IBANYS Weekly E-Newsletter |
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Visit our website at www.ibanys.net to review our daily updates on COVID-19.
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The President's Message
By John Witkowski, President & CEO
THE IBANYS MID YEAR MEETING - "ALL BANKS ON DECK" - IS BEING HELD ON APRIL 19-20 VIA ZOOM. . .
PLEASE SEE TODAY'S NEWSLETTER BELOW FOR THE FINAL BROCHURE WITH DETAILS ON THE AGENDA, SPEAKERS BIOS & REGISTRATION INFORMATION. . .OR, VISIT OUR WEBSITE (WWW.IBANYS.NET) TO REGISTER!
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There are now just eight days until the deadline to enact the state budget, with budget negotiations playing out against a most unusual background of a Governor facing an impeachment process and a state attorney general investigation, an Assembly Speaker diagnosed with COVID-19 and the Democratic legislative leadership supporting tax hikes the Governor wants to avoid. They are also close to an agreement on legalizing marijuana.Today's newsletter provide the latest updates in today's "Albany" section.
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For your information, here is a link to a joint letter from the Independent Bankers Association of New York State (IBANYS), the New York Bankers Association (NYBA) and the New York Credit Union Association (NYCUA) requesting consideration for our public facing essential workers to gain access to the vaccine as soon as possible either through vaccination sites or through CDC approved workplace vaccination programs.
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IBANYS and a number of New York community bankers joined other financial institutions in New York for a conference call with NYS Senate Banks Committee Chairman James Sanders (D-Queens). The call, a monthly forum hosted by the Chairman, featured a discussion and update regarding LIBOR and the post-LIBOR world with representatives of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
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We hope you are all staying safe, and we thank you for all you do every day for your customers, your communities and our industry . . .and, of course, for IBANYS!
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IBANYS 2021 Virtual Education Meetings |
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Mark Your Calendars & Save These dates |
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- Monday & Tuesday, April 19-20, 2021 - "All Banks On Deck" - Community Banks Mid-Year Conference - 8:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. each day (Tentative times)
COMPLETE BROCHURE AND MEETING DETAILS ARE ATTACHED!!
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We hope you join us for this amazing event. Here are some of the topics our speakers will discuss....more speakers and topics are being added.
- ICBA Update
- Compete to Win — Digital Strategies for Community Banking
- Syncing Portfolio Analytics, Stress Testing, and Loan Review: The Exponential Power of the Three Combined
- State of the Housing Market and the FHLBNY’s new Mortgage Asset Program (MAP)
- Faster Payments
- Continued Evolution of a Bank’s Investment Portfolio
- Digital Marketing Strategies You Can Take to the Bank
- Building High Performance Teams in an Agile Virtual World
- Bank Cybersecurity: Looking Back to Look Forward
- Cares Act Section 4013 Update
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Thank you to all of our sponsors.
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Event Platform: ZOOM Live Webinar (registration is required)
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How to register: Each bank and supporting company of IBANYS will pay ONE REGISTRATION FEE. All employees of that bank/company may attend any and all sessions.
- Each person must be registered (first & last name and email are required for each registrant).
- A unique registration link will be sent to each registrant.
- You may attend the entire event or select sessions.
- You log in five minutes prior to the start of your session.
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Stephen Ingalls, President & CEO, Catalyzer
Building High Performance Teams in Agile Virtual World
Stephen A. Ingalls has served as Catalyzer’s President since 2011, and its President and CEO since early 2015. In addition, Mr. Ingalls leads the organization’s program management, curriculum development, and program execution efforts. Prior to joining Catalyzer in March 2010, Mr. Ingalls led and directed operations ranging from climate research in Antarctica and Greenland to attack helicopter deployments throughout the United States, Europe, and Korea. A 1982 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Ingalls holds a Master of Science in Engineering Management from the University of Kansas, a Master of Military Art and Science from the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, and a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a former Instructor and Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering at West Point and an Instructor of Tactics at the Command and General Staff College.
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Highlights of his 22-year Army career include: facilitating the Army’s analog-to-digital transition in the late-1990s; the distinction of being the first brigade-level aviation operations officer in the Army’s history to lead a 4,400-soldier brigade combat team to a major deployment at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California; serving as a Longbow Apache Battalion Commander – responsible to form, field, train, and lead the fourth AH64D-equipped organization and first to deploy outside of the United States; and developing a 15-year strategic plan for over 30,000 Army forces throughout Korea to address Army transformation through 2015.
While on active duty, then LTC Ingalls received numerous Army awards and decorations. These include: the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters, the Army Commendation Medal with one oak leaf cluster, the Tribal Order of the Athapaskan for significant contributions to the Apache (Helicopter) Fighting Force, and Noble Patron of Armor by the Armor Association for contributions to the combat readiness of armor and cavalry formations. He is a qualified fixed and rotary-wing aviator, with over 1,300 hours of flight time in 11 different aircraft. Mr. Ingalls holds multiple FAA certifications. He won a NASA-American Society of Engineering Educators Fellowship to Johnson Manned Spaceflight Center in the summer of 1994, where he analyzed next-generation space shuttle designs. In 2010, Mr. Ingalls was admitted into Sigma Gamma Tau, the National Honor Society in Aerospace Engineering, and he received his certification as a Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute in 2011.
Today, his greatest joys are his marriage to Cara, mentoring his children into adulthood, and serving gleefully as Elijah’s and Adalynn’s grandfather.
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Ryan W. Hayhurst joined The Baker Group in 1991 and is a Managing Director and member of the Board of Directors. Hayhurst serves as Manager of the Financial Strategies Group and oversees the design and implementation of investment and asset/liability strategies for financial institutions. He is also integrally involved in the continued development of the firm’s proprietary software designed to assist clients in the management of their investment portfolios and their overall interest rate risk profiles. Hayhurst regularly develops and presents educational seminars nationwide, with a focus on investment and interest rate risk management. He is a frequent speaker at financial institution conventions and investment conferences, and has served as a faculty member of several national and regional banking schools. Hayhurst holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Oklahoma. |
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Ryan Hayhurst, Managing Director,
The Baker Group
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ASSOCIATE MEMBERS & PREFERRED PARTNERS |
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Leverage Marketing Technology to Stay Connect with Account Holders |
As the effects of the pandemic linger on, bank marketers continue to face the challenges of engaging with their account holders. Banks are vying for their customers' attention in an extremely chaotic and distracting environment in a time when communicating and engaging is crucial for success. Learn about the power of adopting multi-channel engagement approach so that your banks can stay connected to your consumers.
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TECHNOLOGY
Network and Infrastructure Vulnerability Assessments & Social Engineering – Newcleus has completed its most recent Social Engineering assessment for 2020Q4. Next vulnerability assessment expected to be completed by end of 2021Q1. Testing will be conducted by RKL, LLP.
BOLI Reporting Enhancements – Newcleus has completed a new, enhanced BOLI report that consolidates and streamlines the asset value and suggested general ledger entry into one comprehensive report. The enhancement will promote Newcleus’ control environment, while adding speed and efficiency to the report deliver process.
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REGULATORY
Changes to IRC Section 7702 and what it means to BOLI cash value returns – At the end of December 2020 Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 which included revisions to IRC Section 7702. The changes have a significant impact on permanent life insurance, and includes BOLI. The result is that more premium can be placed into a BOLI contract, meaning less death benefit is purchased, resulting in lower cost of insurance charges, ultimately leading to improved return on cash value. This improvement makes BOLI cash value return more attractive and worth a look. To see what this could mean to your institution see the Newcleus BOLI Index or contact Chris Pezalla at cpezalla@newcleus.com.
SSAE 18 SOC 1 Type 2 – The 2020 attestation was conducted and completed in December 2020 by RKL, LLP. For more information or to request a copy of the report, please contact Rich Pearson (rpearson@newcleus.com)
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Titanium Plan by Newcleus - Introducing a new retirement plan strategy that provides tax free retirement income and death benefits for the plan participant’s heirs, and eliminates the dependency on the sponsoring employer. The design also steers clear of ERISA, 409A, and provides cost recovery. For more information on the Titanium Plan go to https://newcleus.com/learn-more-about-titanium/ or contact Chris Pezalla at cpezalla@newcleus.com.
401(k) & Pension Advisory Services – When was the Last Independent Benchmarking Review of Your Plan? – Newcleus partners with Alden Investment Group to provide a variety of 401(k) and Pension Plan advisory services. We have helped clients enhance their Retirement Plans and lower Plan costs/fees. If you are interested in a free analysis for Plan Due Diligence, please contact Tony McCracken at (amccracken@aldeninvestmentgroup.com) or visit (https://aldeninvestmentgroup.com/retirement-plans/) for more information.
Charitable Donation Accounts
Credit unions have the ability to make a massive and direct impact in the lives of their members and their communities through Charitable Donation Accounts (CDAs). The CDA allows the credit union to invest in assets beyond their traditionally allowable options. In the current environment, many of those options are expected to provide significantly higher yields than traditional options. In fact, many options allow the credit union to earn as much if not more than traditional alternatives even after providing the required 51% to the charity.
Learn more about their impact and how they work here.
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2021 ICBA Capital Summit - Virtual
April 27, 2021
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Join ICBA and fellow community bankers as we advocate for change in these areas through our Plan for Prosperity legislative platform. By coming together and espousing the community bank message, we will make change happen for our business, our customers and our communities.
While the last year was unexpected and unprecedented to say the least, community banks continued to show up and support their communities as they have before. This year is the start of a new Congress, and new and incumbent members of Congress need to hear about the importance of our industry directly from community bankers like you.
Community banks invest in and support their communities in good times and bad. Community banks build more resilient communities, and the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated this positive economic impact firsthand as community banks once again rose to the challenge—saving tens of thousands of local small businesses and jobs across the nation.
Join us for the 2021 ICBA Capital Summit, the preeminent annual event to advocate for our industry and your community.
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ICBA Securities - Bond Academy
April 19-22, 2021 Virtual Event
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We are excited to introduce our virtual Bond Academy, an 8-part series designed to provide bank portfolio managers with the basic knowledge needed to help plan and create effective investment portfolios.
A high performance investment portfolio can provide a meaningful increase to your institution’s bottom line and serve as a valuable risk management tool. These hour-long sessions will provide you with the tools to understand how debt instruments work and their overall role in complementing the entire balance sheet.
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IBANYS Webinars
Are you participating in IBANYS webinars? Now is the time! IBANYS webinars provide timely, important information on subjects of interest to New York community bankers including human resources, business development, investment, compliance and security and much more. They are valuable not only for their content, but for their convenience and low-cost. Take part from the comfort and privacy of your office, without leaving the bank.
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Subscription Tokens
The More You Buy, The More You Save
How does it work:
Tokens can be used to purchase live or recorded webinars anytime, with no expiration! Tokens for both live and recorded webinars are available for an additional fee. (What’s the difference? Click here for the full description.)
Once you have your Subscription Token code, you can immediately register for webinars by using the code at checkout! (Subscription tokens not applicable for full series registrations, or other specials.)
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With only eight days until the April 1 state budget deadline, here's the latest:
- The Senate and Assembly have passed their own versions of their "one-house" budget bills -- both calling for spending plans exceeding $200 billion. The Governor’s budget director has agreed the state will collect $2.5 billion more in taxes over the next two years than the was estimated less than two months ago.
- Tax receipts are far higher than once projected: high-income earners, who pay the vast majority of income taxes, have kept their jobs and the financial sector is reporting near-record profits.
- New York has received more than $9 billion in federal money from the previous aid bills, according to NYS Comptroller DiNapoli, and President Biden's recently enacted "American Rescue Plan" will likely send $12.6 billion in general aid to the state, $3 billion for Medicaid and provide more than $12 billion for education, most of which would be sent to local districts.
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This positive economic news, better-than-expected revenues and significant additional federal aid negates the need for the budget cuts proposed in the Governor’s original budget plan, without the need for ‘any significant’ tax hikes, according to the State Budget Director Mujica. Both the Governor and Mujica have said there is no need to increase taxes on the wealthy, which legislative Democratic leaders still support "to ensure all New Yorkers are protected, and we can pass a budget that doesn’t rely on one-shots and austerity but creates long-term equity.’” With the Governor fighting for his political life, many observers are concerned New York could raise some tax rates to levels not seen since the 1970s.
The Legislature is urging increasing personal income tax rates for the next three years and creating two new tax brackets.
- For single filers who earn more than $1 million, but less than $5 million, and couples who earn more than $2 million, but less than $10 million, income tax rates would increase from 8.82% to 9.85%.
- For single filers making more than $5 million, but less than $25 million, and couples who make more than $10 million or less than $50 million, income tax rate would be 10.85%.
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For single filers earning more than $25 million, and for couples earning more than $50 million, income tax rate would be 11.85%. This is considerably higher than Governor Cuomo’s increased tax proposal, and if adopted, this would make New York’s personal income tax rate the highest in the country.
- The Legislature is also proposing a 1% surcharge on income from capital gains for those who earn more than $1 million annually.
Latest State Legislative Activity
S.2061/A.6281 would amend the State Banking Law (section 9-L) to prohibit a bank from imposing a fee on a non-customer of the bank when cashing a check drawn on an account of the bank. IBANYS is preparing a Memo in Opposition.
Legislation permitting credit unions to participate in the Linked Deposit Program was reported by the NYS Assembly Economic Development Committee to the Assembly Ways & Means Committee with no negative votes. IBANYS is monitoring this issue closely and will be prepared to offer our opposition, as we have successfully done in previous years.
Other recent legislative activity in Albany (both committee agendas and bill activity) for the current week: See here and here
Earlier legislative activity
Other previous legislative activity
IBANYS will monitor developments, and will keep you fully informed.
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NEWS RELEASE
PRESS OFFICE
Release Date: March 24, 2021
SBA to Increase Lending Limit for COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Small Business Administration is increasing the maximum amount small businesses and non-profit organizations can borrow through its COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. Starting the week of April 6, 2021, the SBA is raising the loan limit for the COVID-19 EIDL program from 6-months of economic injury with a maximum loan amount of $150,000 to up to 24-months of economic injury with a maximum loan amount of $500,000.
“More than 3.7 million businesses employing more than 20 million people have found financial relief through SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loans, which provide low-interest emergency working capital to help save their businesses. However, the pandemic has lasted longer than expected, and they need larger loans. Many have called on SBA to remove the $150,000 cap. We are here to help our small businesses and that is why I’m proud to more than triple the amount of funding they can access ,” said SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman.
Businesses that receive a loan subject to the current limits do not need to submit a request for an increase at this time. SBA will reach out directly via email and provide more details about how businesses can request an increase closer to the April 6 implementation date. Any new loan applications and any loans in process when the new loan limits are implemented will automatically be considered for loans covering 24 months of economic injury up to a maximum of $500,000.
This new relief builds on SBA’s previous March 12, 2021 announcement that the agency would extend deferment periods for all disaster loans, including COVID-19 EIDLs, until 2022 to offer more time for businesses to build back. In order to shift all EIDL payments to 2022, SBA will extend the first payment due date for disaster loans made in 2020 to 24-months from the date of the note and to 18-months from the date of the note for all loans made in the calendar year 2021.
Questions about SBA COVID-19 EIDL and disaster loan payments can be emailed to DisasterCustomerService@sba.gov or directed to SBA’s Customer Service Center at
1-800-659-2955 (1-800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard of hearing).
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About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration makes the American dream of business ownership a reality. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.
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April 27 is the 2021 ICBA Virtual Capital Summit. We urge you to participate -- and, to join in IBANYS' grassroots push in virtual "congressional visits" with members of our New York Congressional Delegation. In the face of the pandemic, New York community banks once again demonstrated our positive economic impact, saving thousands of local small businesses and jobs throughout our state. Our New York Representatives need to hear about the importance of our New York community banking industry -- FROM YOU. Click here to learn more & register. . .then, let us know which congressional office "visits" you would like to join.
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ICBA: Two-tiered deadline will ensure SBA clears PPP loans on hold ICBA thanked policymakers for introducing The PPP Extension Act of 2021, which pushes the application deadline until May 31 and creates a second deadline of June 30 for the Small Business Administration to clear the thousands of Paycheck Protection Program loan applications in process. Background: Under current law, any application not approved by March 31—even if it was submitted prior to that date—cannot receive PPP funds. ICBA's Position: Congress should quickly move to advance this legislation before the March 31 deadline and use the additional time to address PPP issues related to first-draw increase eligibility, second draws, farm partnerships, Schedule C borrowers, and the Save Our Stages program.
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To help pay for follow-up to the COVID-19 relief bill, the President is reportedly making plans to institute the country's first significant federal tax hike since 1993, with a suite of tax increases under consideration by the White House such as: raising the corporate tax rate to 28% percent from 21%; implementing a higher capital-gains tax on those earning at least $1 million per year; scaling back tax preferences for pass-through businesses; enacting a higher income tax rate on those earning more than $400,000 annually; and broadening the reach of the estate tax.
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ICBA has updated its frequently asked questions to include new information on the third round of payments on the PPP and EIP News page. The IRS also issued FAQs for consumers that cover EIP amounts, eligibility and payment status. The Bureau of Fiscal Service also offers a summary of the recent and expected actions around this new round of payments. The IRS’ Get My Payment tool, which lets consumers check the status of their EIPs, is expected to be active starting today.
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ICBA updated its frequently asked questions on Economic Impact Payments with new nonpublic IRS information on distributions. The information for ICBA members is for planning purposes only and should not be shared outside the bank. Access the FAQs.
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ICBA offers a summary of the American Rescue Plan Act, including provisions on the EIPs, supplemental unemployment insurance, aid to state and local governments, and more.
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The Senate must act on the Paycheck Protection Program this week before it is set to expire on March 31. The House bill, the PPP Extension Act of 2021, would extend the program until May 31. Schumer, who has filed cloture on this legislation, has said they plan to pass the measure ASAP. With the Senate expected to vote this week on House-passed legislation to extend the Paycheck Protection Program, ICBA is urging community bankers to contact their senators in support. The Bill: The ICBA-backed bill—which the House passed last week on a 415-3 vote—would allow borrowers to apply for loans through May 31 and give the SBA until June 30 to consider applications. Taking Actions: ICBA's Be Heard grassroots action center makes it easy for community bankers to urge their members of Congress to extend the PPP before it expires March 31. CONTACT CONGRESS
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ICBA's 2021 community banking agenda (in an open letter to Congress) urges a pragmatic agenda of regulatory relief and a more competitive landscape to promote a dynamic economy. IBANYS looks forward to continuing to work closely with ICBA on federal policies and priorities. READ ICBA RELEASE
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