If the past has any predictive power, rate-watchers may want to discount the chance of significant rate movements this election year. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, ABA VP Jeff Huther summarizes his analysis of Federal Open Market Committee actions during presidential elections, showing that in rare circumstances — well-telegraphed technical movements from a low base or during crisis moments like 2008 — the FOMC has generally refrained from taking action that could be ...
Feb 23, 2024•13 min
“We’re really focused on increasing competition and innovation in the core provider landscape,” says ABA Core Platforms Committee Chair Kristiane Koontz. “We want to make sure that people know core conversions are an option, and we want to help make that easier and less risky for banks to undertake. But in many cases, a core conversion may not be the right path.” On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, the host catches up with Koontz at the Conference for Community Bankers to d...
Feb 16, 2024•10 min
Sometimes there are good reasons for friction in the banking experience: to stop fraud, to comply with laws. But sometimes the friction is a result of legacy tech — and legacy thinking. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, Anne Tangen, a bank IT expert-turned-CEO at BankFive in Fall River, Massachusetts, talks about BankFive’s efforts to reduce friction in the account opening process, as well as her work to smooth the path for talented women in the community bank C-suite. Ta...
Feb 09, 2024•27 min
The multiyear effort to change the credit scoring models required by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continues to move forward, and mortgage lenders, credit officers and compliance professionals need to know the latest developments. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, ABA VP Sharon Whitaker provides an update. Among other topics, Whitaker discusses: The operational challenges of moving from today’s tri-merge system to merging just two credit reports. How FICO 10T and VantageScor...
Jan 31, 2024•16 min
Late in 2023, Warsaw Federal — a $71 million mutual savings and loan in Cincinnati — was officially designated as a minority depository institution. The move to MDI status is part of the 130-year-old bank’s pivot to serving its community more deeply while building its capital base to support growth. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, President and CEO Robie Suggs discusses the bank’s strategy. Among other topics, Suggs discusses: Why and how Warsaw Federal sought and obtai...
Jan 22, 2024•24 min
Last week, the ABA Banking Journal Podcast featured the CEO of Esquire Bank , a nationwide bank with a focus on law firm banking. On the second part of this two-part series, the podcast welcomes Kyall Mai, chief innovation officer, to discuss how the bank reaches this niche market. With the goal of getting lawyers (“who are often very difficult to convince,” he notes) to switch banks, Mai emphasizes the need for content marketing, data and top-shelf technology. Mai discusses Esquire Bank’s conte...
Jan 12, 2024•22 min
Esquire Bank has found a strategy that turns the typical ratio of business client loans to deposits on its head. Through its nationwide vertical of services for law firms, Esquire Bank brings in roughly $1.80 in core deposits for every dollar lent. On the first ABA Banking Journal Podcast episode of 2024, Andrew Sagliocca — president, CEO and vice chairman of Long Island-based Esquire Bank — discusses the bank’s unique niche in serving the litigation sector, including the complex financing its c...
Jan 05, 2024•27 min
On the final ABA Banking Journal Podcast episode of 2023 — sponsored by R&T Deposit Solutions — John Vivian of Patomak Global Partners and ABA EVP Hugh Carney discuss the OCC’s latest Semiannual Risk Perspective , released earlier in December . Both past veterans of the OCC, Vivian and Carney explore the agency’s findings — including the way credit risk and leapfrogged liquidity risk over the course of the year and the OCC’s concerns on artificial intelligence, among other topics — and what ...
Dec 17, 2023•32 min
From the Basel III endgame to Regulation II to new Community Reinvestment Act and Section 1071, 2023 has delivered a regulatory onslaught for the industry. How are bankers navigating the waves of overlapping changes? On this episode, Gary Shook, chair of ABA’s Government Relations Council, reflects on the council’s recent meeting and offers perspectives on how banks can navigate the policy environment. Shook also highlights areas where ABA is looking to press gains on its positive agenda, includ...
Dec 08, 2023•22 min
For high-net-worth clients, generational transitions can be fraught moments — implicating business ownership sales, control transfers, tax situations, philanthropic decisions and of course family dynamics. On the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by R&T Deposit Solutions — Todd Brockwell, president of 1900 Wealth, offers strategies for bankers and wealth managers to help their clients navigate these transitions. A veteran of family offices in central Texas, Brockwell discusses how bank...
Dec 01, 2023•25 min
For new couples, does the decision of how to organize their finances — separate accounts, a joint account or a blend of the two — matter? On the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by R&T Deposit Solutions — Indiana University marketing professor Jenny Olson discusses new research that provides an answer. Olson and her colleagues randomly assigned new couples to one of three conditions for a two-year period: using only separate accounts, using a joint account only or to a third group tha...
Nov 17, 2023•17 min
Family-owned businesses — especially those crossing the mark of $10 million in annual revenue — often have unique banking needs. They have the freedom to make long-term investments, but they also face challenges associated with funding for growth, complex family dynamics and the need to manage liquidity events for family members, says Mikel Williamson, the newly appointed president and CEO of First Bank in the St. Louis area. On the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by R&T Deposit Solu...
Nov 10, 2023•17 min
“When we’re able to take banking to them, at a place where they already have trust with their employer, that’s a bridge,” says Jennifer Huffman of Atlantic Union Bank’s workplace banking product. “From there we’re able to grow that relationship.” In the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by R&T Deposit Solutions — Huffman provides an overview of Atlantic Union’s Solutions Banking product, which brings consumer accounts into more than 2,300 small and midsize busines...
Nov 03, 2023•21 min
“Banks have long supported consumers accessing their own data, but believe it should be done in a safe and sound way that provides them with control,” says ABA VP Ryan Miller. With respect to Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFPB “has attempted to put that into place here.” In the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by Intrafi — Miller provides an overview of the long-awaited Section 1033 proposed rule . In this episode, Fink also talks about: How the bureau’s pr...
Oct 30, 2023•23 min
“Capital investment has surprised a great bit of our economy and the business community,” says TD Bank EVP Bill Fink. “As rates go up, how could we be having stronger capital investment?” In the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — the third in a series of conversations on the business outlook, sponsored by Intrafi — Fink discusses how the fiscal stimulus of the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as state economic development packages for incentivized f...
Oct 20, 2023•20 min
“Often, economic change occurs at this level of the economy,” says Umpqua Bank EVP Richard Cabrera about the middle market of the commercial sector. “While economic concerns still linger, there’s tremendous optimism.” The latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by Intrafi — continues a series of conversations on the business outlook, following last week’s episode on the perspectives of CFOs at large corporates and the upper end of the middle market. In this episode, Cabrera...
Oct 13, 2023•17 min
Corporate CFOs and finance leaders are “best leading indicators.” says Stephen Philipson, head of global markets and specialized finance at U.S. Bank. “They always have to be looking ahead.” On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by Intrafi — Philipson discusses findings from U.S. Bank’s 2023 CFO Insights Report , among them: Large and middle-market corporate CFOs’ accelerated transition from growth mode to cost-cutting and what the slowdown in capital expenditures ...
Oct 06, 2023•16 min
The latest incarnation of ABA’s award-winning #BanksNeverAskThat anti-phishing campaign returns for National Cybersecurity Awareness Month in October. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by Servbank — ABA’s Amy Wertlieb talks about new resources this year, including a return of the popular scam quiz and an all-new consumer-facing site plus customizable resources in Spanish . Banks can register for free and use campaign materials all month or at any point during t...
Sep 29, 2023•10 min
With the availability of credit card rewards at stake under the Durbin-Marshall credit card bill , bill sponsor Sen. Roger Marshall dismisses consumer concerns about their rewards. “Rewards are for rich people,” Marshall said derisively at a Capitol Hill press conference on Wednesday in response to media questions about consumers’ preferences. Facing Marshall at the press conference just happened to be nearly 50 bankers from his home state of Kansas, in D.C. for their annual Washington Visit. On...
Sep 22, 2023•19 min
Employee resource groups have become an important part of diversity, equity and inclusion strategies at larger companies. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by Servbank — two bank leaders explore how the ERGs provided by ABA for bankers to benefit from this kind of resource at banks that may not be large enough to host an ERG in-house. Among other topics, Latia Coleman and Krys Lassiter, who lead ABA’s Black Bankers ERG for African-American bankers and allies, p...
Sep 15, 2023•24 min
There’s a lot going on in the innovation space in banking. On the season seven premiere of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by Servbank — ABA SVP Brooke Ybarra provides an overview of hot issues in the fintech space, including generative AI solutions like ChatGPT . For example, she explores potential use cases for a wide range of generative AI solutions in banks as well as how generative AI can be leveraged by bad actors. Ybarra also talks about ABA’s new partnership with the Nashvill...
Sep 08, 2023•16 min
Check fraud continues to be a growing problem for banks of all sizes — and it’s not going away anytime soon. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by Intrafi — ABA’s Paul Benda and James Hitchcock discuss how banks can enhance their defenses against check fraud, including new technologies and integration of investigative intelligence as check fraud and cyber fraud intersect in dangerous ways. Benda and Hitchcock also outline key dynamics of today’s check fraud tren...
Aug 03, 2023•17 min
Nearly 72 million Americans were covered by health savings accounts at the end of 2022, an increase of 6.5% from the year before, and HSAs are used across the income spectrum, with 75% of accountholders living in a zip code with a median household income of less than $100,000. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by Intrafi — ABA’s Kevin McKechnie and HSA expert Eric Remjeske discuss the findings of the latest ABA HSA Council/Devenir survey of HSA accountholders. ...
Jul 26, 2023•18 min
Bank partnerships with colleges and universities hold promise to help banks tackle human resources challenges: creating a pipeline of rising professionals with banking exposure, and diversifying banks’ talent bases . On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by Intrafi — Tennessee Tech professor Alma Núñez and ABA SVP Jamie Beaulieu discuss how these partnerships work and how to make the most of them. Among other topics, Núñez and Beaulieu explain the shape of these pa...
Jul 19, 2023•15 min
In today’s environment of elevated interest rates and a tech sector market correction, how is the banking-as-a-service landscape shaking out? The latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by Intrafi — features a conversation with Piermont Bank’s Rodrigo Suarez on current trends in the BaaS sector (on both the bank side and the nonbank side), the BaaS business models that make the most sense and how banks can approach profitability in the BaaS space. Suarez also discusses what...
Jun 29, 2023•18 min
The latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by Intrafi — features the winners of ABA’s Distinguished Service Awards for Risk and Compliance. Jim Bedsole, chief risk and compliance officer at BankSouth, won the 29th annual award for compliance professionals, while Joanne Campbell, EVP and chief risk officer at Camden National Bank, won the inaugural distinguished service award for risk management. Prior to receiving the awards at ABA’s Risk and Compliance Conference in San A...
Jun 14, 2023•29 min
The cover story of the latest issue of the ABA Banking Journal features an unprecedentedly transparent look into what happens inside a financial institution during and after a ransomware attack. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by Intrafi — Evan Sparks shares the true story of this anonymized bank and how it tackled what could have become a crippling ransomware attack. Sparks discusses: How hackers got in, the early moments after an attack happens and how the ...
May 18, 2023•20 min
First quarter earnings reports are done, and bank shareholder meetings are currently going on — and rarely have these activities been in the public spotlight as now in the wake of three significant bank failures. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by Intrafi — ABA Banking Journal Contributing Editor Paul Davis discusses: The overall resilience seen in the banking sector’s first-quarter earnings reports. The disconnect between the health of the banking sector and...
May 12, 2023•17 min
The CFPB’s final rule implementing Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act represents major change to how banks process and handle small business loans — taking what in many banks is a bespoke, tailored financial product and requiring a whole new way of doing business. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by Intrafi — ABA SVP Kitty Ryan discusses: An overview of the Section 1071 final rule. Implementation deadlines and partial wins in extending them from the narrow tim...
May 04, 2023•24 min
After years of being “FedSoon,” the Federal Reserve’s instant payment network FedNow is preparing to go live this summer. What do banks need to know in the final months before launch? On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by R&T Deposit Solutions — ABA SVP and payments expert Steve Kenneally discusses: Key implementation deadlines for FedNow in 2023. How FedNow compares to existing instant payments services like RTP and Zelle. Lessons from the FedNow pilot expe...
Apr 28, 2023•15 min
