatory actions, must end once and for all,” they said. “This should not be a partisan issue: no administration--Republican or Democratic--should be able to use the administrative state to silence industries they do not like.” Read more


Agencies Issue Proposal to Reduce Call Report Burden on Small Institutions

The financial regulatory agencies yesterday proposed changes that would expand the number of banks eligible to file a more streamlined version of the Call Report, as directed by S. 2155, the new regulatory reform law. Under the proposal, non-complex institutions with less than $5 billion in assets would be permitted to file the FFIEC 051 Call Report.

Banks filing the FFIEC 051 Call Report would also see a reduction of the number of data items required in their first and third quarter filings, the agencies said. Comments on the proposal are due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. Read the proposal. For more information, contact ABA's Alison Touhey


ABA Foundation to Host Webinar on Supporting Older Customers

In observance of National Financial Caregiver Month in November, the ABA Foundation will host a webinar on Thursday, Nov. 15, at 2 p.m. CT, on how banks can support older customers and their financial caregivers so that they can manage their finances and understand the risks of financial abuse.

Presenters will discuss how banks are partnering with elder fraud prevention networks and caregivers to safeguard older customers. They will also offer proactive tips and tools for acting as the first line of defense and discuss common scams and review the strategies banks are using to prevent them. Register now


Fed to Host Webinar on Fair Lending Hot Topics

The Federal Reserve will host an interagency webinar on Monday, Dec. 3, at 1 p.m. CT, to discuss emerging fair lending issues and hot topics. Presenters from seven agencies will be on hand to discuss a host of topics, including redlining, risk-based assessment, marital status discrimination and disability discrimination. A Q&A session will follow the presentation. Read more


Compliance Alliance

Question of the Week

Question: Our bank has an affiliate that purchases account receivables. The affiliate orders consumer reports in order to conduct their business. One of their customers applied to our bank for a commercial loan. The affiliate, having obtained a credit report on the guarantor, provided our bank the report. The affiliate has no privacy policy, as this affiliate does not have consumer services or products. Is there an FCRA violation in their sharing the credit report with the bank, even though there is no consumer purpose on either end? And has the bank violated FCRA by using the credit report rather than obtaining its own report from a CRA?

Answer: The violation isn't in the receipt of the credit report; the violation comes in the using it to make a solicitation to the consumer about products and services. You are not prohibited from receiving the report. You're prohibited from using it for solicitation of products and services when this information hasn't been properly disclosed to the consumer, and they have not had option to opt-out of such solicitations. 

The exception to this is if you already had an existing business relationship with the consumer, the FCRA would allow the use of the report for solicitation purposes.

Also note that the consumer reporting agency itself may have restrictions on this use in its agreement, so the bank would want to check that as well.

Any person that receives from another person related to it by common ownership or affiliated by corporate control a communication of information that would be a consumer report, but for clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) of section 603(d)(2)(A), may not use the information to make a solicitation for marketing purposes to a consumer about its products or services, unless – (A) it is clearly and conspicuously disclosed to the consumer that the information may be communicated among such persons for purposes of making such solicitations to the consumer; and (B) the consumer is provided an opportunity and a simple method to prohibit the making of such solicitations to the consumer by such person. FCRA § 624(a)(1)-(2), p. 97 https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/545a_fair-credit-reporting-act.pdf

This section shall not apply to a person – (A) using information to make a solicitation for marketing purposes to a consumer with whom the person has a pre-existing business relationship; FCRA § 624(a)(4)(A), p. 98 https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/545a_fair-credit-reporting-act.pdf

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Compliance Alliance offers a comprehensive suite of compliance management solutions. To learn how to put them to work for your bank, call 888.353.3933 or email.


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Questions/Comments
Contact Alisa Bousa, SDBA, at 800.726.7322 or via email.