Bankers Needed to Serve on SDBA Committees
The SDBA is currently seeking bankers to serve on the SDBA’s standing committees for 2010-2011. SDBA Chairman-Elect Dave Zimbeck, Citibank (SD) NA, Sioux Falls, will make appointments to the SDBA standing committees in April. The SDBA committees are: Agricultural Credit Committee, Credit Card Committee, Legislative Committee and Trust Committee. Committee terms are one year beginning on May 1, 2010, and ending on April 30, 2011, with the exception of Legislative Committee members who serve three-year terms. Because there is no longer a separate corporation and separate budget for education activities, the SDBA Board of Directors decided to eliminate the Education Committee in favor of appointment of topic-specific task forces as needed. Committees generally meet one to two times a year to initiate activities and recommend policy. If you are interested in serving on a committee, please complete the SDBA Standing Committee Membership Request Form, which was recently faxed to all member banks. If you have any questions, contact Alisa DeMers at (800) 726-7322 or by email. u

Landowner and Producer Feedback Sought
for Supplemental Farm Real Estate Survey
Researchers are seeking input from South Dakota landowners and crop producers for a new survey on agricultural leases and their structures. The South Dakota Cooperative Extension Service and South Dakota State University’s Department of Economics annually seek input through their South Dakota Real Estate Market Survey. The new supplemental survey seeks more information so that everyone involved in South Dakota agriculture has more accurate insight of how lease agreements are structured. "We have additional questions for producers who lease property and for landowners who take part in agricultural leases, and we would like to gather more information,” said Burton Pflueger, South Dakota Cooperative Extension Farm Financial Management Specialist. “It’s important that we receive responses to the landlord/tenant survey because there have been many changes in agricultural leases in South Dakota.” Any landowner or producer can take part in the survey, and responses will remain confidential. Participants who do not have computers at home or at work can complete the survey at their county Extension office. The deadline to complete the survey is April 1. For more information contact Pflueger at (605) 688-4863 or by email. Read more. Complete the survey. u

ABA: Overzealous Regulators Hindering Small-Biz Credit
ABA yesterday sent banking regulators a list of areas in which overzealous examiners are acting contrary to the agencies’ recent statement on meeting creditworthy small businesses’ credit needs. Regulatory and examination practices that are inconsistent with the new interagency statement -- based on bankers’ comments at the recent ABA National Conference of Community Bankers -- are inhibiting bank lending to small businesses and other customers, ABA President and CEO Ed Yingling said in a letter. Those areas include capital, asset classification, funding sources, commercial real estate concentrations, exam reporting delays, Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act compliance and FDIC asset disposition practices. Yingling explained the problems overzealous examiners are causing in each area and outlined ABA-recommended solutions. He said, for example, many bankers report that examiners are requiring banks to hold capital well above the regulatory minimums and above the “well- capitalized” thresholds in the prompt corrective action rules. “Directives to increase capital ratios often leave a bank with no choice but to shrink, which inevitably means selling assets and curtailing lending,” Yingling said. “These outcomes can be avoided by recognizing that capital is to be used as a buffer in bad times and replenished when conditions improve.” He then listed five ABA-recommended changes to the capital rules that would avoid inappropriate outcomes, and in many cases could be done quickly for immediate relief. Read the letter. u

Dodd, Corker Agree on Proposal
to House Consumer Agency in Fed
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and panel member Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) reportedly are in broad agreement on a proposal to create an agency within the Federal Reserve to regulate consumer products. Under the proposal, the new agency would have a presidentially-approved director, an independent budget and autonomous rule-writing authority. The banking regulators would enforce the new agency's rules. But among the remaining issues Dodd and Corker must decide are whether the consumer agency could impose rules over the regulators' objections and how broadly the rules would apply to nonbanks. The plan ultimately would also need to overcome the opposition of some Democrats, including House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.). u

Fed Issues Proposed Rule on Card Fees, Interest Rates
The Federal Reserve yesterday proposed a rule that would implement 2009 Credit Card Act provisions slated to go into effect Aug. 22. The rule is the third stage in the Fed's implementation of the act. The proposal would, among other things, prohibit card issuers from charging penalty fees that exceed the dollar amount associated with the violation. For example, a consumer couldn't be charged a $39 fee for being late on a $20 minimum payment. Instead the fee couldn't exceed $20. The proposal also would ban inactivity fees, such as those charged for not using the account to make new purchases; bar charging multiple penalty fees based on a single late payment or other violations of account terms; require that consumers are informed about the reasons for rate increases; and mandate that issuers who have increased rates since Jan. 1, 2009, evaluate whether the reasons for the increase have changed and reduce the rate if appropriate. There will be 30-day comment period on the proposal after its publication in the Federal Register. Read more. u

Bill Extends SBA Program Enhancements
The unemployment benefits extension bill (H.R. 4691) that the Senate passed late Tuesday -- after Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) released his hold on it -- includes a provision that reauthorizes the expired 90-percent guarantee on the Small Business Administration’s 7(a) loan program through March 28. The legislation also provides $60 million to fund the higher guarantee and the elimination of borrower fees for the SBA's 7(a) and 504 loan programs. ABA has testified numerous times over the past several months in favor of extending these programs. u