Shield Compliance, Seattle, has developed a compliance management system for banking legal marijuana-related businesses. Called Shield Data Hub, the technology sets out to assure compliance with Financial Crimes Enforcement Network guidelines for cannabis banking. Tony Repanich joined Shield Compliance as its COO in 2018. He previously served as executive vice president of the $1.7 billion People’s Bank, Bellingham, Wash. [Continue]
Cultivation of hemp and production of hemp-based products, including CBD, were a notable inclusion in the 2018 Farm Bill. The promise of industrial hemp is manifested in hemp-based CBD products, which include oils, creams, supplements and food items. [Continue]
Leadership at the regulatory agencies provides hope for additional regulatory relief. Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting is focused on updating and clarifying CRA for both consumers and bankers. The new FDIC Chairman, Jelena McWilliams, recently outlined several reg relief priorities. And now most recently, new Federal Reserve Board Governor Michelle Bowman is talking about the importance of reg relief for community banks. [Continue]
Some large banks are offering potential customers $300 or more to open an account with them. These types of incentives disadvantage smaller players, said FDIC Chair Jelena McWilliams, who spoke in February at a conference hosted by the Wisconsin Bankers Association. [Continue]
Is it enough to object to the current method by which banks’ CRA activities are audited and evaluated, without first offering a viable alternative based in objective industry knowledge, market demographics, and needs of each local community? [Continue]
There is plenty of evidence that community banks, even those that specifically seek to serve underrepresented groups, find a challenge in maintaining a pipeline of CRA eligible loan activities. [Continue]
Bankers certainly don’t need the additional recordkeeping responsibilities, and I can’t believe when it passed tax reform that Congress wanted to create a significant tax difference between sub S and C corp banks. [Continue]
A recent order from the SEC indicates concern that private companies must comply with the exact same rules as publicly-traded companies. [Continue]
The new standard eliminates the “probable” recognition threshold in current generally accepted accounting principles, and instead reflects an organization’s current estimate of all expected credit losses over the contractual term of its financial assets. [Continue]
Leadership at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is likely to become a hot political topic again. Mick Mulvaney was appointed to lead the CFPB as by President Donald Trump last November after the previous leader, Richard Cordray, resigned to run for Governor of Ohio. Cordray resigned before the end of his statutory term, however, and President Trump appointed Mulvaney as “acting director” until a permanent director could be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. That temporary appointment ends June 22. [Continue]