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Status of Important Banking
Cases
Overdraft Expertise
Available from John Floyd and Associates
If your bank needs a comprehensive and fully-compliant automated
overdraft program, please consider GBA Strategic Partner John M. Floyd and Associates (JMFA). JMFA's Overdraft PrivilegeŽ
is a non-discriminatory, 100-percent compliant automated overdraft program that strengthens account holder
satisfaction and raises market share.
Learn more about JMFA here...
How to Help Seniors and Your
Bank's CRA Efforts
The Senior
Housing Crime Prevention Foundation is a nonprofit
that offers banks a measurable, no-risk,
high-yielding way to earn CRA credit. By making a loan or an
investment with a guaranteed return, banks receive credit for
CRA requirements. The foundation
uses the funds to set up
Senior Crimestopper programs for nursing homes
and senior HUD housing units in your bank's direct CRA assessment
areas.
Read more about The Senior Crime Housing Prevention
Foundation...
Job Bank
Find a job, post
a job
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Georgia Financial
Directory
Thumbprint Signature Program
Record Retention Guide
Interest Rate Averages by County
Holiday Decals
Pledging Pool
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2012 Legislative Forum and
Reception
Governor,
Top State Officials Express Support, Appreciation for Industry
 A
capacity crowd of GBA members and friends heard unqualified
support for the industry from Gov. Nathan Deal, Lt. Gov.
Casey Cagle, Speaker of the House David Ralston
and Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee Chairman
Sen. Jack Murphy at GBA's annual Legislative and Economic
Forum and Legislative Reception in Atlanta Wednesday. All
expressed a desire to work closely with the industry to limit
regulatory burden and to support efforts to make sure banks can
effectively fulfill their role of supporting economic and
community growth through loans and banking services.
We were pleased to have a large contingent of General Assembly
members at the reception. The event gives us the opportunity to
thank them for their service to the state and is one of the
cornerstones of the GBA Government Relations program.
Read
what the Governor had to say other highlights from this year's Legislative events...
Legislative Update
Session off to a Quick Start for
Banking Issues
 The
first week of the 2012 legislative session got off to a
quick start this week. Committees began reporting bills carried
over from 2011, and the Governor gave the State of the State
address and released his proposed budget. Three bills GBA has
been working on were among the few that saw quick action.
Read more legislative news here...
Department
of Banking and Finance News
GBA,
Bankers Give Feedback for Regulatory Burden Survey
 GBA
this week provided detailed feedback from bankers to Georgia
Department of Banking and Finance Commissioner Rob Braswell
about laws and regulations that are keeping community banks from
serving their communities effectively. Appraisal issues, CRE
guidelines, exam practices, FDIC loss-share issues and expansion
of compliance requirements were the main focus areas cited.
See the questions that were asked with a brief summary of the
main feedback from those CEOs...
ROE
Expectations, Lessons Learned Shared by DBF Commissioner in News
Article
The
search for loans and markets that can replace acquisition and
development loans as growth opportunities, and managing
expectations for return on equity are primary challenges for
many Georgia banks in 2012, Braswell said in a Q&A
article with American Banker this week. He also
highlighted the DBF's Early Warning System for more
forward-looking supervision and shared some lessons learned by
the department during the recent economic downturn. Here's a
link to the article,
shared with permission by American Banker.
GBA in the News
Sticking
up for Bankers and Management
 There's
been no shortage of 2012 outlook articles about banking during
the past couple of weeks. That means GBA has been busy in its
role as primary industry voice. SNL Financial last week
published
an outlook article
that gave us the opportunity to point out some of the improving
performance trends as well as to stick up for how most banks
have been managed through a historically bad economic cycle.
Link to the article for a look at the slightly improving state
economy and some other positive news...
Obama
Signs Westmoreland's Bank Closure Study Bill
On Jan. 3
President Obama signed the bill from Rep. Lynn
Westmoreland (H.R. 2056) that calls for the FDIC
Inspector General to investigate and report on the impact of FDIC
resolution procedures for closed banks. The bill contains all
the issues about which our members have asked for a thorough
study. Here's
a link
to a good summary of the bill.
With questions, contact
Joe
Brannen,
404.420.2026.
Key GBA Event
Reminders
Just one week away...
Financial Risk
Management Conference
Investment Portfolio Strategies
Click here to register...
Last
chance to register for GBA's Loan Documentation Seminar Jan. 19
This one-day seminar will cover the basics of
loan documentation and matters to consider before and after loan
closing.
Click here to register...
Managing the Appraisal and Evaluation Process
Seminar Feb. 8
Learn about where the
market is going, how to handle the appraisal process internally
or externally, how regulations are changing and what you can do
about it.
Click here to register...
OCC
Directors' Workshop Set for Atlanta
May 14-16
The
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has announced its 2012
schedule of workshops to be held around the country for
directors of nationally chartered community banks and federal
savings associations. The Atlanta session is May 14-16.
Workshops are limited to 35 participants each. Here's a
link to the complete schedule of workshops
and registration access.
Freddie
Expands Forbearance for Jobless Homeowners
 As directed by The
Federal Housing Finance Agency, Freddie Mac announced last week
that it is giving mortgage servicers the authority to offer up
to one year of mortgage forbearance to unemployed homeowners who
have Freddie-backed mortgages. The change takes effect Feb. 1
and means loan servicers can offer six months of forbearance to
jobless borrowers without Freddie's approval and another six
months with approval.
Read more...
ABA
Calculator Helps Banks Determine Capital Requirements Under
Proposed Rule
The proposed
revisions to Capital Requirements
issued on Dec. 7, 2011, would establish alternative
creditworthiness standards to replace external credit ratings in
determining capital requirements for certain debt and
securitization positions covered by market-risk capital rules.
ABA has developed a calculator to help bankers determine the
potential impact of the proposed changes, which GBA believes
creates a frustratingly complex method for calculating capital
requirements.
Access the calculator...(ABA
Members only)
HR News
DOL's
FMLA Forms Expired Dec. 31. Should Your
Bank Still Use
Them?
In short, yes. Employers may
continue to use the Department of Labor's (DOL) FMLA forms,
although
consider the following suggestions before using
standard DOL forms...
Newsmakers
Read about all the Georgia bankers making news this week...
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Smedley |
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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.
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