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ABA to Hold Virtual Washington Fly-In

Join banking industry peers and industry leaders from across the country for a virtual meeting with banking regulators and ABA policy experts next Monday to Wednesday, Sept. 27-29.

The ABA is hosting this year’s Washington Fly-in, in partnership with state bankers associations, to ensure policies critical to the banking industry remain front and center to agency officials and to provide a forum for bankers' questions. Don’t miss this opportunity to speak directly with regulators about the need for common-sense policies and smart reform that will help America’s banks better serve their communities and grow the economy. 

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Yellen Keeps Up Push for IRS Reporting Proposal in Spending Bill

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen this week called on House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) to include in the reconciliation package the Biden administration’s controversial provision that would require financial institutions to report information to the IRS on gross inflows and outflows on customer accounts above a de minimis level of $600—a provision strongly opposed by ABA.

In a letter to Rep. Neal, Yellen claimed that the proposals “were designed to ensure that there will be no increase in taxpayer burden associated with this regime” and that “for already compliant taxpayers, the only effect is a distinct benefit—a lowered likelihood of costly and burdensome audits.” In addition, the letter claimed that the provision is “designed to minimize costs for financial institutions.”

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First Interstate Bank to Partner with Great Western Bank

First Interstate Bank, headquartered in Billings, Mont., yesterday announced a definitive agreement to partner with Great Western Bank (GWB), which is headquartered in Sioux Falls.

Under the terms of the agreement, which was unanimously approved by both parties’ Boards of Directors, the companies will unite under the First Interstate name and brand. Pending regulatory and shareholder approvals, the transaction is expected to close during the first calendar quarter of 2022; the conversion of GWB branches to First Interstate is expected to take place during the second calendar quarter of 2022.

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SDBA's Fourth Annual Women in Banking Conference a Success

Photo of Women in Banking Conference attendees.Two hundred bankers from across the state came together in Sioux Falls for the SDBA's fourth annual LEAD STRONG: Women in Banking Conference. The event is designed to encourage, support and inspire women to succeed in the workplace.

The event began Tuesday evening with a reception at R-Wine Bar in Sioux Falls and continued on Wednesday with a full day of sessions at the Sioux Falls Convention Center. Topics included creating the most awesome version of you, strong communication and listening skills, how courage plays a part in leadership, overcoming imposter syndrome, building a powerful presence, roundtable networking and a panel discuss with women banking industry leaders. 

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Registration Open for SDBA's 2021 Annual Security Seminar

The SDBA will hold its 2021 Annual Security Seminar on Oct. 6 at the Hilton Garden Inn—Sioux Falls Downtown in Sioux Falls. This well-rounded seminar focuses on a range of issues of concern to security officers, facility personnel and management. 

Using current trends and examples, a variety of topics will be covered: workplace violence prevention: guideline for the employer, security blunders: show and tell, national update, interviewing techniques for the security officer and observation vs. perception.

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Bankers, Industry Experts to Discuss Cannabis Banking at Upcoming Webinar

ABA VP Tanner Daniel will join a panel of bank regulators and industry experts in a webinar on cannabis banking issues on Tuesday, Sept. 21 at 1 p.m. CDT. The webinar—hosted by Brennan Manna Diamond and co-sponsored by the Arizona and Colorado Bankers Associations and the Ohio Bankers League—will include banker perspective on offering cannabis banking service and address FinCEN guidance both deposits and lending, electronic payment systems, and legislative or regulatory changes that would promote bank participation in the cannabis industry. Learn more and register.

ABA Refreshes Credit Union Campaign

ABA’s campaign to educate the public about credit unions and their tax status has been rebranded as Reform Credit Unions. The campaign was updated to further emphasize the need to take action and demand reform to the laws and regulations related to credit unions.

The Association on Tuesday debuted a new website for the campaign that includes recent news and insights on credit union activity as well as resources to help bankers reach out to their member of Congress and voice their opinion.

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SDBA Asks Bankers to Urge Lawmakers to Oppose IRS Reporting Proposal

The SDBA is calling on bankers to contact Sen. John Thune, Sen. Mike Rounds and Congressman Dusty Johnson and express opposition to new reporting requirements for banks to track and report customer accounts and financial transactions to the IRS.  

The U.S. Senate will reconvene next week, and it is anticipated that lawmakers will develop details of the proposed $3.5 billion social spending infrastructure plan, which would have far-reaching tax reporting requirements including reporting bank account inflows and outflows to the IRS by banks. While this may do little to add revenue, it would come at a massive cost to the banking industry—and it would also heighten consumer concerns about the privacy of their banking relationships. 

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Study Shows Agriculture Continues to Drive South Dakota's Economy

The Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR) in cooperation with AgUnited for South Dakota, South Dakota Dairy Producers, South Dakota Corn Utilization Council, Central Plains Dairy Foundation and East River Electric Power Cooperative have released an economic contribution study of South Dakota agriculture.

Based on the study, agriculture, forestry and related industries contribute $32.1 billion to South Dakota’s economy, which is 29.3% of the state’s total economic output, and 129,753 jobs in South Dakota, which is 21.1% of all jobs in the state. The study also showed $11.7 billion in total value added including $5.6 billion from livestock production, $3.3 billion from corn production, $2 billion from other agriculture industries and $860 million from forestry production.

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ABA Urges Bankers: Ask Lawmakers to Oppose New IRS Reporting Rule

ABA is calling on bankers to contact their lawmakers and express opposition to any new reporting requirements for banks to track and report customer accounts and financial transactions to the IRS. A vote on the issue is expected in the coming days.

The new reporting requirements would raise questions about customers’ right to privacy, create unnecessary and expensive burdens for banks and raise the cost of tax preparation for small businesses, ABA noted.

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SDBA Bank Technology Conference to be Held Next Week

Technology photoThere is still time to register for the SDBA's Bank Technology Conference to be held Sept. 8-9, Wednesday and Thursday, in Sioux Falls. This conference will provide attendees the opportunity to learn from industry experts, network with IT colleagues, and visit with exhibitors to see and experience the latest in products and services.

Sessions at this year's event include: cryptocurrency, ransomware and disaster recovery planning, staying viable in the fintech future, how to know your security program is effective, speed networking, the art of communicating to the board and vulnerability management. The conference will begin with a reception with exhibitors on Wednesday evening. 

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ABA Opposes Bill to Expand Credit Union Membership

In a letter to House Financial Services Committee leaders on Monday, ABA expressed opposition to a bill that it called a “backdoor effort by the credit union industry to expand its membership rolls at the expense of tax-paying banks.” The Expanding Financial Access for Underserved Communities Act would allow credit unions to further expand the already broad field of membership requirements under the premise of promoting access to banking services for low and moderate-income (LMI) communities.

However, ABA pointed out that credit unions “have ample opportunity to serve additional communities under their existing authority,” and that “they have not stepped up” to provide services to LMI communities. Specifically, ABA pointed to recent data suggesting that credit unions tend to open more branches on net in upper and middle-income census tracts and close more branches in LMI areas. They are also not held to the same stringent Community Reinvestment Act requirements that taxpaying banks adhere to.

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ABA's Benda Answers FAQs on Delta Variant, COVID-19 Risk Mitigation

In a new resource guide developed at the request of bankers, ABA SVP Paul Benda answers several frequently asked questions about the recent surge in coronavirus cases connected to the Delta variant and discusses how it has changed the game. He also offers several strategies banks can use to mitigate heightened risks.

“Delta has overtaken all other coronavirus variants to become the dominant strain worldwide,” Benda writes. “[I]t’s clear that Delta is outcompeting the other strains and appears to be much more infectious.”

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Registration Open for SDBA's NEXT STEP: Emerging Leaders Summit

Photo of emerging leaders.NEXT STEP: Emerging Leaders Summit is designed to help cultivate, connect, engage and empower South Dakota’s future bank leaders. The SDBA will hold the 2021 NEXT STEP: Emerging Leaders Summit on Oct. 26-27 at the Hilton Garden Inn Sioux Falls Downtown in Sioux Falls.

This event will encourage emerging bank leaders to find and express their voices within their organizations, communities and the banking industry and provide opportunities to network and exchange ideas with other industry professionals. It will also increase emerging bank leaders’ knowledge of topics of interest to the banking industry and promote involvement and advocacy. 

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Banks to Receive Update Forms for 2022 South Dakota Bank Directory

The SDBA has again retained BLR – Business & Legal Resources, a division of Simplify Compliance LLC (“BLR”) to publish the 2022 South Dakota Bank Directory. BLR of Brentwood, Tenn., has an excellent reputation in directory publishing throughout the United States.

BLR is emailing the update forms for the 2022 South Dakota Bank Directory to all SDBA member banks. The purpose of this questionnaire is to obtain data about your bank—including correct address, telephone numbers, officers and directors. It is important that you respond promptly with the information requested by Sept. 23. If you assign this responsibility to someone else on your staff, please share the letter with them and forward the questionnaire to the appropriate person as soon as it arrives.

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Minnwest Bank and Roundbank Announce Merger

Minnwest Bank, a family-owned bank based in Redwood Falls, Minn., will acquire Roundbank, based in Waseca, Minn.

Minnwest Bank has 32 branches throughout Minnesota and South Dakota and $2.27 billion in assets. The bank has South Dakota locations in Big Stone City, Florence, Sioux Falls, Summit and Wilmot. Roundbank has four branches in Minnesota and $385 million in assets.

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SDBA to Hold Bank Technology Conference in September

Technology and innovation have been transforming financial services since long before artificial intelligence and iPhones, and your role as an IT professional is ever-changing, especially in today’s environment.

The SDBA'S Bank Technology Conference on Sept. 8-9 in Sioux Falls is designed to provide support as you keep on top of technology trends, navigate the business of banking, and build and sustain your bank’s technology strategy—all to improve access and better serve your customers. This conference will provide you with an opportunity to learn from industry experts, network with IT colleagues, and visit with exhibitors to see and experience the latest in products and services.

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ABA Supports Amendment Blocking New Account Flow Reporting Requirements

ABA on Tuesday wrote to Senate leaders in support of an amendment to the budget resolution put forth by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) that would prevent the Internal Revenue Service from establishing a new information reporting framework for individual or business bank accounts with flows of $600 or more. Such a framework was included as part of the Biden administration’s tax proposal earlier this year to help shrink the tax gap.

ABA emphasized that banks already report a considerable amount of information to the IRS and developing and executing the new reporting regime would be complex, time-consuming and could pose a threat to data privacy. “The proposed reporting system would apply across most, if not all, bank products—including many that do not currently require any IRS reporting and consequently do not have even the baseline analytical and reporting infrastructure needed to support this type of reporting,” ABA noted. “This would be a significant operational undertaking, especially for community banks that are often dependent on third-party service providers for their system updates.”

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CFPB Issues Interpretive Rule on Juneteenth-Related Mortgage Closing Delays

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last Thursday issued a long-awaited interpretive rule providing clarity on how the newly-enacted Juneteenth holiday affected the timing of disclosures required for mortgage transactions in process. President Biden earlier this summer signed legislation recognizing Juneteenth as a new federal holiday. Since June 19 fell on a Saturday, the federal government observed the holiday on June 18. However, given the short timeframe between the law’s enactment and the observed federal holiday, questions arose about how it would affect mortgage closings.

The guidance addresses Regulation Z timing requirements related to rescission of closed-end mortgages and the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures. It clarifies that “if the relevant closed-end rescission or TRID time period began on or before June 17, 2021, then June 19, 2021, was considered a business day, but nothing prohibits creditors from providing longer time periods. Therefore, it would also be compliant for creditors to have considered June 19, 2021, a Federal holiday for purposes of these provisions.”

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SDBA Women in Banking Conference Hotel Room Block Deadline Nearing

Picture of women in an office. The hotel room block for the SDBA's LEAD STRONG: Women in Banking Conference will be released on Sunday, Aug. 15.

This year's Women in Banking Conference will be held Sept. 15 at the Sioux Falls Convention Center, with a reception the evening prior at R-Wine Bar in Sioux Falls. Sessions include: "The Spectrum of Awesome," "Human Trafficking: Closer to Home Than You Think," "Leadership--Courage Within,"  Sit Down, Gordon. I Am Enough." and "Building a Powerful Presence." 

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