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September 30, 2005 |
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The Realtors
Won’t Like This One If you have been following the battle between the Realtors and bankers, you know the 
Realtors are pulling out all the stops to defeat a
Treasury
and
Federal Reserve proposal that would allow banks to
broker and manage real estate. The proposal would simply allow
competition to occur in a market that has often been criticized
for uncompetitive prices. In March,
U.S. House Financial Services Committee Chairman
Michael Oxley
(R-OH) and Ranking Member
Barney
Frank (D-MA) asked the
Government
Accountability Office (GAO) to study fees paid for
residential real estate brokerage. GAO released their
report this week saying these fees have increased well
beyond the rate of general price inflation as home prices have
risen in recent years. The Realtors are already under attack by
the Justice
Department for the restrictive access to their multiple
listing service. The Realtors seem to be enjoying a
percentage-based commission system that has little relevance to
the services they provide. Looks like it’s time for Realtors to
get some real-world competition like the banking industry is
used to.Tobacco Buyout Procedures Finalized In an earlier GBA e-Bulletin, we reported the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was working on the procedures financial institutions must follow to offer discounted, lump-sum payments to tobacco quota holders/growers in exchange for future tobacco payments. USDA finalized the procedures this week. These transactions will be done through successor-in-interest contracts on approved USDA. The previous link contains the necessary forms to use in the transaction and the forms must be submitted to USDA no later than November 1, 2005. We have already seen evidence of aggressive marketing from other entities such as the Farm Credit System. USDA says they will recognize the forms on a first-received basis. Please contact GBA’s Elizabeth Chandler at (404) 420-2027 with any questions. Register Today for AIB Online Courses Just a reminder that the following AIB online classes begin on October 24 with the registration deadline being October 10.
More Hurricane Katrina Efforts We continue to hear stories about bankers helping evacuees and their support system with donations. Main Street Bank in Covington, Sam Hay, CEO, collected $20,544 for the American Red Cross for the Hurricane relief effort. The collections came from the employees and the bank made a corporate contribution. The bank leveraged those 142 individual checks by taking them to Lowe's Home Improvement stores where Lowe's matched the donation making the total amount $41,088. Citizens Bank of Washington County, Sandersville, Larry Mathis, CEO, partnered with Sandersville Elementary School in matching funds the students raised - a total of $4,654. We also understand First National Bank of Griffin, Chuck Copeland, CEO, matched employee donations with a generous contribution to the American Red Cross. Thanks to all our members who have responded to the disaster. Another one of our members, IronStone Bank, Alpharetta, Jim Pope, CEO, has recently made a generous contribution to Be Someone Inc., a nonprofit organization that teaches children critical thinking skills and inspires them to build and maintain character. Wal-Mart ILC Application – the Other View In last week’s e-Bulletin, we told you about the letter GBA co-signed with a number of other state bankers associations asking FDIC to turn down Wal-Mart’s request for FDIC insurance for the deposits in their proposed Industrial Loan Corporation in Utah. As expected, Wal-Mart has convinced some consumer groups to support their cause. We thought you would be interested in seeing how one reporter characterizes Wal-Mart. Click here for the story by Liz Pulliam Weston for MSN Money. To get a flavor of what she writes, here’s how she concludes her article: “But its [Wal-Mart’s] singular focus on delivering "always low prices" to its customers could provide a much-needed shock to financial-service companies who have feasted on customers' pocketbooks for far too long.” The FDIC Board will consider Wal-Mart’s application soon. Credit Union Letter-writing Campaign A letter was sent this week to all our member bank CEOs from GBA Chairman Tom Wiley, CEO of Flag Bank in Atlanta, enclosing a copy of the DVD we debuted at the 
recent Group Meetings entitled: Grassroots Involvement: One
Banker at a Time Taking Action. We are asking that every
CEO preview the DVD and show it to all your employees. Once you
have viewed the DVD, we hope we will generate hundreds more
letters to Congress opposing the credit union campaign to
increase their commercial lending authority while reducing their
capital requirements. Below is a chart showing the number of
letters written by our members the last two weeks. Our
statewide goal is only 2,990 letters, so please click on the
Action Alert icon and send your letter today.
BankPAC Golf Classic Nearing |
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www.gabankers.com |
industry this month.
Shown left to right in the adjacent picture with GBA President
Joe Brannen (far right) are