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Last Call for Legislative Reception
We are
expecting a huge crowd at GBA’s annual
Legislative Reception on January 14 at the Hyatt Regency,
Atlanta. “We have a lot of bankers registered and really appreciate the
tremendous show of support from our members,” said GBA President,
Joe Brannen. The annual event is a highlight for the members of
the
General Assembly and other state dignitaries who will be our
guests. We expect almost 1,000 people to attend. If you have questions,
please call GBA’s
Susie McGehee at (404) 420-2010. The reception begins at 6:00 p.m.
in Centennial Ballroom I and II and concludes at 7:30 p.m. Help us reach
our goal of every Georgia bank being represented at this premiere event.
The GBA Board, Public Affairs Committee and BankPAC Board will meet prior
to the reception.
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The Georgia Court of Appeals has unanimously ruled in favor of the position taken by the GBA in a case involving the limited duty a financial institution has with regard to providing services within traditional trust agreements. The Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s ruling in Wachovia Bank of Georgia v. Namik, et. al. The case involved an Iraqi citizen who established a revocable living trust agreement with Wachovia; the underlying investments were bank certificates of deposit. The client died shortly after returning to Iraq, but the bank was unable to learn of his fate for some time. An estate liability was created by the trust and the family sued the bank for breach of fiduciary duty and alleged there were ways the estate tax liability could have been avoided. The bank followed normal procedures throughout the relationship. The original ruling found the bank had a duty to perform sophisticated estate planning service to the trust client even though the trust agreement did not provide for the service. GBA’s position was that the bank had only the duties outlined in the trust agreement which did not contemplate estate planning and the Court of Appeals agreed.
Georgians Serve
Community Bankers
R. Daniel
Blanton,
President and CEO,
Georgia Bank & Trust Company of Augusta, and Charles B. Haley,
President,
Peoples Bank, Eatonton, are representing Georgia community bankers’
interests nationally by serving on the
American Bankers Association’s
Community Bankers Council for the 2003-2004 association year. The
council is comprised of 100 bank CEOs from across the country who work to
strengthen the role of community banks as providers of financial services.
The group sets priorities on issues affecting community banks; identifies,
develops and endorses products focused on community bank needs; tracks
competitive issues through its annual community bank competitiveness survey;
and sets the agenda for the National Conference for Community Bankers.
2004 State Legislative Issues
Governor Sonny Perdue
Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor
Georgia House of Representatives
Georgia State Senate
Federal Legislative Issues
U.S. Congress
Legislative Updates
Legal Issues
BankPAC Campaign
Huge Success
Thanks to the
overwhelming response from our members, the 2003 BankPAC campaign set a
new record for contributions to the State PAC campaign fund. “All our
members recognize how important it is for our industry to support
pro-business candidates and especially those who understand and foster the
role the banking industry plays in our state,” said GBA
BankPAC Board Chairman George Butler,
President of
First National Bank of Barnesville. “This year was a bell-weather
year for BankPAC as our members contributed almost twice as much as in any
previous year. We still lag behind the trial lawyers, the Realtors and a
couple of other groups we sometimes go head-to-head with on legislative
issues, but we can be proud of the strides we made this year,” he
concluded. The 2004 election year campaign will kick off this Spring and
we anticipate another good year for our PAC campaigns.
2004 Legislative
Agenda
The
GBA Board of Directors,
Public Affairs Committee and
BankPAC Board will meet January 14 to discuss issues expected in the
2004 session of the Georgia
General Assembly. “With the high profile we have had to take in the
past three years to get the right predatory lending bill passed, we hope to
have a quieter session this year as far as banking is concerned,” said GBA
Chairman Ed Milligan, Chairman and CEO of
Main Street Banks, Inc., Atlanta. “A number of legislators have told
us to expect the issue to resurface this year, so we will be prepared to
defend our previous positions, especially those related to preemption,” he
said. Among the other issues expected to be debated:
Payday
lending.
Senate Banking and Financial
Institutions Committee Chairman,
Don Cheeks (R-Augusta) successfully ushered a bill,
S.B. 157, through the Senate last year designed to shut down the
payday lending industry. The
House Banks and Banking Committee recently completed a series of
public hearings on the practice, and Committee Chairman,
Johnny Floyd (D-Cordele) announced a subcommittee would meet early
this month to work on a bill he felt the committee would pass. The GBA’s
interest in this issue is to ensure traditional banking practices, such as
automated overdraft programs, are not caught up by the legislation.
FHLB Letters of Credit. Legislation passed the House last session
that would allow banks to use Federal Home Loan Bank letters of credit to
pledge against public deposits. The bill,
H.B. 777, is pending in the Senate Banking and Financial
Institutions Committee. The recent negative earnings report from the
Atlanta Federal Home Loan Bank and two other FHLBs could adversely
impact the bill’s chances this year.
Mortgage Originator Licensing. Meetings have been held since last
session to discuss the need to license mortgage originators. We have been
assured by the sponsor of the bill, Rep.
Virgil Fludd (D-Fayetteville), that bank employees will not be part
of the licensing requirement. GBA will continue to monitor the issue.
Tort Reform. One
of the hottest items this session is expected to be tort reform. The GBA
has been working with a coalition of other interested businesses on the
issue. The co-Chairman of the House committee charged with making a
recommendation this session,
Butch Parrish (D-Swainsboro), will speak to our joint meeting on the
challenges in access to healthcare, rising employer health care costs,
physician retention, and the skyrocketing amounts of awards and settlements
that are resulting in the triple-digit increases in medical malpractice
insurance premiums for hospitals and physicians.
Calendar of Events
Schools
Conferences
Seminars
Events
American Institute of Banking
Leadership GBA
Personal Economics Program (PEP)
Internet Training
Winter AIB Semester Starts Soon
American Institute of Banking
classes start the week of February 2nd. Classroom courses are
being offered in 25 locations throughout the state with courses ranging
from one week to twelve weeks depending on the topic. GBA welcomes back
many of our most seasoned instructors to teach these classes along with a
few new instructors offering classes in brand new areas. Check out
The GBA Advantage for the course listings in your area. If
you would like more copies of The GBA Advantage, please call
Edie Canales at (404) 420-2034. If you are interested in taking
AIB classes over the Internet, the new schedule is also listed in The
GBA Advantage. Internet
classes are offered monthly and can help you complete your diploma
or certificate if a classroom course is not available. For more
information, please call Edie.
Operations/Technology Conference
The GBA’s
Operations/Technology Committee is pleased to announce the 2004
Operations and Technology Conference to be held March 25-26 at
the Atlanta Renaissance Waverly Hotel. Thanks to Jeff Kovach,
committee chair and Vice President of
Northwest Georgia Bank in Ringgold and the entire
Operations/Technology Committee for carefully planning this conference to
feature subjects pertinent to you and your bank. Topics include leveraging
and implementing technology, ACH update, financial management in 2004, cyber
crime, ID theft, U.S. Patriot Act, fraud, preparing for IS exams, and Check
21. The brochure will be mailed with the next Bulletin. To pre-register,
call GBA’s
Marybeth Jones at (404) 420-2032.
Advanced Compliance
Symposium
GBA’s will host
its annual
Advanced Compliance Symposium on January 21-22 at the Crown Plaza in
Macon. This two-day event is a ‘must’ for compliance officers in Georgia.
It provides information about new regulations, emphasizes areas of
regulators’ greatest concerns, and will stimulate discussion about managing
the complexities of the compliance function. Some of the topics to be
discussed include Privacy, Customer Identity Verification, the Fair Credit
Reporting Act, New IRA Rules, RESPA, Reg O, Bank Secrecy Act and Reg C, HMDA,
and HOEPA. This highly professional program will again be led by Blair
Rugh, Executive Director and Senior Vice President of the
Kirchman Regulatory Service, a division of
Kirchman Corporation. For more information or to register, please
call GBA’s
Susie McGehee at (404) 420-2010.
Retirement Services, Inc.
GBA Services, Inc.
Online Expo
FinCrime.com a
Success
On December 17th, Kay Moon, Vice President
at
West Georgia National Bank, Carrollton,
reported nine cases of
counterfeit/altered checks that were drawn on the bank.
She successfully delivered this notification to approximately 134
individuals within minutes of posting the
incident through
FinCrime.com. FinCrime.com is a
database channel that facilitates the immediate sharing of information
about fraudulent activity between financial institutions and law
enforcement. Nearly 90 financial institutions and 134 users throughout
Georgia are currently utilizing FinCrime.com since its introduction
in the Fall. It is a free service that
we are pleased to offer GBA member banks and local law enforcement. For
more information, please contact GBA’s
Renee Valdez
(404) 420-2036.
Welcome New
Participants
The Board of
Directors of the
GBA Insurance Trust, Inc. welcomes to the Trust
First National Bank of the South, Milledgeville, Chat Daniel,
CEO, and McNair, McLemore, Middlebrooks, & Company, LLP,
Macon, Ray C. Pearson, Partner. These companies join more than 290
community banks and associate members in this unmatched member benefit.
Please call GBA’s
Susan Kelley at (404) 420-2017 for more information.
For Sale
Available January 2004:
Temporary Drive-Thru approximately 10' x 14'. $5,000 or best offer. Please
direct questions to Dorsey Thompson, Vice President of
Glennville Bank, at (912) 654-3471.
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Some of the Services
Available GBA Services, Inc. is governed by a board composed primarily of community bank presidents who look for the best products and services available. They do the due diligence for you and you can rely on their efforts. For more information on any of these services, please contact Renee Valdez at (404) 420-2036. |
Pledging Pool Participation Rapidly Increasing
We are pleased
to see the participation for the
Pledging Pool Program increasing among our member institutions and
excited to be a part of this Program. The Pledging Pool Program,
administered exclusively through
GBA Services Inc., has
seen a dramatic increase in awareness throughout the public sector since
it began operation January 1, 1999. GBA Services, Inc. was selected by the
State as administrator of the Pledging Pool based primarily on our long
history of providing exceptional administrative services to member
institutions. We have established a sophisticated administration process
and data processing system to track pooled collateral activity associated
with each participating public depository institution. Each participating
financial institution may establish its own collateral pool based on
public depositors that select the pooled approach in lieu of the current
dedicated method. Using the pooled method, financial institutions are
able to pledge a pool of securities against all public deposits, allowing
for better control of the 110% collateral requirement. This simplified
process reduces safekeeping and administrative costs without disrupting
day-to-day operations and allows you, the bank to better maintain your
excess collateral.
Currently Participating?
For those banks
who are currently participating in the Georgia State Pledging Pool, please
forward all audits pertaining to the securitization of your public
depositors’ deposits. Audits are responded to through the GBA office,
which is an additional benefit with your participation. To learn more
about this program or for audit information, please call GBA’s
Renee Valdez (404) 420-2036.
Have You Quoted
your Directors and Officers Liability Insurance and Financial Institution
Bond Lately?
Are your
Internet banking practices covered? If not, maybe now is the time to have
yours re-quoted or your coverage evaluated. The
ABA-sponsored and GBA-endorsed insurance program underwritten by
Progressive Insurance has recently been able to provide several
Georgia banks with not only expanded coverage and increased benefit
amounts, but significantly lower rates. Progressive has also developed an
Internet banking insurance program separately for financial institutions
engaged in Internet banking. The Internet Banking Protection Package is a
unique insurance solution for community banks. Two interconnected
policies provide first-party and third-party coverage to fill the gaps
where traditional insurance policies do not extend to Internet risks.
First-party protection is provided through the Enhanced Financial
Institution Bond and third-party protection via a separate and distinct
policy – the Internet Banking Liability Policy. The Georgia Bankers
Association worked closely with the ABA to institute this program at a
time when most insurance carriers were either exiting the market or were
quoting extraordinarily high rates. It has proven to be a significant
benefit to the membership. To find out more about this program, please
call GBA’s
Renee Valdez at (404) 420-2036.
Commerce,
nBank, N.A.
James R. Shaw,
Jr. has
joined the bank as Executive Vice President and Chief Banking Officer.
Milledgeville,
Exchange Bank
The bank
announces the following elections upon the recent retirement of M.W.
“Buster” Milner: Henry J. Pope, Jr. to Chief Executive Officer
and Bradley P. Serff to President.
Statesboro,
Sea Island Bank
Darron
Burnette
has been named Senior Vice President.
Add GBA to List of
Approved Emailers
A bonus of
getting the
e-Bulletin
and
e-Legislative Update is the number of links that are included,
which is a great way to keep your key employees informed of significant
industry information, trends and events. We are all concerned with
controlling the amount of spam that reaches our email boxes but in order
for you to receive the e-Bulletin and e-Legislative Update,
your bank’s email controls must be set to accept them from the GBA.
To prevent disclosing our members’ email addresses, we obscure the
addresses and this can sometimes keep our publications from reaching your
email box. Please contact your system administrator and have them
add the GBA to your bank’s approved list of emailers. If you would
like to add your email address to our distribution list, please email
Lydia Thomas.
Be sure to include the name and email address of each person to be added.
