“Tailoring” on appraisals when a qualified appraiser cannot be found.

S.2155 Section 103 Exemption from Appraisal of Real Property located in Rural Areas, provides an exemption under certain circumstances that you can have an “waiver” if unable to locate an appraiser.  There are several requirements in order to meet this exemption.  Additionally, the Final Rule published last week by the inter-agency on the Residential Real Estate Appraisals Threshold Increase, implemented changes to the Exemption from Appraisal of Real Property -these changes to Exemption from Appraisal of Real Property located in Rural Area January 1, 2020.  All of the requirements to use the Exemption are within the legislation. 

Two IBA Members Recognized as Best to Work for by American Banker

Congratulations to our IBA members who were on the list of best banks to work for out this week from the American Banker publication. As the article points out, the bank’s leaders must work purposefully every day to ensure that employees are engaged, having fun and enjoy what they are doing. Getting on the list also requires having to answer a lot of survey questions about their leadership philosophy, going above and beyond for employees, efforts to recruit a diverse workforce, their most effective ways to communicate and more.

Recognized are Washington Trust Bank, Chairman and CEO: Peter Stanton; Zions, President and CEO: A. Scott Anderson

Here’s a link to the article to read more and why they were selected.

2019 Excellence in Finance Awards

Idaho Bankers Association Endorses ICBA Bancard

Washington, D.C. (Aug. 8, 2019)—ICBA Bancard, the payments services subsidiary of the Independent Community Bankers of America® (ICBA), has been endorsed by the Idaho Bankers Association (IBA). This marks the 39th state banking association to give its seal of approval to ICBA Bancard, which provides payments solutions to community banks.

“We are honored to be selected by IBA to serve Idaho’s community banks and deliver on our promise to offer best-in-class products and services that meet the needs of today’s savvy customers and keep community banks at the forefront of payment innovation,” said ICBA Bancard President and CEO Tina Giorgio. “Working with leading state associations like IBA allows ICBA Bancard to further its mission to deliver flexible, innovative payments solutions that allow community banks to flourish.”

ICBA Bancard provides nearly 2,400 community banks with the best industry pricing, along with access to proven education and marketing programs and consultative client support. In addition, ICBA Bancard clients receive access to innovative programs such as the exclusive Fraud Loss Protection Plan.

“The Idaho Bankers Association is proud to endorse ICBA Bancard, a highly respected and trusted community bank partner for more than 30 years,” said IBA President and CEO Trent Wright. “By harnessing the collective buying power of the nation’s community banks, ICBA Bancard and IBA are helping community banks across our great state realize their card portfolio’s potential and achieve their strategic payments objectives.”

About ICBA

ICBA Bancard® is the wholly owned payment services subsidiary of the Independent Community Bankers of America. ICBA Bancard’s community bank issuers generated $29.3 billion in sales volume in 2018 and are ranked collectively as the 24th largest credit card portfolio in the United States. ICBA Bancard enables thousands of community banks to provide competitive credit card, debit card, ATM and merchant processing solutions. The company also provides exclusive services to issuers including its Fraud Loss Protection Plan, marketing support, and product education. For more information, visit www.icbabancard.org.

IDAHO BANKERS IN THE NEWS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                    July 23, 2019

Contact:
Idaho Bankers Association (208-342-8282)
Trent Wright, President and CEO

IDAHO BANKERS IN THE NEWS

Boise Ron Johnson, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, The Bank of Commerce in Idaho Falls, was recently elected as the 2019/2020 Chair of the Board of Directors for the Idaho Bankers Association at its Annual Business Meeting.  The meeting was held during the IBA Annual Convention. He succeeds Tracy Silver, Wealth Management Division Director, of U.S. Bank.

Ron is a native of Eastern Idaho and currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for the Bank of Commerce. He additionally served for many years as the Bank’s Chief Operating Officer. In November he completes his 33rd year with the Bank. He has served on the Board of Directors and as the Chairman of the following non-profit organizations: The Idaho Independent Bankers Association, Idaho Advertising Federation, Development Workshop Inc. and the Western Independent Bankers Service Corporation.  Prior to his election as Chair, Ron served as Vice Chair of the IBA Board of Directors.

Ron has been newly appointed by Governor Brad Little to serve on the Lava Hot Springs Foundation. He also serves on the City of Idaho Falls Board of Adjustments and as a member of the Eastern Idaho Energy, Technology and Environment Working Group. He has served on the Monticello Montessori Public Charter School Board. He also enjoys his participation as an Angel Investor for the Eastern Idaho Innovation Center. In 1995 Ron was presented the Extra Miler Award by the Grand Teton Council, Boy Scouts of America, for outstanding service to boyhood.

Other Newly Elected Officers and Directors of the 2019/2020 IBA Board of Directors include:

Chair-Elect:  Lori Dizes, Senior Vice President, Region Manager, U.S. Bank

Treasurer:  Bruce Lowry, President & Chief Executive Officer, Ireland Bank

Immediate Past Chair:  Tracy Silver, Wealth Management Division Director, U.S. Bank 

DIRECTORS

J.V. (John) Evans, III, Executive Vice President/Regional Credit Officer, D.L. Evans Bank

Harlan Levy, Senior Vice President, Government Relations & Public Policy, Wells Fargo Bank

Don Melendez, Idaho Regional President, Wells Fargo

Jason Meyerhoeffer, President & CEO, First Federal Savings Bank

Toni Nielsen, Western Idaho Regional President, Zions Bank

Kingsley Osei-Boateng, Business Sales Consultant, Wells Fargo Bank

Dan Price, Community Banking President, Mountain West Bank, Division of Glacier Bank

Justin Smith, Regional President, U.S. Bank

The Idaho Bankers Association is a statewide bankers’ trade association that represents all charter types and sizes of banks operating in Idaho.

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IDAHO COMMUNITY BANKERS IN THE NEWS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                              July 23, 2019

Contact:
Idaho Community Bankers Association (208-342-8282)
Trent Wright, President and CEO

IDAHO COMMUNITY BANKERS IN THE NEWS

Boise Jason Meyerhoeffer, President and CEO of First Federal Bank in Twin Falls, was recently elected as the 2019-2020 Chair of the Board of Directors for the Idaho Community Bankers Association (“ICBA”) at its Annual Business Meeting. The meeting was held during the Idaho Bankers Association Annual Convention. He succeeds Daniel Prohaska, Chairman and CEO of Idaho Trust Bank in Boise.

Jason has been actively involved in the southern-Idaho business community for over twenty-five years and currently serves on the boards of Business Plus, Inc. and the Southern Idaho Economic Development Organization. He is a two-time recipient of the Twin Falls Area Chamber of Commerce “Small Business Financial Services Advocate of the Year” award.

Jason is also a leader within the banking industry. In addition to ICBA, he also serves on the Board of Directors of the Idaho Bankers Association, and he is a newly elected board member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines. He is a past member of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council and American Bankers’ Association Government Relations Council.

Other Newly Elected Officers and Directors of the ICBA Board of Directors include:

Immediate Past President: Daniel Prohaska, Chief Executive Officer, Idaho Trust Bank

DIRECTORS

Mike Morrison, Executive Vice President & Chief Credit Officer, Bank of Commerce

Dan Price, Community Banking President, Mountain West Bank, Division of Glacier Bank

Cheryl Sorensen, Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, Ireland Bank

Jerry Lyon, North Idaho Market President, First Interstate Bank

Wes Veach, President and CEO, bankcda

Jeff Newgard, President and CEO, Bank of Idaho

Nathan Christensen, Vice President & Senior Commercial Lender, Citizens Community Bank, Division of Glacier Bank

The Idaho Community Bankers Association (ICBA) is organized as an affiliate of the Idaho Bankers Association (IBA) representing community banks in the state of Idaho.

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Relief for Community Banks in the Competition for Deposits

Relief for Community Banks in the Competition for Deposits

An important reform of the rules governing reciprocal deposits will make it easier for community banks to compete for the business of large depositors.

By: Steve Davis, Regional Director at Promontory Interfinancial Network, LLC

The recent bank reform bill made a lot of news, but what may surprise you is the specific provision of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act that community bankers believe will have the biggest impact on their daily business.

Before the bill became law, a lot of attention was placed on the provision raising the systemically important financial institutions, or SIFI, threshold from $50 billion to $250 billion in assets, above which banks must contend with a heavier compliance burden.

Yet, the provision involving SIFIs directly impacts only a small number of commercial banks based in the United States—the dozen-plus with between $50 billion and $250 billion in assets.

Perhaps that’s why when Promontory Interfinancial Network queried bankers for its second-quarter Executive Business Outlook Survey, executives from the 390 banks that responded pointed elsewhere when asked to identify the law’s most impactful provision.

Thirty-seven percent of respondents said the law’s provision that allows most reciprocal deposits to be treated as nonbrokered deposits ranked highest on a scale of one to five, placing it first among the seven other provisions tested.

It was up against stiff competition. The other provisions included those that eased the qualified mortgage rule, extended the regulatory exam cycle and simplified capital rules for community banks, among others.

“We think the change to reciprocal deposits is great,” says Christopher Cole, executive vice president and senior regulatory counsel for the Independent Community Bankers of America. “It clarifies the status of reciprocal deposits and alleviates the concerns many community banks had about using them.”

Similarly, the American Bankers Association noted that, “the definition of brokered deposits needs to be modernized and we appreciate that Congress took a first step by recognizing reciprocal deposits are a stable source of funding for many community banks.”

The change in the law makes sense, says Neil Stanley, president of community banking at TS Banking Group, which owns three banks, including Treynor State Bank, a $400 million bank based in Treynor, Iowa: “This is one of those areas that reflects what bankers always thought was true—when a large, local depositor does business with us, any deposits above the $250,000 FDIC insurance threshold shouldn’t be considered brokered or highly volatile just because we place them with other institutions on a reciprocal basis.”

Underscoring the significance of the change, 58 percent of respondents to Promontory Interfinancial Network’s survey said they plan to start using, or expanding their use of, reciprocal deposits immediately or very soon because of the new law. An additional 29 percent said they would consider doing so in the future.

To put this in perspective, according to the same bank leaders, the next most impactful provision included in the new law relates to the easing of rules surrounding commercial real estate loans, followed by the provision that shortened call reports and then by the provision that provided qualified mortgage relief.

The change in reciprocal deposits may seem like a peripheral issue, but it addresses a fundamental inequity in banking. It does so by helping to level the playing field between the handful of large, money center banks headquartered in places like New York City and the thousands of smaller banks spread across the country that serve as economic lifelines in their communities.

Institutional investors have often favored big banks because of the belief they are “too big to fail.” And since they have more resources to invest in mobile and online banking technology, big banks have become magnets for deposits from the new generation of digitally savvy consumers. These banks no longer need to rely as heavily on building branches in rural communities to compete with community banks for funding; they can now reach small-town customers through their smartphones.

As such, many of the nation’s biggest banks are reporting organic increases in deposits. And the competition on the funding side of the balance sheet will only intensify as interest rates climb. The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee has raised the fed funds rate multiple times this year and is expected to continue doing so.

By making it easier for community banks to use reciprocal deposits, in turn, the new law strengthens their ability to grow relationships and deposits from a local customer base without losing either one to bigger banks with deeper pockets.

“This is a step in the right direction,” says Bert Ely, a principal of Ely & Company, where he monitors conditions in the banking industry. “It makes it easier for community banks to accommodate large depositors.”

Given all this interest, it seems likely that the use of reciprocal deposits will increase in the coming months and years. Banks not currently familiar with them would thereby be wise to familiarize themselves with how reciprocal deposits work and their benefits.

To learn more about reciprocal deposits and the impact of the new law, contact Steve Davis at sdavis@promnetwork.com.

FDIC Deposit Insurance Coverage and Related Matters – Free Webinar

FDIC Deposit Insurance Coverage and Related Matters – Free Webinar

Provided complimentary as a member service by the Idaho Bankers Association and Promontory Interfinancial Network, LLC.

Click here to register – May 7, 2019 – 10:00–11:00 AM CT
Click here to register – May 9, 2019 – 2:00-3:00 PM CT

Now is a great time for bankers to refresh their knowledge on FDIC insurance regulations as the FDIC continues to examine bankers’ understanding of deposit insurance rules that apply to third-party agency accounts.

FDIC insurance eligibility is a key benefit banks provide to depositors. It can be an important selling point in maintaining key customer relationships and obtaining bank funding.

This 45-minute educational webinar is designed for all levels of bank employees and executives and will include a Q&A segment to address your specific concerns. The webinar will be presented
by Joe DiNuzzo, a former attorney with the FDIC and an expert in FDIC insurance regulations.

A certificate of completion will be available for all attendees.

For additional information, please email contactus@promnetwork.com.