Bank/Thrift CEOs
Georgia Banks Online
Associate Members
Bank Counsel Members
Volunteer Committees
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In Memoriam |
| We were saddened to learn of the recent death of Frank Pinkston of Macon. He will be remembered by bankers throughout Georgia for his service in the General Assembly from 1968 to 1992 and was the longtime chairman of the House Banks and Banking Committee. “During Frank’s tenure in the legislature, some of the major banking issues passed were the holding company act, interest rate deregulation, interstate banking and the credit card bank act. Regardless of a banker’s particular position on any one of these issues, Frank was always held in the highest regard by the industry for his fairness, candor and willingness to take on tough issues. He always kept the best interests of Georgia at the forefront and was single-minded in making sure our state banking department was the best in the country,” said GBA President Joe Brannen. |
GBA
Asks for Relief in Finding
“Deadbeat” Parents
Our members
will recall the legislation enacted recently by Congress mandating banks
assist the states in recovering delinquent child support payments.
The Georgia General Assembly subsequently passed the Financial
Institution Data Match program. As
implemented, banks can only be reimbursed $100 per quarter for the expense
of responding to data match requests.
In a recent letter to Commissioner Audrey
Horne of the Department
of Human Resources, GBA President Joe
Brannen related examples
of banks incurring expenses far greater than the maximum reimbursement.
He asked the Department to consider alternatives and to suggest
ways banks can be more appropriately reimbursed for providing this
mandatory service.
ATM
Fees in the News
The U.S.
Court of Appeals in California has upheld the preliminary
injunction issued against San Francisco and Santa Monica ATM fees ban
ordinances thereby ruling in favor of allowing the imposition of the fees. A similar case is pending in New Jersey.
An interesting statistic: ABA’s
Public Relations Manager John Hall reports a recent survey
indicating 54% of Americans never pay a foreign ATM transaction fee.
Federal
Legislative Issues
State Legislative
Issues
Georgia
House of Representatives
Georgia State Senate
U.S.
Congress
Bank Regulators
Business
Checking Bill Passes House
The Business
Checking Modernization Act,
H.R.
4067, passed by voice vote in the House this week. The bill is designed to eliminate the depression-era
prohibition on banks paying interest on business checking accounts.
The Senate has similar legislation pending.
The bill has a three-year phase in before interest can actually be
paid on a business checking account.
In the interim, banks will be able to change the terms of their NOW
accounts or other interest-bearing accounts that have restricted transfer
limits to increase those limits to one each business day.
For some time, banks with trust departments or through complicated
third party arrangements have been able to offer sweep accounts to their
business customers. Many of
our community bank members cannot justify the creation of a trust
department just to offer sweep-type accounts.
In a recent meeting of the GBA Community
Bankers Committee, several bank CEOs reported losing business
customers to other banks simply because the bank could not provide a
service giving market-rate returns. The
bill would allow banks to compete equally for that customer and the GBA
supports its passage.
Calendar
of Events
Schools
Conferences
Seminars
Georgia AIB
Professional Development Guide
Internet
Training
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Annual Convention Reminder |
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A detailed confirmation package has been sent to all registered participants, so please check your records to make sure you have sent your registration into the GBA. The confirmation package contains vital information that you need to know to make final plans for your trip. If you have not decided yet about attending the convention, you still have time to work out all the travel details. GBA’s reserved group air reservations are sold out but our representative at Age of Travel will be glad to help you secure a cost-effective flight. There are a limited number rooms still available at the hotel as well as space on all the tours. It’s not too late to join your friends and colleagues for an information-packed, fun-filled event. Call GBA’s June Somers at (404) 420-2012 with questions. |
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Commercial
Lending |
| Among the 48 students recently completing the Southeastern School of Commercial Lending were Stacy Cooke, Cordele Banking Company; James Strickland, Hardwick Bank & Trust, Dalton; Mel Jamison, Rivoli Bank and Trust, Macon; and Wallace Moody, The Patterson Bank. Students choose from the general two-day program or the extended three-day program with the third day providing training in advanced cash flow analysis and loan structuring. The school is co-sponsored by the Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi Bankers Associations. The 2001 session will be held January 15-17 at Vanderbilt. Contact GBA’s Marybeth Jones at (404) 420-2032 with questions. |
GBA
Seminar on New Privacy Law
Not since Y2K readiness has one issue received so much
attention in the financial industry as privacy. Relating to how banks
obtain and maintain customer information, this half-day seminar will focus
on the new privacy provisions in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. The final regulations are due in May and every bank will have
to develop a privacy policy and manage its information and communications
in accordance with the regulation and self-defined policy.
This GBA Seminar is designed for CEOs, COOs and Compliance officers
and will be held at the Holiday Inn Conference Center in Macon May 11 from 9:00 am to 12:00
noon. Topics include
Understanding the Law, How to Develop a Policy, What Must Be Disclosed,
The Fair Credit Reporting Act, and How To Coordinate the Compliance
Effort. The brochure and registration materials are enclosed.
Please call GBA’s Marybeth
Jones at (404) 420-2032 for any other information.
Also, check out the privacy section of GBA’s website for
recommendations developed by GBA’s Privacy
Task Force.
CEO
Academy Holds Final Inaugural Year Session
Regulators like to know that the CEO is comfortable managing
investments – the topic of the final session of the 1999-2000 CEO
Academy Series. Taught
by David Blackwell, our longtime expert and friend from PriceWaterhouse/Coopers
Financial Advisory Services, the session focuses on the CEO’s role
as it relates to the bank’s strategies.
Included in the day-long program are discussions about the objectives of the investment portfolio, risk-return characteristics of investment securities, taxable securities, tax-sheltered or exempt securities, and active strategies. The session will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Macon on May 15. Call GBA’s Marybeth Jones at (404) 420-4032 or Alan Van Tuyl at (404) 420-2033 to register. CEOs are not required to have attended any previous CEO Academy sessions to attend this session.
HR
Conference Almost Here
The GBA’s new Human
Resources Toolbox™,
being made available for the first time at the 2000 Human
Resources Conference, is causing quite a buzz.
Containing sample policies, checklists, handbooks, legal guidelines
and much more, the toolbox is a human resources manager’s
dream-come-true. The unveiling and presentation of the kit, its value and
how it works is only a portion of what happens at the GBA Human Resources
Conference on May 11-12 at the Crowne
Plaza Hotel in Macon. Every banker who operates in a human resources
position should attend this conference.
Call GBA’s Norma
Guild at (404) 420-2031 with questions.
Security
School On Tap
The GBA Security
School kicks off on May 22 at the Doubletree
Suites in Atlanta and meets through May 24. Don’t let your bank’s security officer miss this
important school! Contact
GBA’s Norma
Guild at (404) 420-2031 for more information.
Real
Teller Training
Showing a new teller “how to do it” is not the same as
training. ‘On the job
training,’ the deferred kind
of training, is what bankers resort to in hard times and lean periods. The preferred kind
of training involves having the teller learn the whole job.
It’s lip service only to say that tellers are the most important
people in the bank when they aren’t properly trained.
Like any other important position, tellers want and need to
understand and have experience with their responsibilities before meeting
your customers. We’ve heard that OTJ Training has always worked.
Has it really? The GBA
Professional
Development System has in our catalog and Guide two formal teller
training programs. Both are
self-paced and one has the option of being used in a classroom as well.
In addition, in the Atlanta area, a local firm experienced in
teller operations, hiring and placement is offering classes as well.
In times when teller turnover is a serious issue, consider that
training is as important an issue as compensation.
One without the other most often doesn’t work.
To learn more about Teller Training, see the GBA Professional
Development Guide online version or call GBA’s Alan
Van Tuyl at (404) 420-2033.
Retirement Services, Inc.
GBA Services, Inc.
|
Welcome New Participants |
|
The Board of the GBA Insurance Trust welcomes The Bank of Terrell, Dawson, Jack Tuck, CEO, and the Peoples Bank, Willacoochee, Charlie Bray, CEO, to the Trust. They join more than 275 other community banks and associate members taking advantage of this unmatched member benefit. Call GBA’s Susan Kelley at (404) 420-2017 with questions. |
Xerox
Discount Program
The GBA, in cooperation with the American
Bankers Association’s Corporation
for American Banking,
has endorsed a copier program to provide special low pricing for our
members through The Document
Company, Xerox. The
program guarantees discounts on a wide range of Xerox products and
services. There are terrific
terms for lease or purchase on the entire copier line, making color and
digital products affordable for any bank. All products are also covered by
the Xerox Total Satisfaction Guarantee, which allows for replacement of
equipment at Xerox’s expense. To
find out how this special agreement can work for your bank, please call
toll free (800) 275-9376 ext. BANK5.
Ask for ABA’s Discount Program special contract #0706438 and start saving money immediately!
Call GBA’s Renee Valdez at (404)
420-2036 with questions.
More Banks Linked
Welcome
to the First
Bank of Dalton and the Bank
of Upson.
They are the latest banks to link to GBA’s website.
Call GBA’s Lydia
Thomas
at (404) 420-2039 when your bank is ready to be linked.
Atlanta,
Deloitte & Touche
Congratulations to Chief Executive Officer James
E. Copeland, Jr. for being inducted into the Georgia State University
Business Hall of Fame at the J. Mack Robinson College of Business.
Atlanta,
ebank
Gerald
G. Kaufman has been appointed Managing Director of the bank’s Partners
program.
Atlanta,
Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy, LLP
Leonard
J. Rubin has joined the firm as a partner in the Banking Group.
Columbus,
Synovus Financial Corp.
Congratulations to Chairman and CEO Jimmy Blanchard who this month will assume the chairmanship of the
Banking Industry Technology Secretariat (BITS).
Marietta,
Security Exchange Bank
Terri
Bunten-Cross has been elected to Executive Vice President and Chief
Lending Officer and C. Raymond
Duncan to Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Sandersville,
Citizens Bank of Washington County
David
H. Brooker, Cathy P. Taylor,
and Christi S. Whitney have
been promoted to Assistant Vice President.
Trenton,
Bank of Dade
Judy Stanfield has
been promoted to Head Teller and Assistant Vice President.
Trenton,
Citizens Bank & Trust
Lisa
G. Shrader was recently promoted to Vice President.
Tucker,
Mountain National Bank
The bank announces the following promotions:
Patricia Williamson to
Vice President-Branch Manager of the Peachtree Corners office; Dale
R. Earnhart to Assistant Vice President in Loan Administration; Greg Russell to Vice President-Commercial Lending; and Darlene
Smith to Assistant Vice President/Assistant Cashier.
GBA’s
e-Bulletin List
Several members have inquired about adding
individuals in their bank to the e-Bulletin
email distribution list and if we would send the e-Bulletin
to people who were not on our regular mailing list.
These bankers want an easier way to distribute the Bulletin among
their staff. The answer: of
course! Let GBA’s Lydia Thomas know who you
want added.
