DBA 128th Annual Meeting & Dinner - May 11 - DuPont County Club - Sponsorships Available

Mark your calendar for the DBA's 128th Annual Meeting and Dinner, May 11, at the DuPont County Club. The keynote speaker for the evening will be David Debusschere,

EVP and COO/CFO with the Philadelphia Union.

Sponsorships are available! Join these prestigious sponsors: The Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh; Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor; Delaware Community Foundation; Richards, Layton & Finger; McCollom D'Emilio Smith Uebler; Santora CPA Group; Belfint, Lyons & Shuman; CAPCO; Potter Anderson & Corroon; RKL; and Weiner Benefits Group. Click on the link below for sponsorship information.

Women Connect Networking Event

May 18-19, 2023

The next Women Connect Network event will be held May 18-19, 2023, in Wilmington, DE. Join us for two days of fun, laughter, and life-long connections! May 18 will feature interactive activities in downtown Wilmington, followed by a half day program on May 19. Don't miss the excitement! Full agenda coming soon!

Pre-Register today to receive a 10% discount! Discount valid through April 14.

Help Neighbors in Sussex Impacted by Recent Tornadoes

On April 1, 2023, Sussex County was hit by an EF-3 tornado for the first time since 1961. The recent storm has left people from Bridgeville to Greenwood and Ellendale in need of immediate assistance. 

Together with our community partners, we are working to help those affected access resources and services through Delaware 211. We are deploying UWDE/211 care teams to address short- and long-term needs of those impacted by this disaster. 

100% of your donation will go directly back to the community to support the short and long-term needs of individuals and families impacted by these recent storms. Please consider helping out our neighbors in any way you can.

Instructional Video Now Online!

2023 Teach Children to Save Day!

April 24th - 28th

The instructional video and lesson materials are now available on the Teach Children to Save Day webpage at debankers.com. The example lesson, taught by Judy Austin of the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship, is filled with helpful tips to guide you through this year's Teach Children to Save Day visit.

Especially for our 25th Anniversary, the Delaware Bankers Association and the Delaware Financial Education Alliance have created a 20-page comic book. Featuring The Great Investo and Penny, the story illustrates the concept of scarcity and the importance of saving for a financially independent future. All students will receive their own copy of the comic book to keep.

Shore United Bank Expands Their Footprint to Rehoboth Beach

Left to Right: Seated – Myndi Verderame, Branch Manager; Kelly Stevenson, Business Banking Relationship Manager; Standing – Ronda Douglas, Relationship Manager; John Augustus, Market Executive; Jennifer Joseph, Chief Retail Banking Officer.

Shore United Bank has expanded their footprint in Delaware by opening a new, full-service branch in Rehoboth Beach located at 19358 Miller Road. This location brings convenience and community banking at its finest to Delaware beach residents and visitors alike. The new branch joins 30 other locations throughout Maryland, Delaware and Virginia.

“We are excited to open our 31^st location in Sussex County with a great team of local bankers. As a community bank, we are committed to offering the highest level of customer service to meet the financial needs of the residents and the communities of Delmarva,” explains Ronda Douglas, Relationship Manager at Shore United Bank’s Rehoboth branch.

Chief Retail Banking Officer, Jennifer Joseph adds, “We feel strongly about the commitment we have made to Rehoboth and look forward to additional opportunities to serve the greater Sussex County market.”

Accompanying the new branch, Shore United has opened a mortgage office close by at 19716 Sea Air Avenue, to assist the community with their mortgage loan needs.

Division of Small Business Webinar: Information Session on the Delaware Capital Access and Loan Participation Programs - April 19

Join The Delaware Division of Small Business s on Wednesday, April 19^th, from 10 a.m. – 11:15 a.m., for an informative webinar for Delaware financial lenders on the SSBCI-funded Loan Participation Program (LPP) and Delaware Access to Capital program (DCAP). These flexible lending tools are available to banks, credit unions, CDFIs, and other lenders.

The DCAP and LPP programs will be ready for lenders to participate by April 21st, 2023, and ready for you to make available to borrowers shortly thereafter. Both the DCAP and LPP programs will involve loans issued by participating lenders. Visit https://business.delaware.gov/state-small-business-credit-initiative-ssbci/ for an overview and check back frequently for fact sheets, applications, and other important documents, which will be posted as they become available.

Panelists include DSB Director Regina Mitchell, Deputy Director Laura Wisler, and Finance Director Andrew Harton. Register via the link below. A recording of the webinar will be available on the SSBCI website and YouTube.

Fulton Bank, N.A. Accepting Applications for Two $3,000 Scholarships

Women in Technology employee resource group to collect and evaluate applications

Fulton Bank, N.A., a subsidiary of Fulton Financial Corporation today announced two $3,000 scholarship opportunities for local women studying science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) fields. The funds for the scholarships were raised by Fulton Bank, N.A.’s internal employee resource group, Women in Technology, to help defray the expenses of a college education for two students.

To be considered for this year's scholarship award, completed applications, along with all appropriate supporting documentation, must be received by Friday, May 5, 2023.  Applications received after this date or applications that do not include the required documents will be automatically disqualified from consideration. Recipients of the scholarship will be notified through email on May 19, 2023, and additional information will be provided at that time.

Northern Trust Wealth Planning Symposium: The Power of Resilience - April 27

Join Northern Trust for their third annual Wealth Planning Symposium on April 27 as they collaborate with some of the best minds from legal, tax, behavioral science, family law, philanthropy and academia to tackle issues facing wealthy families today.

Some of the questions addressed include:

• What are the secrets of successful families?
• How does it feel to be impacted by sudden wealth?
• What modern strategies can we put in place to complement a positive approach?
• What have we learned from being in the trenches?
• How can we motivate families to embrace these strategies without relying on fear?

JPMorgan Chase & Co. - Carry The Load Event - Thursday, May 4th, 2:30pm

Carry The Load is a non-profit organization that provides active ways to connect Americans to the sacrifices made daily by our military, veterans, first responders, and their families. What started in 2011 as a grassroots effort by two veteran U.S. Navy SEALs to restore the true meaning of Memorial Day has now grown into honoring our nation’s heroes 365 days a year. Their mission is to provide active ways to honor and remember our nation’s heroes by connecting Americans to the sacrifices made by our military, veterans, first responders and their families. Since 2011, they have raised over $38,058,334.

Memorial Day is dedicated to honor and remember the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Although it is observed on the last Monday of May, Carry The Load’s Memorial May campaign takes place all month long to raise awareness and provide active ways to connect Americans to the sacrifices made by our military, veterans, first responders and their families.

We hope you will join us by participating in the East Coast Leg on Thursday, May 4th @ the Daniel S. Frawley Stadium (home of the Blue Rocks). Please see the link with all the information needed to register.  

Bank of America Private Bank Market Minute

Major U.S. indexes were mixed over last week’s holiday-shortened trading week. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1%, the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.1%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.6%. Several of last week’s economic releases came in weaker-than-expected. The March Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing Index declined to the lowest reading since May 2020 of 46.3 compared to 47.7 in February (with sub-50 readings indicating a contraction in activity). The ISM Services Index for March dropped to 51.2 from 55.1 in February, while still expanding, at a slower pace. The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey logged its first reading below 10 million since May 2021, totaling 9.93 million in February following a revised 10.56 million in January. Friday’s March jobs report showed payrolls increased by 236,000 last month (compared to 326,000 in February and 472,000 in January). The unemployment rate ticked lower to 3.5% as the labor force participation rate increased.

Jenifer Jurden is a Cartoonist from Wilmington who has graciously provided her Planet Jurdy cartoons for the DBA Digest. Jurdy® is her other-worldly "Hero of Happyness" whose cartoons bring levity to humans worldwide.

 DEBCC Classic Old School R&B Spectacular!

Featuring the "Spinners", "Manhattans" and "Intruders"

April 15 - 7:00 p.m.

Come out to this DEBCC fundraising event at the Grand Opera in Wilmington and hear classic R&B music like "Then Came You", "I'll Be Around", "Kiss and Say Goodbye", "I'll Always Love My Mama" and many more. Purchase your tickets via the links below.

Report Shows Steep Rise in Consumer Complaints to CFPB: Consumer Reporting Leads the List While Debt Collection Declines

The U.S. PIRG Education Fund (PIRG) released a report analyzing consumer complaints submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in 2021 and 2022. The report noted that consumer complaint totals set a new record in 2021 (496,000), only to have that record broken by a considerable margin in 2022 (800,394). According to PIRG, complaints against national consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) were the largest category, nearly doubling from 2021 to 2022. However, complaints against the debt collection industry fell by 15% during that same time period.