Saturday, November 15, 2025
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Week of Oct. 13

October 14, 2025

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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I was saddened to hear last week of the passing of former OBA employee, and longtime banker, Jim Davis. Jim worked with us at the OBA for nearly two decades before retiring a few years ago. If you were an Oklahoma banker during those years, there was a good chance you could look out the window and see Jim walking into your bank for a visit. He was the eyes and ears of the OBA to our membership, and was quite possibly one of the nicest men you’d ever meet.

I encourage everyone to read Jim’s obituary to learn more about the extraordinary life of this wonderful man.

Jim – everyone here at the OBA will miss ya, buddy.

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It’s weird to see my ‘Huskers actually sitting in the top 25 (albeit barely, right at No. 25). Thing is, I really think they might be pretty good.

Now I’ve jinxed them. When they go on a six-game losing streak to end the season, my fellow ‘Husker fans know where to lay the blame!

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Tax refund fraud sparking alerts across country

Alerts from across the country are highlighting out-of-pattern tax refund credits or checks payable to bank customers who have no income or transactions to substantiate the refund amount.

The latest example involved counterfeit checks mailed directly to the bank for deposit to a customer account.  The checks were in amounts exceeding $350,000 and purportedly from Santa Barbara Tax Products Group/GreenDot Bank.

This is a reminder to “KYC” (Know Your Customer)! Customers working with internet-based individuals or tax-preparers may not understand they are participating in criminal acts (to defraud a federally insured financial institution or the U.S. Government).  They are also compromising their personal identifying information, which leads to other forms of ID Theft.

If your institution suspects fraud involving an IRS credit, consider contacting the IRS External Leads Program.

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Treasury secretary details policies to boost community bank model

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week shared several steps the Trump administration plans to take to drive a “community bank comeback,” including a renewed push for regulatory tailoring, a review of core platform providers, friendlier capital requirements and revised requirements for bank anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism programs.

Bessent, speaking at the Federal Reserve’s Community Bank Conference on Wednesday, pointed to several actions banking regulators have taken in recent months to refocus supervision on material financial risks, including ending policies on climate risk and reputational risk. He also shared several proposals the administration believes will drive community bank growth:

  • The Treasury Department “will continue to drive reforms to improve regulatory tailoring, refocus the culture of supervision and modernize our illicit finance regulation,” Bessent said. Specific priorities include reforms to the rating system, new processes for monitoring examiner compliance with supervisory policy, mechanisms for independent appeals of supervisory criticisms, and coordination to avoid duplicative examinations by different regulators.
  • A review of core platform providers, “including contract terms that prevent community banks from innovating for the future.”
  • The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and bank regulators “are hard at work” on a new rule to define the requirements for an effective AML/CFT program. Bessent said. “My expectation is that a proposal will recenter supervision where it should be: on the effectiveness of a bank’s AML/CFT program.” As part of that effort, FinCEN released last week an FAQ clarifying suspicious activity reporting requirements.
  • The Treasury Department “is focused on ensuring that modernization of our capital framework ends the capital arbitrage that drives bank lending to nonbanks,” Bessent said. “This will likely entail reduced capital requirements for large banks on mortgage loans, investment-grade corporate loans and some other important exposures. We must therefore ensure parity by giving smaller banks at least the option to benefit from these reduced requirements.”
  • Bessent said he supports congressional efforts to modernize the deposit insurance framework. “I’m encouraged to see emerging bipartisan support for increasing FDIC insurance limits on noninterest-bearing transaction accounts. “
  • The Treasury Department has taken “an informed and careful” approach to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Bessent said. “Any actions on [Fannie and Freddie] must not increase borrowing costs and must preserve what works in the current system. That includes the prohibition on volume-based discounts for large lenders, as well as the cash window and other features that preserve equal secondary market access for small lenders.”
  • Bessent noted that Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman has advocated for revisiting the community bank leverage ratio. “I expect that effort will soon culminate in a proposed reduction in the community bank leverage ratio,” he said.

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Fed announces expanded operating days of payment services

The Federal Reserve announced last week that Fedwire Funds Service and National Settlement Service operations will be expanded to include Sundays and weekday holidays.

The expansion will be implemented over several years, “no earlier than 2028 to ensure operational and industry readiness.”

Both FedWire and NSS currently operate Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Following the expansion, both services will run Sunday through Friday, including weekday holidays. The operating hours each day will remain the same, with the Fedwire Funds Service open 22 hours per day, and NSS open 21.5 hours per day.

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OBA Oktoberfest Golf Tournament scheduled

Show off your golfing skills or simply join your banking peers as a social registrant at the 2025 OBA Oktoberfest Golf Tournament on Oct. 27 at Belmar Golf Club, in Norman.

The tournament fee is $175 and the registration deadline is Oct. 20. The tournament will begin with registration and lunch. Immediately following the tournament, we will hold an awards ceremony. Sign up now to reserve your spot. We hope to see you on the course!

Not golfing? Join your banking peers as a social attendee for lunch, refreshments and fellowship on the patio. Social attendee registration fee is $50.

If you are interested in sponsorship opportunities, contact Thi Pham.

Tournament Schedule
10 a.m. — Registration
11 a.m. — Lunch
12 p.m. — Shotgun Start
Immediately Following Golf — Award

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OBA education corner …

The weather teased us again this week, with Monday being rainy and autumn-like … only for the rest of the week to be back into full pseudo-summer mode! So, I guess hold off on the pumpkin beers and lattes for now, and instead just continue to make sure you know what’s happening on the continuing education front, including the following:

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