Pub. 14 2019-2020 Issue 6

NEBRASKA BANKERS ASSOCIATION 11 Email Rob Nichols at rnichols@aba.com . We’re a premier sponsor of Future OPS 2020, the tech conference for banking professionals, May 21, in Council Blus, IA. RSVP at futurebankops.com. Banking threats have changed. Has your security kept up? Modern banking faces evolving challenges. Cyberattackers are always looking for a new way in. Work with the experts to make sure you close those doors before they open. APIs and contacts. We released their responses along with our committee’s analysis of them to ABAmember banks to help them as they evaluate their core options moving forward. In January, the committee met with 11 additional cores with products currently in the market and in March with emerging providers whose core solutions will soon be available. While a handful of large companies dominate the marketplace, there is a growing range of choices for community banks, and ABA will provide fact sheets on these additional core providers to help bankers understand their options. The committee has also developed several other resources to help bankers as they seek to build a more innovation-friendly environment. Some of these are already available—or will be soon—alongside all the resources I’ve already mentioned at aba.com/core. ABA is not alone in looking at these issues. In recent months, top regulators have talked about the need to ensure community banks can continue to embrace innovation. Last fall, FDICChair- man Jelena McWilliams said that banks’ “technology service providers must evolve” with consumer expectations. She urged people to “consider a future where next-generation core service providers offer an end-to-end digital banking experience to their partner banks.” Meanwhile, at the ABA Conference for Community Bankers in February, Federal Reserve Governor Miki Bowman said she is looking at what the Fed can do to increase the transparency of its supervision program for core providers—including “mak- ing information that may be useful about our supervision of key service providers available to banks.” In my ideal world, banks of all sizes are able to offer the modern banking tools today’s marketplace requires, working side-by-side successfully with the core provider of their choice. We know we have made progress toward that goal, but we have more work to do. I’m grateful to Julieann Thurlow, CEO of Read- ing Cooperative Bank and chair of the Core Platforms Committee, as well as all the committee members for their leadership and insights. The committee’s work will continue, and this remains one of my most important priorities at ABA. Community banks need to remain on the forefront of financial innovation. Working together, we’ll make sure that happens. 