• Join IBANYS on 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. 

• The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYS DFS) has provided a Revised Vacation Policy for financial institutions in New York State. The new guidance favors community banks and those financial institutions with smaller employee base. https://www.dfs.ny.gov/industry_guidance/industry_letters/il20221115_absence

• Writing in the American Banker, ICBA President & CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey stated that federal regulators' inconsistent rules are endangering many community banks' ability to lend to local customers at a time of growing economic uncertainty. In a new  BankThink op-ed, she noted FHFA accounting standards that require banks to count losses that have not been realized in their capital calculations are threatening to cut off access to FHLB advances, which are a key source of liquidity.

• 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

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



FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18th at 10 am ET

CECL Coffee Talk Q&A Session (Zoom)

Join QwickRate’s November CECL Coffee Talk on Friday November 18^that 10am ET with special guest T. Jefferson Fair, President of American Planning Corporation, a financial consulting resource to community banks. During this interactive Q&A session, the panel will share best practices, clarify misinformation, and more. Bring your CECL questions! Open to any bankers – whether you use the QwickAnalytics CECLSolver tool or not. Register here.

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 22^nd at 2pm ET

Talking Liquidity — As Needs Rise Along with Rates (Zoom)

Rising interest rates, and the use of on-balance sheet liquidity to fund loan growth, have caused issues for some community banks aiming to

further expand their credit portfolios. In this webinar, QwickRate will share metrics around liquidity and discuss concerns they hear in daily conversations with bankers. They will also review a few funding options available for banks, including the QwickRate non-brokered CD Marketplace—and touch on how banks across the country are using it to manage their needs for primary and contingency liquidity. Register here

• New York’s outdated unemployment insurance system likely contributed to at least $11 billion in improper payments during the Covid-19 pandemic, an audit from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli found. The report examined claims made through the NYS Department of Labor’s unemployment insurance system from January 2020 to March 2022 — a period in which applications skyrocketed due to pandemic-related job losses. It found the state’s failure to replace the outdated system as long advised, coupled with “ad hoc workarounds,” led to “weakened oversight and ultimately contributed to an estimated billions of dollars in improper payments.” The flood of unemployment claims was unprecedented, leading to fraud and abuse and an overwhelmed agency, DiNapoli said. New York made $11B in improper unemployment payments during Covid-19 pandemic, audit finds

• With the election in the rear-view mirror, environmental activists are urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to impose a moratorium on cryptocurrency mining. Read More

• New York State has the highest concentration of wealth in the United States and the largest gap between rich and poor, a report released this month by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found.  Read More

• New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins says she’ll be happy even if her Democratic conference loses its supermajority status. Read More. . .Meanwhile, State Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris said Tuesday that redistricting was not to blame for his party’s struggles on Election Day.

• Earlier this year, state lawmakers and Gov. Hochul agreed to suspending the collection of about 17 cents per gallon in gas taxes. But as gas prices tick back up, there are bipartisan calls from state lawmakers to extend a suspension of New York's gas tax.  Read More

• Legalized online sports betting has been a major financial boost to New York. The state has collected over $740 million in revenue since the industry was “green-lit” in January. Governor Hochul announced that New York collected $542 million in taxes from online betting, along with over $200 million in licensing fees since the beginning of the year.” New York State collects $740 million in taxes from online sports betting.  

• Gov. Hochul has not yet proposed a broad vision for the next four years beyond continuing the work already underway, she’s promised a broad agenda in the new year, when she’ll unveil her second State of the State policy plan and $200-plus billion executive budget,  Gotham Gazette reports. 

• Federal judge sets back New York cannabis licensing  A federal judge has temporarily blocked New York from issuing its first recreational marijuana retail licenses in certain regions, rattling the state’s nascent cannabis industry. U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe has granted a temporary restraining order to Variscite, which challenged the marijuana licensing scheme for violating the dormant Commerce Clause. The injunction applies to five geographic areas: Finger Lakes, Central New York, Western New York, Mid-Hudson and Brooklyn.

• Younger borrowers and those with lower incomes added the most to their card balances in the third quarter, according to a New York Fed report. Delinquency levels are also on the rise, a sign that more consumers are struggling to pay off higher debt loads.  Read story →

Latest Update On New York Congressional Delegation

• Senator Chuck Schumer, re-elected last week, said the 2022 election was “a victory and a vindication for Democrats” that resulted in another two years of narrow Senate control. It was also a “vindication for the often-underestimated Schumer, who this year racked up a series of unexpected legislative victories with a slim 50-50 majority (with Vice President Harris a tie-breaking vote.)  If incumbent Georgia Democratic Sen. Warnock wins a December 6 runoff election, Democrats will have a 51-49 majority “and Schumer will have protected every one of his incumbents in the election — a stunning feat.” https://www.amny.com/politics/elections/senate-won-for-democrats-its-the-year-of-chuck-schumer/

• Republican Brandon Williams, a political newcomer from Texas who beat out an establishment-backed candidate in the primary, has won a competitive House race in in the 22nd Congressional District in the Syracuse area. The AP called the race for Williams late Monday. Williams leads Democrat Francis Conole by about 3,000 votes, 50.8 %to 49.2%. (Absentees are still being tallied, as well as emergency and provisional ballots are still being tallied.)  Williams, a Republican, declared winner of open House seat in Central New York

• U.S. House Republicans yesterday elected Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-North Country) to her second term as GOP Conference Chair. She will return to the role as Republicans now appear likely to narrowly retake control of the chamber. Stefanik defeated freshman Congressman Byron Donalds of Florida 144-74, according to  The Hill.   Stefanik would again hold the fourth-highest leadership ranking in her caucus, after majority whip, majority leader, and Speaker.  Stefanik elected to GOP conference chair again

• The New York Congressional Delegation will have a number of new faces come January. IBANYS will be reaching out to them -- and to all the members, both new and returning -- to inform and remind them of the vitally important role New York community banks play in the economy and social fabric of their districts and the state. We also encourage you to do the same with your local members of Congress and the State Legislature. As of today, it appears Republicans will hold ten of the 26 seats (the state lost one seat in redistricting), while Democrats will hold 16.

• ICBA has updated its analysis of the 2022 midterm elections and their impact on community banks to reflect the latest developments in House and Senate races.  ICBA’s 2022 Election Analysis provides an overview of the election results, the outlook for the lame-duck session, the likely leadership of the 118th Congress, and what's next on the policy front as ICBA continues to advocate on behalf of community banks.

• Congress is returning to an extremely volatile  post-election landscape and a potentially consequential lame-duck session, with control of the House still officially undecided, but strongly trending toward a narrow GOP majority; party leadership still officially unresolved. 

• U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) expressed support for ICBA-advocated legislation to authorize the National Credit Union Administration to examine credit union third-party service providers for cyber risk. During a committee hearing featuring testimony from top banking and credit union regulators, Brown urged passage of the Improving Cybersecurity of Credit Unions Act, which also would require credit unions to report cyber incidents to the NCUA. Testifying before the committee, NCUA Chairman Todd Harper also expressed support for the bill.  Introduced in August by Sens. Ossoff (D-GA.), Lummis (R-WY), and Warner (D-VA.), it would address concerns that the NCUA does not have the same authority as bank regulators to supervise for cyber risk.  As ICBA testified before the House Financial Services Committee last year, it supports allowing the NCUA to directly examine and regulate credit union service organizations, core providers, and other large third-party service providers. This would correct a disparity in rulemaking between banking regulators and credit union regulators and strengthen the financial sector, ICBA said.

• Senate Banking Committee Chair Brown (D-Ohio) also pressed the directors of several financial regulation agencies about so-called "junk fees" charged by banks and other financial institutions. Acting Comptroller of the Currency Hsu responded that a 2022 report showed the largest banks overseen by the OCC have saved consumers more than $4 billion annually by lowering overdraft and other penalty fees.  CNBC
•  
• ICBA continues pressing policymakers to investigate credit unions, testifying in July on their Community Reinvestment Act exemption and writing in a Medium op-ed that Congress should join states in pushing back against credit union overreach.  Community bankers can continue urging Congress to hold hearings on the credit union tax exemption using a customizable message to lawmakers on ICBA’s Wake Up page and its Wake Up Messaging Playbook.
•  
• According to the latest figures from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, U.S. households added $351 billion in debt last quarter, bringing the total to $16.5 trillion, an increase of 8.3% from a year ago and the fastest rate since 2008. Credit card debt balances rose by 15% from a year earlier, the most in almost 20 years, but the largest increases came from mortgage and home equity debt.  Bloomberg
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• Congressional Democrats could end up striking a deal with Republicans by year-end on a roughly $100 billion tax-cut package.  Lame-Duck Congress Eyes $100 Billion Tax-Cut Deal With Break for Business
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• The quickly shifting deposit picture — an effect of the Federal Reserve's rapid interest rate increases — is prompting many banks to raise rates to prevent depositors from leaving. Several institutions saw their loan-to-deposit ratios jump above 100% during the third quarter.  Read story

• A Texas federal court ruling last week could derail President Joe Biden’s announced plans to cancel student debt for millions of Americans through his student debt relief program, calling it “an unconstitutional exercise of Congress’s legislative power.” U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman challenged claims granting the administration’s authority under the HEROES Act in his  26-page decision. “We strongly disagree with the District Court’s ruling on our student debt relief program and the Department of Justice has filed an appeal,” in a  statement.

• FDIC Acting Chairman Gruenberg was questioned during the Senate Banking Committee’s oversight hearing on community bank regulatory concerns. Sen. Rounds (R-SD) asked about the community bank impact of the FDIC’s ICBA-opposed assessment rate increase. Gruenberg said the FDIC  proceeded with the rate hike to avoid having to impose larger assessments down the road, and he doubts that it will affect lending or credit availability.  Sen. Moran (R-KS) asked whether the FHFA’s  tangible capital rules restricting access to FHLB advances would limit liquidity during a period of economic uncertainty. Gruenberg said the FDIC is talking with the FHFA, but the question is a risk management issue that individual institutions should address themselves.  ICBA has strongly advocated on both issues: 1) Speaking out against the FDIC’s final rule raising deposit insurance assessment rates by 2 basis points on all insured institutions, and 2) Urging regulators to align their capital rules to avoid penalizing community banks for supporting local communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The regulators are scheduled to be back on Capitol Hill to testify at a House Financial Services Committee hearing.