A few reminders about some important programs next week for community bankers:

•  Join IBANYS next Tuesday, December 6, for our Human Resources update. Kate McClung, Bond, Schoeneck & King will provide the updates on New York State, federal and New York City labor laws as well as the current status of COVID-19 leave requirements, remote work etc. Following the updates, Joey Spivey, Learning and Development Manager, Diversity Officer, SHAZAM Network will share his knowledge and expertise on “Rapid Retention” and “Grooming Your Next Set of Leaders”. Please see our meetings section below for detailed agenda and registration information. Questions? Contact Linda Gregware (Lindag@ibanys.net). We look forward to seeing you on December 6. 

•  FedNow Service: “What's Coming in 2023” Webinar -- Tuesday, December 6 at 3:00 p.m. | The FedNow^SM Service is an instant payment service created by the Federal Reserve Banks to provide safe and efficient instant payment services in real-time, 24/7/365.  With the targeted release of the FedNow Service narrowed down to May-July 2023, there are certainly a lot of questions surrounding it. In this online webinar, community banks will have the chance to hear directly from FedNow and ask any questions they may have. If you missed the FedNow Launch Webinar Series, this is a good opportunity to get a lot of information in a short amount of time. Joni Hopkins, Vice President, Product and Relationship Management Group at Federal Reserve Financial Services, and Mark Majeske, SVP Faster Payments at Alacriti, will discuss: 1) An overall update from the Federal Reserve; 2) Plans to achieve ubiquity; 3) What will be available upon launch; 4) Features and functionality of the FedNow Service; 5) Details on anticipated FedNow Service pricing; 6) How community banks can prepare for and connect to faster payments; 7) More on fraud prevention, funding agents, and the user experience; 8) Alacriti’s Early Adopter Program, which provides savings and benefits for community banks connecting to the FedNow Service. Register Now

• ICBA next week is hosting a complimentary  post-election briefing (Wednesday, December 7, at 2:00 p.m.) on the midterm election results and pending regulatory actions affecting community banks. The  ICBA’s briefing  will cover election implications for the lame-duck session and the next Congress, and  provide an update on key advocacy priorities, such as the FDIC’s assessment rate increase, Federal Housing Finance Agency capital rules, and more.  Participants are encouraged to bring questions to the briefing, which will be recorded.   Register here.

IBANYS is proud to announce our new partnership with Rivel, Inc., a market research company with the world’s largest sample Banking Benchmarks Study.

Along with price discounts for new subscription from IBANYS members, Rivel has agreed to provide each of our MEMBER BANKS a Retail Prospect Report extract. These extract reports will be sent to 5 banks each week through the end of the year. These reports will provide information that banks can review for use with their marketing strategies.

We look forward to working with Rivel, Inc. and introducing their platform of reports to our banks in NYS.

Any questions, please call me at 716.880.0518 (cell) or 518.436.4646 (office).

If you have specific questions regarding Rivel, please contact Dailey Betz at 641.529.2380 or email dbetz@rivel.com

John

MEMBER BANKS

Does your bank have news you’d like to share? If so, please send us an email (lindag@ibanys.net) and your news will be placed in our weekly e-newsletter.

We look forward to sharing your news and all that you do for and in your communities.

IBANYS MEETINGS

Loan Review Best Practices for 2023 (virtual meeting)

Tuesday, December 6 at 2:00 pm ET

Market and external conditions are rapidly changing the credit risk environment. Due to the unrest, examiners are placing even more emphasis on credit risk, plus the safety and soundness of lending programs. Loan reviews play a big role in managing credit risk—and they involve far more than just checking a box. In this webinar, IntelliCredit will discuss new trends in loan reviews and the best practices you should have in place for 2023 to ensure that you conduct the most thorough and efficient loan reviews possible. Register here.

• The New York State Dept. of Financial Services (DFS) recently issued a proposed regulation https://www.dfs.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2022/10/rp23a2_text_20221109_0.pdf  on Cybersecurity ("Proposed Second Amendment To 23 NYCRR 500 Cybersecurity Requirements For Financial Services Companies"). IBANYS would like to know if you and/or your CISO have any comments or feedback on the proposal. Contact John Witkowski: Johnw@ibanys.net.

• John Williams, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, praised the Fed's new guidelines for granting fintechs and other nonbanks access to the payment system. He also echoed calls for new rules to govern stablecoins and cryptocurrencies.  Read story →

• Governor Hochul has vetoed 85 bills since the November election; many were vetoed because they’re associated with budgeting costs. https://www.news10.com/news/hochul-vetoes-85-bills-as-of-tuesday/

• Gov. Hochul has less than a month to pick the next Chief Judge of New York’s top court. Last Wednesday, a state panel sent her a shortlist of seven candidates to lead the Court of Appeals — the top court. Hochul’s decision, due by December 23, will set the ideological direction of the sharply divided court for years to come. Once confirmed by the State Senate, Hochul’s pick will replace conservative-oriented former Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, who resigned abruptly in August after a nearly seven-year tenure. advocates and state lawmakers are viewing Gov. Kathy Hochul's pending nomination to lead the state's top court and its sprawling court system as a consequential one as she prepares to start her four-year term in January.   Read More

• Assemblyman Will Barclay (R-Pulaski) was re-elected as the GOP Assembly Leader in the Democratic-dominated chamber on Tuesday. Barclay was first elected to the Assembly in 2002 and has led the Assembly GOP since 2020. Republicans have been in the minority in the 150-member state Assembly since the aftermath of the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s, and Democrats are once again expected to hold a supermajority. Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) is expected to be re-elected to his position in January. https://nystateofpolitics.com/state-of-politics/new-york/ny-state-of-politics/2022/11/29/barclay-re-elected-assembly-republican-leader

• NYS Comptroller DiNapoli: The pandemic’s impact on the state’s labor force was more severe than the rest of the country: The workforce declined more rapidly here than in other states in 2020, and continued to shrink in 2021 when other states recovered. https://www.bizjournals.com/albany/news/2022/11/27/new-york-workforce-dinapoli-report.html.  Meanwhile, an audit by Comptroller DiNapoli’s office found antiquated technology and lax fraud prevention controls were factors that allowed the state’s unemployment insurance program to be fleeced out of an estimated $11 billion in benefits. DiNapoli concluded the NYS Labor Dept. failed to heed earlier warnings to update its technology for processing unemployment insurance claims, leaving it ill-prepared to deal with a surge of applications for jobless benefits after the pandemic reached New York in March 2020.

• ICBA is calling on community bankers to urge their members of Congress to pass legislation before year-end that would establish a cannabis banking safe harbor in states where cannabis is legal.  Grassroots Campaign: With lawmakers working to reach a compromise on the ICBA-advocated SAFE Banking Act, community bankers can use ICBA’s Be Heard grassroots action center to weigh in with their lawmakers in support of the bill.  State Association Letter:  In a joint letter this week, ICBA and its 44 affiliated state community banking associations – including IBANYS -- called for Senate passage of the bill, noting the Senate version has 42 cosponsors while the House passed its version last year for the seventh time on a strong bipartisan vote.  Background: The cannabis banking safe harbor is designed to address a conflict between state and federal law that presents legal uncertainty for community banks and requires legal cannabis-related businesses to operate largely in cash, creating public safety risks.  Public Support: According to an ICBA poll conducted by Morning Consult and released earlier this year, 65% of voters support cannabis banking access and 71% agree that a banking safe harbor would help reduce the risk of robbery and assault at cannabis-related businesses.   CONTACT CONGRESS

• House Democrats  met today and in a display of unity, skipped a vote and elected by acclamation Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) as Minority Leader for the coming Congress. He becomes the first Black person to hold the top spot in either party. Jeffries was first elected to Congress in 2012 after serving three terms in the State Assembly. He is a graduate of the State University of New York at Binghamton. Also chosen were Reps. Katherine Clark (D-MA) as Minority Whip and Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) as Chairman of the Democratic Party caucus. All three ran unopposed. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/30/us/politics/house-democrats-hakeem-jeffries.html

• Meanwhile, Republicans are poised to take control of the U.S. House in January by one of the slimmest margins in history. One major reason: In New York State, the GOP flipped three House districts in the NYC suburbs and scored a fourth pickup in the Hudson Valley, providing them with crucial momentum to assume narrow control of the House. 

• ICBA responded to a CFPB request for information on encouraging residential mortgage loan refinances by calling on the bureau to reduce unnecessary compliance burdens for community banks. Background: The CFPB requested input on potential barriers that prevent or discourage qualified borrowers from accessing refinance products, particularly in low- and moderate-income and rural areas. ICBA Recommendations: Noting that community banks work with their customers to determine appropriate loan products given their unique needs and financial circumstances, ICBA encouraged the CFPB to:  1) Coordinate with other regulators to reduce unnecessary compliance burdens and complexity for community banks. 2) Carefully consider whether and how the CFPB should offer targeted and streamlined refinance programs and products, and 3) Provide more opportunities and tools to enrich borrower education.

• The Federal Housing Finance Agency said next year it will raise the maximum size of mortgages that can be backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to more than $1 million for homes in the 100 highest-priced counties in the United States, such as those in New York and California. The new ceiling of $1,089,300 is up from a cap of $970,800 in 2022, and represents the first time the federal government has backed mortgages above $1 million, though for most markets in the country, the 2023 loan limits will be $726,200, up from a maximum of $647,200 in 2022.  The Wall Street Journal

• The U.S. Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on President Biden’s nominees for the FDIC board of directors. They include: Acting Chairman Martin Gruenberg for Chairman; Travis Hill for Vice Chair, and Jonathan McKernan for Board Member. The committee also is scheduled to meet Thursday for a  hearing  on racism and discrimination in banking.

• With Congress back in Washington for the lame-duck session, ICBA is pushing several key legislative priorities and calling on community bankers to weigh in with lawmakers via ICBA’s  Be Heard grassroots action center.  As Politico  reported, lawmakers are working to reach a compromise to pass the ICBA-advocated SAFE Banking Act—which would establish a cannabis banking safe harbor in states where cannabis is legal—by year-end. Community bankers can use   Be Heard to urge passage. Sens. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Marshall (R-Kan.) are meanwhile working to advance their bill to extend the Durbin Amendment to credit cards. ICBA continues calling on community bankers to  urge opposition to the bill, which would impose new costs, pose security risks, and end credit card rewards programs. ICBA’s recent letter to congressional leaders lists its priorities for the remaining weeks of the 117th Congress, which also include advancing legislation to close the industrial loan company loophole, not hastily passing cryptocurrency legislation, opposing efforts to institute postal banking, and more.  CONTACT CONGRESS

• A group of Democrats are also angling to reinstate their popular, pandemic-era child tax credit, but its success appears unlikely.   What Congress is and isn't likely to do in the lame duck session

• SKDK announced Justin Goodman, longtime senior aide to Senate Majority Leader Schumer, has joined SKDK in the firm’s DC Public Affairs practice as an EVP and will support the firm’s corporate, crisis communications, and public affairs clients. https://empirereportnewyork.com/longtime-communications-director-for-u-s-senate-majority-leader-schumer-justin-goodman-joins-skdk/