Legislative Update

Another Busy Week for Banking Legislation Under the Gold Dome

Gov. Nathan Deal signed GBA’s priority bill for the 2012 session that will allow bank employees to respond to garnishment notices from courts of record. The bill overturns a Supreme Court decision requested by the State Bar of Georgia that said such responses by non-lawyers were the unauthorized practice of law. Our thanks to Rep. Wendell Willard (R-Sandy Springs) and Sen. Charlie Bethel (R-Dalton) for handling this bill. Another GBA priority bill dealing with derivatives was reported out of committee. Our thanks to Rep. Bruce Williamson (R-Monroe) for introducing the bill and explaining it in committee. See more highlights from the week at the Georgia Sate Capitol here in our e-Legislative Update...

Rep. Wendell Willard, Sandy Springs (left), Governor Nathan Deal and Sen. Charlie Bethel, Dalton

Credit Union Business Lending Expansion Bill Getting Lobbying Push

The advocates for credit unions are making a renewed run at attempting to expand credit union business lending capacity. GBA and other bank trade associations are meeting the push with continued explanations to Congress about why such expansion is not a good idea. Congress has provided substantial tax and regulatory advantages for credit unions so they can provide credit to consumers of modest means, not to subsidize business lending otherwise served by taxpaying banks. The proposed expansion of business lending caps would benefit only a few large credit unions nationally (29), and only one one non-exempt Georgia credit union comes close to the 12.25 percent cap. Read more analysis of the CU's push to raise their business-lending cap here...

How to Access New GA Small Business Loan Programs

We reported a few weeks ago about three new Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) programs that will distribute about $48 million to private lenders to increase access to credit for small businesses. The programs fall under the umbrella of the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). You can learn how to access the programs at a DCA-hosted seminar March 15 from 8:30 a.m. to noon at the UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center. Get more details about the DCA seminar and register...

GBA Opposes Rule Making FHL Banks Regulators

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has proposed amending its community support regulation requiring the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHL Banks) to monitor and assess the eligibility of each FHL Bank member for access to long-term advances through compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA) and first-time homebuyer standards. GBA this week provided comments to the FHFA opposing the provisions in the proposal because they would essentially set up the FHL Banks as regulators of their members. GBA has some other concerns about FHFA's proposal, and you can learn about that here...

Foreclosure Settlement Announced

The five largest mortgage servicers and a group of 49 state attorneys general, including Georgia's, have agreed to a settlement of federal and state investigations into alleged problems with foreclosure procedures. The $25-billion settlement includes about $5 billion in cash penalties to be paid to borrowers, states and the federal government. Of that, $1.5 billion in cash payments will go to borrowers who went through foreclosure between September 2008 and December 2011. Checks to borrowers could range between $1,500 to $2,000 each. Also, banks will provide $20 billion toward a variety of methods for reducing loan balances and refinancing loans for borrowers who are in default, near default or are current on payments but owe more than the current value of their homes. Read more about the massive foreclosure settlement here...

Correction

GAO Study Claims Many Smaller Banks Have NOT Raised Capital

We reported last week about a recent General Accounting Office (GAO) study about access to capital by community banks. We need to correct a critical point about our write up. We inadvertently left out a word that changed the meaning of some of the results. Our summary should have said the report found that 65 percent of the banks that responded to its survey had NOT raised capital since Jan. 1, 2008, and 88 percent of those said they did not need or want to raise more capital. We apologize for the error. Our concern with the GAO report and bank survey is that it seems to imply that banks have few unmet capital needs, and those results just don't seem to match what we've heard from our members. Here's a link to the GAO study, and here's a link to a Sandler O'Neill summary that points out other concerns.

FDIC Schedules free Deposit Insurance, Mortgage Loan Officer Comp. Sessions

Below are some links to information about a couple of free FDIC educational programs bankers may be interested in soon.

• Deposit Insurance Telephone Seminars
  (15 sessions available)

• Reg. Z Mortgage Loan Officer Compensation - Feb. 21

Key GBA Event Reminders

How to Ensure Top-Notch Internal Audits Feb. 16

Designed for internal auditors, audit committee members, operations officers, compliance officers and internal control personnel. Get more details here and register...

IRA Basics Seminar Feb. 28

Designed for new account representatives, certificate of deposit personnel and any officer/manager who oversees the IRA department. Get more details here and register...

2012 Operations and Technology Conference

How to Make a Good ROI Analysis: Remote Deposit, Mobile Banking Case Study Featured

There is a jam-packed program coming up this year's Conference in Atlanta. Join us! Get more details here and register...

Newsmakers

Read about all the Georgia bankers making news this week...

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.