May 17, 2023

IBANYS Weekly E-Newsletter
Visit our website
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

A few important notes I wanted to mention up top today. . .They include some things we'd like you to do, and some others we wanted you to know about.

 

  • PLEASE REGISTER FOR IBANYS’ ANNUAL CONVENTION – THE HEARTBEAT OF OUR COMMUNITIES, JUNE 12-14. . .IT BEGINS JUST 3 WEEKS FROM MONDAY! (More information below under IBANYS meetings)


  • REGISTER for InfoAgora stress testing webinar on May 24th

 

  • SIGN UP FOR A Day with Jack Hubbard - June 21 (more information below under IBANYS meetings)

 

  • ICBA released new national and state-level polling data showing Americans in all 50 states have an increasingly favorable view of community banking.


  • To all who attended the ICBA Capital Summit: I just wanted to say Thank You for taking the time to come to DC and visit with our NY Representatives. I know the days are long, but these meetings are very important to educate and inform our elected officials on the importance your banks are to your communities, and talk about our positions on our priority issues in Washington. From everything I have heard, we had very good meetings with each office we visited. See more details in the Washington section below.


  • READ THE STATE & FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE/REGULATORY UPDATES (in the New York State and Washington DC section of this newsletter) on policies being presented by our state and federal banking committees and regulatory agencies. We need your voice to reinforce our efforts. We include the latest bill introductions, legislative activity, committee agendas and regulatory actions. There are a number of interesting bills, and we would like your feedback and comments on expanding the community banks deposit program to include credit unions, a feasibility study on public banking, credit union and municipal deposits, addressing the Capital Access program, utilizing the Business Development Districts and more!

IBANYS MEETINGS


To all community banks in NYS:

 

Hope everyone is looking forward to beautiful summer weather! To be honest, I cannot think of a better way to close out the spring and kick off the summer than networking with fellow community bankers at the IBANYS ANNUAL CONVENTION at The Turning Stone Resort and Casino from June12-14. This year's theme is "Community Banks: The Heartbeat of All Communities"

 

We always have great speakers covering timely topics and we mix in a little fun. Our sponsors and partners always step up to support NYS community banks and IBANYS. We have 30+ exhibitors and only 1 or 2 sponsorships left and these companies enjoy coming to our convention.

 

What we need is to have YOU, your bank and your directors join us on June 12-14. If the President/CEO cannot attend, please allow others from your exec team or Board of Directors attend.

 

Each year IBANYS celebrates the great work community banks do for their customers. We need to stick together as community banks by supporting, communicating, networking with each other and our business partners. 

 

No better place than at the IBANYS ANNUAL CONVENTION.

 

The brochure is attached, and I encourage you to book your rooms as soon as possible! The room block ends on May 19th.

 

Any questions, contact me at 716.880.9518 or Linda Gregware at 518.436.4646.

 

ONLY 25 DAYS UNTIL THE CONVENTION!!

 

John

 

Join us Tuesday evening after dinner as Dueling Pianos, “presented by Dueling Pianos International entertains us with a fun, interactive battle of the “ivories”. 

 

Video

June 21st – Jack Hubbard on Building and Strengthening Relationships - Turning Stone Resort and Casino: Hear from Jack on his years of experience (over 50) in banking and how his tactics survive in the world of social media and innovative technology. It will be a great day to hear from one of the leading subject matter experts in banking. Click here for registration information 

ASSOCIATE & PREFERRED PARTNERS

See how your bank’s performance compares across our state and the nation. Download the Q1 2023 QwickAnalytics® Quarterly State Performance Trends Report.


State Report 

InfoAgora is hosting a webinar on:

Integrated Stress Testing: From Credit to Liquidity Risk

May 24 - 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST


The recent bank failures have highlighted flaws in the typical risk management approach that banks should mobilize to address. One of such flaws is the lack of integrated stress testing. Although banks in general conduct interest rate, credit, market and liquidity stress testing for regulatory compliance, they do so separately within each risk silo and they therefore do not take into account ripple effects across risk types. 


Click here to register

The SEC recently adopted a final rule to expand disclosure requirements related to an issuer’s repurchase of its equity securities, also known as “buybacks.” On October 1, 2023, issuers must start tracking new details about all share repurchases. Our Alert regarding the new requirements is available here.


ICBA INFORMATION

World-wide demand

Buyers of U.S. debt come in many shapes and sizes.

By Jim Reber, ICBA Securities

 

I think we can all agree that there has been plenty to be concerned about in the last, say, five years. Some are environmental issues, some are social and, for community bankers, plenty are economic. What gets a lot of play in the business and even mainstream media is our growing national debt. There’s no doubt that the mountain of borrowings that keeps our federal government liquid and solvent is greater than ever before. It’s not surprising to me that there’s spirited debate about debt limits, or if Congress will ever in our lifetimes find a way to slow our dependence on deficit spending. 


Read here

ALBANY UPDATE

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

 

  • There are now just 11 more scheduled session days for the New York State Legislature until they are set to adjourn on June 8. Here are the latest bill introductions from May 4th-12th, as well as bill activity for last week and committee agendas for this week. NYS Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins was light on details on what to expect from the Senate or the Legislature as a whole before session adjourns (scheduled for June 8), adding: “You’ll see hundreds and hundreds of bills coming forward in the next couple of weeks.” She did say the “good cause” eviction bill will not pass – at least, not the way it’s currently written.

 

 

 

REGULATORY UPDATE

 

  • The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said it will issue its next report on its Project Cedar research into a possible wholesale U.S. central bank digital currency tomorrow (Thursday, May 18). It will cover phase II of Project Cedar, a joint experiment that examined whether distributed ledger technology could be used to improve the efficiency of cross-border payments and settlements involving multiple currencies. In a recent American Banker op-ed, ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said FedNow will negate the need for a U.S. CBDC by achieving the same policy goals of immediate funds availability without the risks to the banking system. As community bankers field questions about FedNow and CBDCs from consumers confused by misinformation circulating online, ICBA offers frequently asked questions community bankers can use to answer customer queries.


  • ICBA has urged the New York State Department of Financial Services to fully exempt the state’s community banks from its proposed guidance on managing climate-related financial risks. Responding to a request for comment on the proposal, ICBA said 1) Community banks cannot immediately implement and comply with a sweeping new framework that is not required by their primary federal regulators; 2) The guidance introduces an onerous and novel framework that would effectively require New York-chartered community banks to perform scenario analysis, which the Federal Reserve has said will be required only of the nation’s largest banks; 3) Climate-related financial risk management frameworks proposed by federal regulators would exempt community banks under $100 billion in assets. IBANYS and ICBA strongly oppose climate risk regulation of community banks. ICBA has expressed concerns with Federal Reserve, FDIC, OCCand SEC proposals. Here's an American Banker op-ed from earlier this year. 

 

POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE

 


  • The Siena poll also found Senator Gillibrand’s favorability rating at 41-31%, down from 46-25% in March. More than one-quarter of voters did not have an opinion of her. 43% would vote to re-elect Gillibrand, while 38% would prefer ‘someone else.’ 42% of voters said the state is “on the right track” while 48% said it’s “on the wrong direction.” 60 % of New York Republicans would vote for former President Trump in the 2024 presidential primary; 32% want someone else. New York Democrats preferred President Biden over “someone else” by a margin of 16 points; two months ago, they preferred “someone else” by 8 points.
WASHINGTON UPDATE

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

 

  • During this week’s ICBA Capital Summit in Washington, IBANYS led a group of New York community bankers – including IBANYS’ Chairman Anders Tomson (Chemung Canal Trust), Vice Chairman Steve Woodard (Alden State Bank) and Past Chairs Mike Wimer (Cattaraugus County Bank) and Bob Fisher (Tioga State Bank) up to capitol hill for meetings in the offices of Senators Schumer and Gillibrand and members of the congressional delegation. The meetings included New Yorkers on the House Financial Services, Small Business, Agriculture and other key committees, for discussions on a number of our federal issues and priorities. These included: Differentiating community banks from larger, more complex systemically risky banks; Opposing/adjusting the CFPB rule on small business loan application data collection; Congressional oversight of digital assets; Support for agriculture and the ACRE Act; Opposing the Credit Card Routing Mandates Act; Urging a congressional review of regulatory oversight and modernizing the tax code related to credit unions and the Farm Credit Administration; Closing the ILC Loophole, and support of the SAFE Act. Here's a summary of what we discussed. New York Community bankers can use ICBA’s Be Heard grassroots action center to advocate on these top issues from home.


  • ICBA is scheduled to testify before Congress today on an ICBA-opposed Small Business Administration final rule to reform the agency’s 7(a) program at a House Small Business Committee hearing on the rule -- which lifts the moratorium on the number of non-federally regulated institutions that can make loans under the program. ICBA has repeatedly expressed opposition to the SBA rule, including in a recent national news release that said the rule would harm the very borrowers the SBA is trying to aid.


  •  ICBA announced its 2023 Policy Resolutions

 

INDUSTRY DIFFERENTIATION

 

  • ICBA has repeatedly said Washington’s response to recent bank failures should not affect community banks. In a recent blog post and video to community bankers, ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said round-the-clock media outreach, the ICBA National Campaign, and focused advocacy efforts are helping to differentiate community banks from larger financial institutions among policymakers and the public.


  • Treasury Secretary Yellen told ICBA’s Capital Summit community banks are vital to the health of the U.S. economy and financial well-being of American families and businesses. Yellen said community banks are the cornerstone of many cities and towns across the nation and proved themselves in supporting local communities during the pandemic. Yellen said community banks have long played an outsized role in providing financial services and remain a source of stability, citing their strong capital ratios, asset quality, and liquidity. Yellen is “encouraged” the FDIC’s special assessment proposal would fully exempt community banks under $5 billion in assets. ICBA has advocated a community bank exemption since the immediate aftermath of the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank of New York. She also said the administration is proposing stronger oversight of regional banks that would impose no additional regulations on community banks.


  • During the first day of congressional hearings this week on the recent failures of large banks, policymakers discussed the importance of ensuring community banks are not roped into the federal response. At a House Financial Services Committee hearing featuring testimony from federal regulators, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Hsu said preserving the diversity of the banking system, including the community banking model, is “paramount.” FDIC Chairman Gruenberg separately said a pending interagency proposal on new capital standards for large banking organizations would not affect community banks, while Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Barr said regulatory changes under consideration would target banks over $100 billion in assets.


  • A Senate Banking Committee hearing featuring former executives from Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank of New York, Chairman Brown (D-OH) differentiated community bank deposit activities from those of the recently failed entities. Ranking Member Tim Scott (R-S.C.) noted that the performance of the failed banks is not the norm and that the vast majority of financial institutions are well-run. (SVB and Signature execs return to Capitol Hill today for a House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions hearing.)

 

REGULATORY UPDATE

 


  • The FDIC will apply a "special assessment" fee of 0.125% to uninsured deposits of lenders in excess of $5 billion, based on the amount of uninsured deposits a bank held at the end of 2022. The FDIC board approved the proposal last Thursday, with the three Democratic board members supporting it and its two Republican members voting no Large U.S. lenders will bear most of the cost of replenishing the DIF $16 billion caused by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and two other lenders. The Independent Community Bankers of America, Washington's top small bank lobby group, applauded the response. ICBA President & CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey stated: "Community banks should not have to bear any financial responsibility for losses to the Deposit Insurance Fund caused by the miscalculations and speculative practices of large financial institutions." https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/fdic-board-discuss-special-assessment-fees-banks-2023-05-11/