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Important FFIEC Guidance from GBA Strategic Partner,
Gladiator
Employee Benefit Enhancements
are Easy and Affordable with Holmes-Shaw
Holmes-Shaw
has built a robust portfolio of products and
services to complement the GBA Insurance Trust's core benefit programs,
allowing participants and their employees to expand their
benefit selections affordably.
Read more about how Holmes-Shaw
can help your company enhance its current benefit offerings...
Protect
Your Human Capital and Your Bank with Employment Law Resources
Monitoring revisions and
changes to the labor laws that affect the banking industry can
be a challenge. Your bank can stay ahead of the curve with help
from GBA Strategic Partner,
Employment Law Compliance, Inc.
(ELC) ELC specializes in the needs of community banks, which may
not have a large HR staff or in-house employment counsel.
Learn
more about ELC here...
Job Bank
Find a job, post
a job
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Retirement, Pension and 401(k) Plans
Georgia Financial
Directory
Thumbprint Signature Program
Record Retention Guide
Interest Rate Averages by County
Holiday Decals
Pledging Pool
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Lending Success: Banks' Small Business Lending Continues Growth
Georgia's
banks continue to provide important funding to the state's small
business and farm borrowers. A GBA analysis of third-quarter
results indicates that by dollar
value, the $72.7 billion in small business and farm loans of $1
million or less on Georgia banks' books is up by 10 percent from
the 2009 trough of $66.1 billion and slightly exceeds the $72.4
billion peak in 2008. Through the end of third quarter 2011, the
total number of small business and farm loans of $1 million or
less on banks' books is up by 61 percent from year-end 2009.
While below the peak reached in 2007, the number of loans is
less than 1 percent below the pre-crisis 2006 level.
Please see the chart below for year-by-year comparisons and get
more analysis here...
Isakson
Introduces Bill to Replace Fannie, Freddie
 Georgia
Sen. Johnny Isakson Thursday
introduced a bill that would
replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a new
government agency that would provide guarantees on securities
comprised of mortgages that meet designated standards and would
be privatized within 10 years. Unlike Fannie and Freddie, the
new agency wouldn't buy loans directly, but instead would
guarantee mortgage securities pooled by private sector entities,
similar to how Ginnie Mae functions. The new government
corporation, called the "Mortgage Finance Agency," would
charge fees to issuers of qualified mortgage-backed
securities in exchange for the guarantee. Those fees would
finance a "catastrophic fund" to backstop mortgage losses.
Learn more about Isakson's proposed legislation
to replace Fannie and Freddie...
GBA Credit Conference
2011
Isaac Outlines Mistakes
that Led to Current Environment
 Fifth
Third Chairman and former FDIC Chairman Bill Isaac headlined
GBA's Credit Conference Thursday to a packed house of more than 150
bankers. Isaac noted specific mistakes on policy and
regulation that led to the recent financial crisis. He
didn't let the private sector off the hook, though, and he
lamented how the government's policies have not been good
for community banks.
See more coverage of Isaac's remarks
here….
Three New State
Legislators Elected
In spirited run-off
elections, two new state senators and one new house member will
join their colleagues in the Georgia General Assembly next
session. John Wilkinson, Toccoa, and Mike Crane,
Newnan, were elected to the state Senate; and Emory Dunahoo,
Gainesville, was elected to the state House. Congratulations to
these new legislators. We look forward to working with them.
Key GBA Events
Reminders
Hotel Room
deadline is Dec. 12
for GBA's Economic
Forum and Legislative Reception, Jan. 11.
Get more info and access to a
registration link...
New Webinar Dec. 15
TDR, Loan Disclosure
& Allowance Requirements.
Learn critical info. for CEOs, CFOs, controllers, senior credit
officers and anyone else involved in the process of
identification of Troubled Debt Restructurings (TDRs) as well as
the preparation of financial statements, loan footnotes or the
allowance for loan losses.
Learn more and sign up here...
GBA's Financial
Risk Management Conference: Jan. 18-19.
Get more info
and access to a registration link...
Deadline is
Dec. 31 for "Early
Bird" Savings for
1st-year GBA School students:
2012 Banking School
or the
2012 Op/Tech School.
CU Account Transfer
Estimates off by 66 Percent
The much trumpeted benefit to
Credit Union membership of the Bank Transfer Day movement last
month turns out to have been much less than first estimated by
the Credit Union National Association. The organization this
week re-issued a significantly lower estimate of new members
gained between Sept. 29 and the first week of November. The new
estimate is 210,000, as opposed to the 650,000 it originally
claimed.
Scam Alert
North GA Banks
Dealing with Debit Card Fraud
A rash of
fraudulent debit card charges began cropping up around the
Thanksgiving weekend for hundreds of bank customers in Northwest
Georgia, primarily in Walker, Catoosa and Chattooga counties.
Customers of at least 17 financial institutions have been
affected. Fraudulent transactions have occurred in places such
as New York and even Egypt.
Read more about the debit card fraud and see what the banks in
that area will likely do...
SEC Registration Relief Bill
Continues Progress
 The effort to raise longstanding SEC
registration thresholds we've been reporting about continues.
Early this week, Sen. Kay Bailey
Hutchison (R-Texas) reintroduced her shareholder
registration relief bill without a provision that would have
required a study and cost-benefit analysis of shareholder
registration thresholds. The change was made at the suggestion
of some in the Senate and to improve its chances for Senate
passage. The new bill number is S. 1941, and the Senate could
take up the legislation soon. Other than the study provision
being removed, the bill is identical to the one passed in
November. It would raise the current 500-shareholder threshold
for Securities and Exchange Commission registration to 2,000 for
banks and also raise the deregistration threshold from 300 to
1,200 shareholders.
FDIC Budget Down 15.4 Percent
In perhaps a sign of a stronger industry nationwide, the FDIC
Board this week
approved an operating budget of $3.28 billion, a decrease of
15.4 percent from the 2011 budget. The approved staffing level
is also down by 565 positions, and more than one-third of the
positions approved for 2012 are temporary employees dedicated to
closed bank resolution and supervision of troubled institutions.
Important Savings Bond
News
Deadline
Nears for Ending Paper Savings Bond Sales at Financial
Institutions
 With the end of
over-the-counter sales of paper savings bonds only two weeks
away, financial institutions are encouraged to continue
preparing employees and customers for the upcoming
transition to electronic savings bonds. Savings bonds are
popular gifts so financial institutions may see an increase
in inquiries during the holiday season. As a reminder,
financial institutions must stop accepting applications for
paper bonds after December 31, 2011, but are encouraged to
continue redeeming paper bonds for customers.
Treasury is offering new resources and materials to help
financial institutions address customer inquiries and manage
internal processes. See those here...
Lending Limit Rule Reminders and Examples from Georgia DBF
 This month's issue of the Georgia
Department of Banking and Finance's bulletin carries an article
with important clarifications about its rule for how loans to
related entities are treated for legal lending limit purposes.
In particular, the article focuses on what's known as the "common enterprise test" to determine whether loans should be
combined for legal lending limit purposes. The article includes
a couple of example scenarios to help illustrate how the tests
work under revisions to the rules that took effect in September
2009. Check out the
article
here.
Georgia Still Ranks Highly for Business
and Jobs Potential
Despite some rather discouraging but probably realistic
predictions about Georgia's economy lately
by local economists,
Georgia's business climate and jobs potential remains rather
highly ranked compared to other states. In the most current
Forbes
magazine, Georgia ranks as the No. 9 best state for
jobs and is the No. 11 best state for business and careers. See
some other
recent encouraging rankings
for the Peach state from the Georgia Department of Economic
Development.
Newsmakers
Read about all the Georgia bankers making news this week...
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Send Us Your News
Please remember to include the Georgia
Bankers Association on the list of recipients for announcements
about promotions, new employees and special recognition your
bank has received. We want to share your news with your
colleagues across the state. Please forward your announcements
and photos to GBA's
David Oliver and Bogan Brannen. |
New!
GBA-U
On-Demand Webinars
Last week to
register!
Analyzing Commercial Financial Statements
Dec. 15
Macon
2012 Legislative Reception & Economic Forum
Jan. 11,
2012
Atlanta
Financial Risk Management Conference
Jan. 18-19,
2012
Atlanta
Webinars
AIB Online Instructor Led Courses
Compliance Calendar
Lending Calendar
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Asset/Liability Calendar
Management Calendar
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Full GBA-U Calendar
Career Paths for BankersTM
The 44 most-common bank job
descriptions, the skills and competencies you need to have
those jobs and links to training and development by job
title.
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