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Have You Contributed to NYSIBPAC This Year?
If not...now is the time! We need your help in this statewide election year to support candidates and committees who understand community banks' needs. Can we count on you?
CLICK HERE for our 2015 PAC contribution form. Help support IBANYS' political action efforts in New York State.
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For more information, visit:
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IBANYS' Long Island Regional
Compliance Conference:
Rescheduled To Mid-January.
The conference
will provide regulatory, operational and legal perspectives on what banks can expect, and how they can stay ahead of the curve. Continuity's Pam Purdue will address
"Building a Compliance Culture" and
"Board and Executive Oversight: Examiner Expectations"...The OCC's Tom Clayton FDIC's Janice Rosenbrg and Matthew Stuart will provide
Regulators' Perspective:
Compliance & 'Hot Button'
Exam Issues"
Sign Up For A Timely Webinar:
"Significant Fair Lending Developments
On Bank Enforcement"
On Friday Deceber 18 from 9:00 at 10:00 AM, join us for an important webinar on "Significant Fair Lending Developments of Bank Enforcement" with speakers Michael Mancusi, Helen Mayer Clark & Kevin Toomey of Arnold & Porter LLP. This timely webinar will provide 45 minutes of substantive practical guidance for banks on recent fair lending cases, followed by 15 minutes for questions and answers. It will include a discussion of two significant fair lending developments that have been resolved in the past several months that signify a change in the government's enforcement of the far lending laws. To register, email IBANYS' Director of Operations Linda Gregware: Lindag@ibanys.net.
IBANYS 2016 Meetings Update
May CFO/Senior Management Conference
IBANYS CFO Peer Group, chaired by Cathy Califano (Gold Coast Bank), met by conference call yesterday to discuss our 2016 CFO/Senior Management Conference next May. The program will focus on a number of important operational, financial and regulatory challenges faced by New York community banks. Among the topics recommended by the Committee:
- An Economic Update
- A Tax & Accounting Update
- A Regulatory Update
- A Cyber Security/IT Discussion
- A Discussion Of The New FDIC Compliance Manual
- Updates On Interest Rates & Investment Portfolio Management
- Best Practices Updates On Compensation & Employee Benefits
- A Discussion Of The New FASB CECL Model
- Presentations & Discussions On Trends In Banking
The conference format will incorporate panel discussions, extended q. and a. and stand alone presentations. Stay tuned for details and registration information!
March 30-31 Regional Compliance Sessions
IBANYS held a conference call with our Compliance Committee this week to continue planning our 2016 Spring Regional Compliance Conferences, March 30 and 31 in Western New York and the Capital District. The Comittee recommended that the formats include expanded presentations by federal and state banking regulators (FDIC, OCC, Federal Reserve, NYS DFS, CFPB), topical presentations by outside consultants and a bankers peer panel discussion. All segments will focus on timely "hot button" issues and concerns. Suggested subjects include cyber security and risk management; CRA/fair lending/community development loans; flood insurance; HMDA; BSA/AML; and complaint management, including the bureau's portal system.
Watch for details on all of IBANYS' 2016 Meetings
& Conferences in the near future!
Please Help IBANYS Fight Prostate Cancer
Through "Cure The Blue"
The Buffalo Bills Alumni Foundation and IBANYS have joined to lead the effort to raise funds and awareness regarding prostate cancer research in New
 York State. IBANYS' member bank Lake Shore Savings Bank is among the community banks strongly supporting the campaign: Its "Cure the Blue" ribbon pins are available for purchase for a donation at all eleven branches, and Lake Shore conducted a branch wide fundraising event earlier this fall.
As Lake Shore's President & CEO Dan
Reininga noted:
"
The exciting thing about this is that it's going to be a national campaign at some point. It's very exciting and we're very proud. It's what Lake Shore is all about - putting people first. Can YOUR bank or firm to join this effort?
It's Time To Control Health Care Costs,
While Improving Employee Benefits
Here's a way to lower your health care costs, and offer a boost in employee benefits that could help retain employees. The "My Wellness Resource Card" offers a
 low-cost, non-traditional program to save time and money, and allow your bank to provide on demand health care from U.S. board-certified doctors. They'll provide diagnosis, treatment options and necessary prescriptions via unlimited telephone medical consultations through
Telehealth. The program will also provide discounts and significant savings on a variety of medical and dental products. Sponsored by My Wellness Resource, Inc. and IBANYS, this program was designed to improve productivity, decrease absenteeism and boost morale without straining your bottom line.
Click here and
here to learn more about this exciting new alternative, or visit
www.ibanys.net for details/to enroll.
THE ECONOMY
Small Business Confidence Down
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Small Business Optimism Index fell 1.3 points to 94.8 last month, and is below its 42-year average. Six of the index's 10 components declined last month, and the share of small-business owners who expect stronger sales volumes in the next few months fell five points. Retail sales have been mostly flat since August. Small businesses were also downbeat about profits, leading to a dip in the share of owners who believed that now was a good time to expand or increase capital spending.
GOVERNMENT RELATIONS UPDATES
- This Friday IBANYS' Government Relations Committee will discuss the upcoming 2016 New York State Legislative and Congressional sessions, as well as the industry's priority issues. IBANYS legislative counsel Bill Crowell and ICBA's Alan Keller will provide our state and federal updates.
State DFS proposes New AML Regulation
The State Department of Financial Services (DFS) is proposing a new anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering regulation. Among its mandates would be a requirement that a bank's chief compliance officer (or
 equivalent) certify, on an annual basis, that the bank has sufficient systems in place to detect, weed out, and prevent illicit transactions. The proposal raises anew concern over the duplicative state and federal rules and regulations, and would seem to add another level of BSA-type regulation similar to the way there are both state and federal CRA regulations. The DFS proposal will be published in an upcoming NYS Register, which will then begin a 45-day comment period.
New Chief Judge Nominated
Governor Cuomo nominated Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore to serve as Chief Judge of the NYS Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. Current Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman wants the State Senate to return to Albany as quickly as possible to
 confirm her as his successor. The Court will sit in the first two weeks of January, despite other vacancies existing as well. Senate Majority Leader Flanagan (R-LI) has said it is unlikely the Senate will return until the scheduled beginning of the 2016 session on January 6. Ms. DiFiore, a former Republican turned Democrat, would be the second woman to hold the position. She is a former chair of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics. Judge Lippman, in office since 2009, must retire at year end due to the Court's mandatory retirement age.
State Legislative Session Begins January 6
With State Of State Address
The legislative session will get underway in early January. This week, Governor Cuomo announced he has decided to permanently merge his State of the State and Budget Presentation addresses, and will deliver them as one speech on Wednesday, January 13. Among the issues he has hinted may be in the speech are a proposed hike in the state minimum wage, to $15 an hour. Before the announcement, actual session days were scheduled to begin Monday, January 11. . .
Click here to access a printable 2016 State Legislative Session Calendar, which was produced and distributed by the Legislature prior to the date change for the Governor's speech.
IN WASHINGTON:
Grassroots Action Still Needed On
Two Important Priorities
As Congress heads toward winding down its 2015 session, ICBA and IBANYS are urging continued grassroots efforts by community bankers on two important priorities. Use ICBA's "Be Heard" grassroots site at www.icba.org to customize your messages to the Financial Accounting Standards Board on its costly Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL) plan, and to Senators Schumer and Gillibrand on urging the Senate to advance regulatory relief in any "must pass" legislation before the end of the year.
Key Community Bank Relief In
Federal Highway Bill
Click here for ICBA's
fact sheet spotlighting the key financial services provisions of the federal highway law, which includes the important community bank exemption from Federal Reserve stock dividend cuts for banks under $10 billion in assets. The new law also includes a variety of regulatory relief provisions from ICBA's Plan for Prosperity, which IBANYS endorsed.
New York Community Banks
Find Real Value In IBANYS Webinars
In today's banking and business environment, community banks face a number of significant challenges. Bank officers, board members and employees understand that their responsibilities (and potential liabilities) continue to evolve. Is YOUR bank doing everything possible to provide them with the information and tools necessary? Are You Ensuring that they are fully informed, and equipped to manage the bank and guide it into the future?
IBANYS' webinars are designed to meet the needs of community banks, and are both effective -- and, cost-effective. Your bank's officers, directors and employees can participate directly from their offices. They
provide bottom line value. That's
why participation in IBANYS webinars has expanded dramatically over the past eighteen months!
We have scheduled five new series in addition to the popular Emerging Leaders and Director Series:
- Audit Compliance Series - New!
- Call Report Series - New!
- Cyber Series - New!
- Debt Collection Series - New!
- HRSeries - New!
- Director Series
- Quarterly Emerging Leaders Series
Please take a moment to review all of our upcoming programs
by clicking on the link below.
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IBANYS SPOTLIGHTS:
. . . Finger Lakes Technologies Group, Inc.
Finger Lakes Technologies Group, Inc. (FLTG), an affiliate of The Ontario & Trumansburg Telephone Companies (OTTC) and a Cisco premier certified partner, is rich in tradition and history as well as a model of stability in the communities they have served for over 100 years.
OTTC is currently the second largest independently owned telephone company in New York State. To this day, OTTC and FLTG are family owned and operated, with more than 15,000 business and residential customers.
FLTG provides a complete range of voice, data, video, Internet and wireless technologies to industries and institutions, including the financial industry. When you do business with FLTG, you can count on unparalleled products, services and support. Since they are also dedicated to education and training, all their engineers are certified in the latest technologies. For details, contact President & CEO Paul Griswold: (585) 924-3510,
E-mail: paulg@fltg.com, or visit
www.fltg.com.
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DID YOU KNOW. . .
. . .that there are more than 6,000 community banks
(including commercial banks, thrifts, stock and mutual savings institutions), with more than 52,000 locations
throughout the United States? With assets from less than $10 million to $10 billion, community banks constitute 98% of all banks--10%in the Northeast. Of all the banking organizations in the country, 89% have assets under $1 billion and almost 60% have assets under $250 million.
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| New York community banks play a key role in our state and local economies. Help spread the good news among your customers, business and elected leaders and media! |
| Click here for quotes from Governor Cuomo and DFS Superintendent Lawsky extolling the performance and value of New York community banks. |
| Click here for the full NYS Study on community banking. |
| Click here to read IBANYS President & CEO John Witkowski's comments on the new tax changes and benefits for New York community banks as approved in the 2014-15 State Budget. Click here for IBANYS' letter to the Editor of Consumer Reports Magazine correcting failure to mention community banks as an alternative to using "big banks." _________________________________ |
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John J. Witkowski
President and Chief Executive Officer
Stephen W. Rice
Director of Government Relations and Communications
Linda Gregware
Director of Administration and Membership Services
William Y. Crowell, III
Legislative Counsel
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