October 19, 2021

The Biden administration’s proposal to use bank account data to combat tax evasion would undoubtedly raise banks’ compliance burden and, even more concerning, would threaten the privacy of bank customers.

Let me tell you an ugly secret that not even my closest colleagues know about me: before my long career in banking, I was absolutely clueless when it came to my personal finances.

The pressure on banks to really step up their digital experience game is, as we all know, greater than ever. Branch banking, according to pundits, is probably going away. “Probably” because, honestly, no one really knows, right? It sure looks like it, however.

Recently, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing entitled “A Biased, Broken System: Examining Proposals to Overhaul Credit Reporting to Achieve Equity.” Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters called for this creatively named hearing to gain support for legislation to create a government-run credit bureau within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

As a community bank, nothing is more important to your success than understanding your customers and delivering value. What’s different today? There was a time when understanding your customer’s needs and overall financial behavior was, well, easy. Unfortunately, that’s simply not the case anymore.

Do you remember the Commodore 64 computer? My grandparents had one when I was growing up. I remember the floppy discs you had to swap in and out when playing a game or working on a program, printing my school reports on the dot matrix printer. I remember being amazed at what it could do. Flash forward to today, and I look at the iPad and tablet-based devices with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, touch screens, etc. — technology has advanced at an exponential rate in the past few decades.

The phrase, “It’s Hip to Be Square,” couldn’t be further from the truth when it comes to fintechs and the risk they pose to community banks. Some fintechs may seem innocent, but in reality, they are quite powerful, and they are quickly taking away both commercial customers and depository fee income from community banks.

Anyone who participates in SBA financing eagerly awaits new 504-debt refinancing rules. After much anticipation, on July 29, 2021, the U.S. Small Business Administration published the new interim final rules for 504-debt refinancing programs as authorized under Section 328 of the Economic Aid Act. The new rule was effective immediately. The updated regulations expand the usefulness of 504-debt refinancing programs to assist small business recovery and growth. Check out the updates below.

In May 2021, a ransomware attack targeted one of the nation’s largest pipeline companies, resulting in a nearly $5 million ransom payment, disruption of fuel supply, and even panic purchasing among consumers in certain regions of the country. Shortly thereafter, JBS — which is among the largest meat processing companies in the world — was also hit with a ransomware attack, paying $11 million to keep its data safe.

Throughout the course of the pandemic, households have accumulated significant savings. Banks, awash in deposits and with interest rates still at low levels, have increased lending while working through the many challenges of the past year, including maintaining services to existing customers. Despite the operational obstacles brought on by the pandemic, most financial institutions have managed to attract new customers, which has further aided the growth in asset size for institutions nationwide. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has also contributed substantially to this growth.

Banks that issue debit cards should brace for challenges if the Federal Reserve moves ahead with a plan to amend certain regulations for card-not-present transactions.

To modernize the agency’s regulations under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published a final rule (June 2020 rule) in the Federal Register June 5, 2020. Previous to this modernization, the OCC had chosen to partner with the other federal regulators to pursue a shared CRA framework for all covered financial institutions. The June 2020 rule was designed to: (i) expand and make clearer “qualifying activities” (including bank lending and investing); (ii) revise the delineation of “assessment areas”; (iii) provide more “consistent and objective” methods for assessing CRA performance; and (iv) mandate “timely and transparent” reporting. On July 20, 2021, the OCC announced it will propose to rescind the agency’s May 2020 final rule overhauling the CRA, signaling the OCC’s intention to collaborate with the Federal Reserve Board (Fed) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on a separate joint rulemaking.

In 2020, we had a client transfer his Traditional IRA from another financial organization to an IRA with our organization. The client completed the appropriate IRA transfer paperwork, and the other organization sent the funds by check payable to our financial organization as custodian for the customer’s IRA. We deposited the funds into the Traditional IRA as a transfer. Our client received a 2020 IRS Form 1099-R showing this as an IRA distribution and the other financial organization is refusing to correct it. Is there anything our client do to avoid paying taxes on the distribution?

Emerging privacy laws in the US are leading to increasingly complex compliance obligations for banks and other financial institutions. Colorado recently joined ranks with California (with its CCPA and upcoming CPRA privacy laws) and Virginia (with its VCDPA) by adopting its own comprehensive privacy law, the Colorado Privacy Act (CPA). The CPA comes into force on Jan. 1, 2023, and will regulate how personal information of Colorado residents is collected, used, stored, and shared.

Banks and financial institutions rely on technology to operate successfully and provide customers the best products and services. With technology, though, comes the heightened risk of falling victim to wire fraud schemes that can result in significant financial losses.