Thursday, December 12, 2024

Week of Aug. 14

In This Issue…

From Adrian’s desk …

By Adrian Beverage
OBA President & CEO

Just some random tidbits that might be of interest to our bankers this week!

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Last week, on Monday, the Department of Homeland Security announced the availability of $374.9 million in grant funding for the fiscal year 2023 State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program. State and local governments face increasingly sophisticated cyber threats to their critical infrastructure and public safety. Now in its second year, the SLCGP is a first-of-its-kind cybersecurity grant program specifically for state, local, and territorial governments across the country to help them strengthen their cyber resilience.

Let your local governments know they have until Oct. 6 to apply for this grant opportunity. For more information and helpful resources on the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program, visit CISA’s webpage: cisa.gov/cybergrants.

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Friends of Traditional Banking is a non-partisan grassroots effort, organized by bankers and made up of community bankers from across the country. It chooses two congressional races each cycle, and we encourage our membership to consider making a contribution to those campaigns.

FOTB has been very successful since its inception – the reason for that is it is very targeted. It doesn’t contribute to a bunch of races, and instead focuses on two and is able to make a significant impact in each campaign. FOTB has many victories, and those victories have made it possible to keep our friends in Washington.

Here is a link to sign-up for email updates from FOTB. When you sign-up, you are NOT committing to any financial commitments, you are just signing up to receive FOTB updates.

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OBA, other state bankers associations urge delay of Section 1071 implementation

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should extend a court-ordered stay of its Section 1071 final rule to cover all FDIC-insured banks while the U.S. Supreme Court considers a separate legal challenge concerning the bureau, the OBA and 49 other state bankers associations said last week in a letter to CFPB Director Rohit Chopra.

A federal judge in Texas last week issued a preliminary injunction of the rule until the Supreme Court decides on a case involving the constitutionality of the bureau’s funding structure in CFPB v. Community Financial Services Association of America. The 1071 case was brought by the Texas Bankers Association, Rio Bank and the American Bankers Association, which asked for a national injunction covering all lenders. However, the judge sided with the CFPB’s request to have the order apply only to the associations’ members. ABA and TBA have since asked Chopra to delay 1071 compliance for all banks, and in their letter, the state associations repeated that request.

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Hawaii Bankers Association launches wildfire disaster fund

The Hawaii Bankers Association announced last week it has launched “Aloha for Maui,” a program accepting donations at any of its member branches statewide to provide assistance to the people, businesses and organizations impacted by the Maui wildfires.

Monies collected will be donated to the Hawaii Community Foundation Maui Strong Fund, which is providing the resources necessary to aid with disaster response and recovery.

To kickoff the effort, HBA is donating $25,000 to the fund, which was later matched by the American Bankers Association.

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Oklahoma Bankers Hall of Fame accepting nominations for 2023

The Oklahoma Bankers Hall of Fame is now accepting nominations for the upcoming 2023 class – the deadline is the end of this month!

First, for those interested in nominating a banker, here are some downloadable forms linked below – please return all nominations to Adrian Beverage (adrian@oba.com):

Second, as mentioned, there is a new process for selecting the inductees to each class. After discussion with leadership at the Oklahoma Hall of Fame about its processes, and learning about other methods from other organizations, the induction procedure for the Oklahoma Bankers Hall of Fame has been updated.

After all nominations have been received by OBA President and CEO Adrian Beverage, he will forward those nominees to the OBA chair (currently, Bryan Cain), who will convene a committee of 11 individuals in September to select the inductees. These 11 individuals will be made up of the OBA’s Executive Committee, who will join a banker selected by the OBA chair from each of the OBA’s six geographical groups, as well as a member of the OBA Emerging Leaders Division. The specific committee members will be completely anonymous to everyone outside of the current OBA chair.

These committee members will select the final inductees from the group of nominees given. They will also discuss any possible posthumous inductees who may have not been nominated.

Once the inductees have been selected, the OBA chair will inform Beverage and notification and preparations will be made by the OBA staff for the induction ceremony, which will be held this year on Dec. 7 at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City.

Following the 2023 selections, the current selection committee will disband and a new committee will be picked the following year by the next OBA chair. Aside from the OBA chair and executive committee, the selection committee will remain anonymous with only the other committee members from that specific year knowing their identities.

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OBA Emerging Leaders Academy taking applications

Take note the OBA 2023-24 Emerging Leaders Academy is currently accepting applications with the deadline one month from today.

We’re looking for the best and brightest bankers who seek to sharpen their leadership skills. The Academy will help you reach new heights with powerful speakers offering information leaders need for effectively maneuvering in today’s business climate. Each session helps participants become true leaders by understanding those around you through non-traditional methods.

The OBA extends an invitation to any employee of a bank that is a member of the OBA to apply. A panel of bankers will review the applicants and choose those accepted into the Academy (maximum 30 bankers). Participants must attend all sessions to successfully graduate from the program.

There are six sessions to the Academy: Nov. 2, Dec. 7, Jan. 26, Feb. 28, March 28, April 26. Graduation will take place in May 2024 at the OBA Annual Convention.

Click here to apply! Also, for more information, please contact Megan McGuire at (405) 424-5252 or megan@oba.com.

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OBA education corner …

Is August really halfway  over? Didn’t it just begin? Let’s just keep the music tie-in for all this relatively simple this week, shall we? While we simplify it, take the time we saved to prepare for upcoming continuing education opportunities available through the OBA:

  • Ransomware, Phishing and Email Compromise: Is Your Incident Plan Ready?, Aug. 22, webinar — Phishing, business email compromise and ransomware are some of the biggest concerns and examination focus for 2023. Having an incident response plan is not a suggestion, it is a requirement. Security breaches are real and inevitable, not to mention increasing every day. Does your plan provide a framework for an effective and timely response?
  • 10 Common Errors on the UTMA, Aug. 22, webinar — It is amazing how many banks go through extreme measures and make so many mistakes regarding the setup, maintenance and termination of this type of account.
  • Diversity & Inclusion in our Workplace, Aug. 24, webinar — One in five workers have experienced discrimination or unfair treatment at work. In today’s workplace environment, organizations need to face a reality gap and realize more work needs to be done in this area.
  • Preparing for a Loan Review Before the Regulators Arrive, Aug. 24, webinar — This webinar will prepare the bank for an upcoming safety and soundness examination focusing on overall credit administration, so that correction of deficiencies can be achieved before the regulators arrive.
  • What To Do When Your Customer Dies, Aug. 29, webinar — This webinar focuses on the deposit and loan issues that arise when a customer dies.
  • Posting With Confidence: Social Media Compliance, Aug. 30, webinar — Social media posts are a great way to communicate with existing customers and gain new ones as well, but what can we post? What disclosures must be provided? How do we respond to a consumer complaint received via social media?
  • Cybersecurity Seminar, Sept. 28, Oklahoma City — This seminar will walk you through various FFIEC, FDIC, and OCC resources, as well as other industry best practices.
  • 2023 OBA Consumer Lending School, Oct. 2-6, Oklahoma City — The total program exposes students to major issues consumer credit managers face. It provides a framework for
    examining a bank’s consumer credit programs, policies and procedures.

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