March 8, 2022

Overdraft services are a standard banking product. Life happens, and thankfully, most banks offer an overdraft product to come to the rescue when you are on vacation and forgot to do a savings transfer, or transpose numbers when balancing your checkbook. The end of 2021 came with a cautionary tale for financial institutions from regulators: Overhaul your overdraft services or potentially face enhanced scrutiny.

Due to COVID-19, event schedules are subject to change. Please visit
nebankers.org/education.html or call the NBA Education Center at 402-474-1555 for the most current event schedule.

On the first trading day of 2022, the U.S. 10-year Treasury Note yield jumped above 1.60%, then traded up another 10bps in the two subsequent sessions. That was a 35bps increase in two weeks and aligned with a similar move higher for market measures of inflation expectations. The bond market hadn’t seen a worse start to a year since 2009. It seems the market is entering the new year with the same concerns and uncertainty that plagued it for most of 2021, but with greater urgency. We’ve seen this movie before, though, and it’s clear that policymakers and investors alike need to carefully assess the strength and staying power of an inflation environment that’s unusual but not so transitory.

In early December, the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking implementing Section 6403 of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), which allowed the public until Feb. 7, 2022, to review and comment on the proposed rules. According to the proposed rulemaking, the ability to operate through legal entities without requiring the identification of beneficial owners is a key risk for the U.S. financial system. Therefore, the CTA seeks to set a clear federal standard for incorporation practices, protect vital U.S. national security interests, protect interstate and foreign commerce, better enable various law enforcement agencies to counter illicit activities and bring the U.S. into compliance with international standards. If enacted, these rules would add a number of government reporting requirements to certain entities, and financial institutions could have access to this information which could possibly ease the burden of customer due diligence.

Ransomware cyberattacks are one of the fastest-growing attack methods globally, causing many organizations to ask themselves a critical question. Have we done enough to secure our institution against a ransomware attack?

Employee theft of customer data is always a concern and has become even more so as information can be condensed to digital assets, which are easily moved, copied, or downloaded. The issue can be especially troublesome for banks because of confidential customer data. The information is often easily identifiable to the customer and can include common data such as addresses, email addresses, and telephone numbers, but also often includes sensitive information such as social security numbers, bank account information, dates of birth, and credit card information.

In case you haven’t noticed, cryptocurrencies are an increasingly hot topic of conversation in this country.
According to a Pew Research Center survey fielded in November, 86% of Americans said they have heard about cryptocurrencies, and 16% said they have invested in, traded or used them. Cryptocurrency use is growing particularly rapidly among younger Americans, with 31% between 18 and 29 telling Pew they have participated in crypto transactions.

Since arriving at the NBA in 2014, I have worked closely with the NBA Board of Directors and member banks to encourage and promote financial literacy. One fun, proven financial education strategy embraced by a growing number of NBA members is the creation and operation of in-school savings banks.