The VBA and bankers across Virginia are celebrating American Housing Month this month, highlighting banks' commitment to helping customers reach their housing goals. This month, and all year, that commitment goes beyond lending to include offering assistance for people struggling to pay for their home and educating consumers on their housing options. There are a number of free resources available to provide housing choices and information to customers, particularly during a time when many are facing significant financial challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic. Resources include:

• Tools and information from the ABA Foundation to help banks educate consumers on their housing options
• Housing communications tools for bankers, including a social media toolkit and customizable press release
• Consumer resources on money management, including tips for accessing coronavirus housing relief
• Information on issues and regulations affecting the housing market, including COVID-19-related news

You can also access Stay Home Virginia, which includes housing-related resources for renters, homeowners, landlords and homeless shelters.

Atlantic Union Bank
Matt Crane – C&I Relationship Manager

Powell Valley National Bank
Amy Mellinger – Senior Vice President, Director of Human Resources and Marketing

Sonabank
Jeromy Cox – Director of Corporate Development

After more than a week of nationwide protests, bankers in cities across the U.S. faced a three-part agenda of ascending difficulty: secure their own employees and property, help many small-business clients recover from their second major economic blow this year and figure out how banks can promote long-term socioeconomic change. (American Banker)

Four qualities — awareness, vulnerability, empathy and compassion — are critical for business leaders to care for people in crisis and set the stage for business recovery. (McKinsey & Company)

If you think innovating can be hard normally, try doing it during a global pandemic. It can become downright defeating if you allow it. But if innovation were easy, everyone would do it. (Nielsen Insights)

During the last ten years of economic expansion, prudent bankers were planning for the next downturn. None of us can predict the future, but enterprising bankers were conducting business to craft better results for their banks by understanding that an economic pivot would come. We are again on the brink of another economic pivot and one of the most considerable risks for bankers is inflation. (CenterState Correspondent Division)

VBA Announces New Endorsed Provider: Abrigo
Abrigo is a leading technology provider of compliance, credit risk, lending and asset/liability management solutions that community financial institutions use to manage risk and drive growth. By using Abrigo’s automated PPP loan origination system, with E-Tran integration, banks can quickly and efficiently serve their communities during a time of need. Abrigo’s automated PPP loan forgiveness workflow provides banks with software to manage the full lifecycle of the PPP loan, so banks can spend less time dealing with manual processes and more time helping their small business borrowers.

Abrigo
Laura Wahl, Manager of Sales Operations
12331-B Riata Trace Parkway
Building 4, Suite 200
Austin, Texas 78727
(984) 242-2711

 

COVID-19 has caused nationwide turmoil, including in the financial services industry. Banks have been flooded with inquiries regarding deferral of payments, modification of loan provisions and loan requests to keep businesses afloat. Here, Margaret Dolinger, CRCM, of VBA Endorsed Provider TCA, shares guidance on whether certain activities would be considered as CRA credits or qualified community development activities.

The decision to open or renovate a bank branch is an undertaking. And now, considering the COVID-19 strain on banks, it might be the furthest thing from a banker's mind. But then again, it might be the perfect time to analyze, prepare and rethink your branching strategy, according to James Caliendo, President & COO of VBA Endorsed Provider PWCampbell.

Effective April 24, 2020, the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) did away with a longstanding, and outdated, rule in Regulation D. Because the rule change puts the ball in each depository institution’s court, in terms of whether or not to continue enforcing the restrictions, banks are now left at a crossroads. Here, VBA Endorsed Provider Compliance Alliance discusses how the Interim Final Rule provides some clarification on the impact of the change, and discusses still-unanswered questions and compliance considerations.