Elections for the SDBA’s Board of Directors are scheduled for April. Three seats are up for election: Group II, Small Community Bank Category, and Large Community & Regional Bank Category.

The Group II seat is currently held by Jeff Davis, Bryant State Bryant, Bryant, and the Small Community Bank seat is currently held by Brad Seaman, BankNorth, Aberdeen. Both have served two consecutive, three-year terms and are not eligible to run for re-election. The Large Community & Regional Bank seat was previously held by David Bangasser, Dacotah Bank, Sioux Falls, who is now serving as SDBA vice chair.

As lawmakers consider a new round of direct payments as part of a new COVID-19 relief package, ABA and six other financial trade associations last week offered recommendations to the Treasury Department for improving the economic impact payments (EIPs) process.

The groups urged Treasury to implement steps to improve the accuracy of information used to create payments files, increase the use of electronic payments, improve communication with both EIP recipients and industry partners and address issues related to EIPs being used to reduce debts. The groups also urged Treasury to meet with industry stakeholders to discuss the recommendations before future rounds of EIPs.

As we REIMAGINE, REINVENT and REVOLUTIONIZE in A NEW DIRECTION at the 2021 Quad States Convention on June 14-15 at The Monument (former Rushmore Plaza Civic Center) in Rapid City, S.D., the SDBA invites its business partners to explore the ways that they can participate and connect with attendees.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we have made the decision to forgo the exhibit hall for 2021. Instead, the SDBA invites you to consider sponsoring, which offers a multitude of benefits to your organization. If a sponsorship doesn’t fit with your organization’s plans, we invite you to register to attend as a participant and connect with bankers through a variety of socially-distanced networking opportunities such as meal functions, breaks, golf and outings, or to explore advertising opportunities. View sponsorship and advertising details. 

The South Dakota Division of Banking on Tuesday issued guidance to South Dakota state-chartered banks and licensed money lenders that have customers engaged in industrial hemp growth, production and transportation in South Dakota.

Prior to offering financial services to these customers, the guide states that an institution must have appropriate risk management practices in place, including: 

Gov. Kristi Noem and leadership in both chambers of the South Dakota Legislature yesterday announced a plan to implement medical marijuana in South Dakota (Initiated Measure 26). 

“We are working diligently to get IM 26 implemented safely and correctly,” said Gov. Noem. “The feasibility of getting this program up and running well will take additional time. I am thankful to our legislative leaders for helping make sure that we do this right.”

The SDBA unveiled the results of its annual South Dakota Banks Make a Difference Survey during the SDBA State Legislative Day held virtually yesterday. Each January, the SDBA surveys the state’s banks on the ways they support their local communities. The annual project is just a glimpse of how these banks found creative ways to meet the needs of their communities during 2020.

The promotional handout  is a great tool that banks can use to promote all of the things they do for their communities. Banks are encouraged to use the document in their promotional efforts, make copies as needed and link the document on their websites. Download a high-resolution copy for printing.

The South Dakota Department of Health on Tuesday released a web-based tool to help South Dakotans best identify which priority vaccination group they fall under in South Dakota’s vaccination plan.

The first steps in identifying who and when a vaccine will be made available directly correlates to the vaccine prioritization group individuals fall under. Bank employees are in priority group Phase 1E. The easy-to-use portal will also connect users to hospital systems where they can register to be contacted when it’s their turn to get vaccinated, based on vaccine supply.

Tony Nour has been appointment to fill the Emerging Leaders Work Group seat on the SDBA Board of Directors.

Nour is senior vice president of relationship banking at First PREMIER Bank in Sioux Falls, where he has worked since 2011. He is responsible for providing overall leadership, direction and support for the bank’s core community banking teams, including trust, investments, private, business, consumer and mortgage banking in each of the markets that First PREMIER Bank serves.

Are you interested in becoming an officer of the South Dakota Bankers Association?

SDBA officers include the chair, chair-elect, vice chair and immediate past chair. The SDBA is currently seeking people who are interested in running for the vice chair position, which will be elected at the Quad States Convention on June 15, 2021, in Rapid City.

The SDBA will hold the IRA Update Seminar on March 2 virtually via Zoom. This seminar is designed to review two major pieces of legislation—the Secure Act and CARES Act. There have been a number of IRS notices that came out during 2020 further explaining these two pieces of legislation.

Topics that are timely for this time of year will also be discussed. Covered topics include changes in contribution eligibility, making the transition from 70.5 to 72 for required minimum distributions (RMDs) and how to calculate RMDs in 2021, beneficiary options and an update on COVID-19 distributions that were allowed in 2020.

The balance of power in Washington has shifted, and with the new administration and Congress comes new opportunities to advance sound public policy on the issues facing banking. All of us are obligated to provide our real world expertise, perspective and assistance where needed. As the nation continues to address the immense economic shock caused by the pandemic and build a recovery plan, the banking industry is more important than ever.

The ABA will hold the 2021 Washington Summit virtually on March 16-17. Be the first to hear what lawmakers, regulators and the administration are planning in the weeks and months ahead. Pandemic response and relief, financial inclusion, cannabis banking, as well as clarity and context on fair lending, AML/BSA reform and non-bank entrants to the financial system will be on the agenda.

The SDBA will hold its 2021 State Legislative Day on Wednesday, Feb. 10, virtually via Zoom. This is your opportunity to stay up-to-date on both state and federal legislation which could affect the banking industry and make sure our industry is heard. 

Featured speaker Joan Woodward, president of Travelers Institute and executive vice president of public policy at Travelers, will present "Woodward on Washington: An Economic and Political Outlook." Prior to working for Travelers and Goldman Sachs, Woodward worked on Capitol Hill for 12 years as deputy chief of staff for the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. She also was the chief economist for the Senate Governmental Affairs and U.S. House Budget committees.

Ground Works/SD Ag in the Classroom, created in 2011 with an integrated program approach, uses teaching gardens, summer camps and digital computer programs to deliver lessons in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) education, agriculture literacy and student leadership. The program needs your help.

Last spring, Ground Works/SD Ag in the Classroom connected forth grade students and their teachers through on-air radio interviews. Students and teachers shared the impact of South Dakota Road Trip (an online education platform) on their learning and understanding of the state's agriculture and history. South Dakota Road Trip, which is one piece of Ground Works/SD Ag in the Classroom mosaic, ended the 2020 school year serving more than 8,700 students and teachers.

The ability to respond quickly and effectively to a cyber incident can determine the overall financial and reputational impact on your organization. An incident response playbook is designed to provide a step-by-step walk-through for the most probable and impactful cyber threats and ensure certain steps of the incident response plan are followed appropriately.

Join SBS CyberSecurity for Hacker Hour: Seven Steps to Build an Incident Response Plan on Wednesday, Jan. 27, at 2 p.m. CST. SBS will walk through the seven steps to creating an incident response playbook tailored to your organization. Register for the complimentary webinar. 

On President Biden’s first day in office, the White House issued a memo directing “executive departments and agencies” to freeze any pending regulations not yet published in the Federal Register. These regulations must be approved by a department or agency head designated by the new president; the Office of Management and Budget may permit exceptions to the review process in emergencies or for other urgent reasons.

For rules sent to the Office of the Federal Register but not yet published, the memo directs departments and agencies to withdraw them from the Federal Register and seek approval. For rules that have been published but that have not yet taken effect, the White House asked departments and agencies to consider delaying effective dates for 60 days, seeking public comments and considering petitions for reconsideration.

The South Dakota Department of Health yesterday announced that starting on Monday, Jan. 18, the Department and its health partners across the state will start vaccinating a prioritized population group, within Group 1D, of the state’s vaccination plan. This first prioritized population group will be those 80 and over as well as high-risk individuals and will be expanded to other groups within 1D as vaccines become available. The modification comes amidst the federal government’s plan to release vaccines to states to speed up vaccinations nationwide.

“Given the progress we’ve seen in groups A through C, we are confident that with an increase in vaccine allocations, we can move into a limited population of group 1D. We will begin with those 80 and over and high-risk individuals, and from this starting point, adjust accordingly as allocation permits,” said Secretary of Health Kim Malsam-Rysdon. “We want to reassure those who’ve already received their first dose, and those in groups A through C who are already in the queue, that their second-dose will be available.”

The Federal Reserve has announced that it will return to regular coin distribution for all coin denominations beginning on Friday, Jan. 15. The Fed had previously capped coin orders due to coin circulation issues that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Fed noted that while coin circulation “has not fully returned to normal patterns,” steady deposits from financial institutions and increased production at the U.S. Mint have enabled it to remove coin allocations. The Fed said it will continue to monitor coin circulation and urged all FedCash Services customers “to continue to order only what they need to meet near-term demand and to deposit any excess coin to the Federal Reserve.”

The Small Business Administration will open the Paycheck Protection Program portal on Friday to lenders with $1 billion or less in assets to begin processing both new and second-draw loan applications. The program will then open to all other lenders on Tuesday, Jan. 19.

The program opened on Monday morning for certain lenders reaching underserved communities, including community development financial institutions and minority depository institutions, to make first-draw loans and was opened to second-draw loans by these lenders on Wednesday.

First PREMIER Bank, PREMIER Bankcard and T. Denny Sanford yesterday announced a gift of $50 million to establish a need-based scholarship in South Dakota. The $50 million gift is just the start of what will be a $200 million endowment to fund future need-based scholarships in perpetuity. 

“Today’s announcement is historic for South Dakota and will help us retain talented young people in our state for generations,” said Gov. Kristi Noem. “We’ve identified the need for this type of scholarship for years, and I'm asking the Legislature to match this incredibly generous gift so that we can continue to make South Dakota stronger for our kids and grandkids.”

The South Dakota Department of Health yesterday released two tools designed to better inform South Dakotans on the ongoing COVID-19 vaccine distribution and administration process. These tools are in addition to the already available dashboard, which is updated daily.

The first tool is a county-by-county map linking residents to the health care system(s) charged in overseeing vaccine distribution and administration in their area, in collaboration with the Department of Health. The second provides residents an estimated timeline of vaccine availability, depending on which priority group (A-E) they belong to in accordance to Phase 1 of South Dakota’s vaccination plan. The latter is also available in Spanish. Detailed information on prioritized populations can be found here: English/Spanish.