January 2, 2008 Vol. 3, No. 1

Sponsorship and Exhibitor Opportunities 
 

NYBA 2008 MEETINGS CALENDAR: MARK YOUR CALENDARS & SAVE THE DATES!

The New York Bankers Association’s Calendar of 2008 Major Meetings & Conferences includes numerous networking, sponsoring and exhibiting opportunities. It’s time to mark your calendars and make your plans to attend and participate in these sessions. The following schedule is provided for your convenience. 

NYBA 2008 Major Meetings & Conferences
 

Technology & Risk Management Forum
April 29-30 - Crowne Plaza Albany 

Senior Management Conference
June 11-13 - The Saratoga Hotel & Conference Center 
Saratoga Springs

111th Long Island Bankers Division/NYBA Annual Golf Outing & Dinner
June 30 - Southward Ho Country Club 
Bay Shore

62nd Annual Trust & Investment Conference
October 1-3 - The Sagamore 
Bolton Landing

Annual Convention
October 21-25 - The Ritz-Carlton 
Amelia Island, Florida

58th Annual Retail & Small Business Banking Conference
November 19-21 - Crowne Plaza Albany

111th Long Island Bankers Division/NYBA Annual Fall Dinner
November 25 - Southward Ho Country Club 
Bay Shore

For additional information, visit nyba.com/education, or contact NYBA’s Meetings Department at (212) 297-1662.  
 

Latest From Profit Solutions

NYBA’S 401(k) PROGRAM OPEN TO SERVICE MEMBERS

The New York Bankers Service Corporation, NYBA’s wholly-owned subsidiary, and Milliman, Inc., a leading provider of retirement plan services, have developed an attractive, affordable and reliable 401k program for NYBA Member Banks and Service Members. The plan includes access to a state-of-the-art, Web-enabled system and best-in-class investment options.  Each participating organization can choose its own plan provisions and investment options that include mutual funds, institutional share class funds, company stock and model portfolios. Companies can select from a menu of investment options developed by Milliman investment consultants, who will continually monitor and analyze investments. For more information on this exciting new program, please call Randy Broscious of Milliman at (518) 514-7100, e-mail: randall.broscious@milliman.com.  Please be sure to identify yourself as a NYBA Service Member.

DISASTER RECOVERY MADE EASY

The New York Bankers Service Corporation has endorsed Agility Recovery Solutions as its recommended disaster recovery and business continuity solution. Agility will work with you to asses your exposure and develop optimal recovery plans for all situations. If you declare a disaster, Agility will set the plan in motion and you will get everything you need to be fully functional (office space, computers, furniture, communications equipment, etc.) within 48 hours. Agility maintains $35 million of equipment in strategic locations ready to be shipped instantly. If this equipment is shipped to you, you pay only for net out-of-pocket costs – delivery charges, satellite space fees, technicians onsite, etc. As part of the planning process, Agility helps you secure the proper insurance coverage to mitigate the recovery expenses. For access to these services, NYBSCO has secured a special $230 per location, per month fee for NYBA Members and Service Members (the normal fee is $250). A special webinar detailing the Agility disaster recovery program will be held at 3:00 p.m. Tuesday, January 17. Full details will be sent to you shortly. To learn more about this NYBSCO program, call Agility’s Joe Bracchitta at (203) 253-7838; e-mail, joe.bracchhitta@agilityrecovery.com.

XEROX OFFICE EQUIPMENT PROGRAM

NYBA’s office equipment program provides NYBA Members and Service Members with additional discounts on purchased Xerox equipment. If you buy Xerox equipment, tell the merchant you are a NYBA member and you will receive a discount above and beyond what the dealer provides. The discount applies to equipment, supplies, training and systems management. Call (800) 275-9376, ext. 2265, and reference contract number 0706438. For further information on this NYBSCO product, please contact NYBA’s Field Marketing Manager Gus Kananis at (518) 434-3558: e-mail gkananis@nyba.com.

Professional Development

ONLINE TRAINING CAN HELP YOUR EMPLOYEES GAIN INSIGHT

Delivered anytime, anywhere, online courses offer your employees the opportunity to gain banking knowledge in a cost-effective, time-efficient manner.  We encourage you to check out NYBA online courses to provide your staff with the knowledge they need to work effectively with your banking clients. To explore options in online training, please visit www.nyba.com, or contact Elisa Legg (elegg@nyba.com) or Fred Corden (fcorden@nyba.com).  Sign up for automatic updates on all of NYBA’s educational programs via e-mail by signing up at: www.nyba.com/ education. Also, don’t forget to bookmark NYBA’s Online Calendar of Events (http://www.nyba.com/education/calendar.html). For more information, contact Elisa Legg at (212) 297-1679 or email elegg@nyba.com.

AIB CONTINUING EDUCATION AVAILABLE ONLINE!

 The American Institute of Banking (AIB) is a continuing education curriculum for the financial services industry. AIB has been the leader in bank training for more than 100 years…and today, they offer the same high-quality education in a convenient online format that allows bank employees to suit their schedules and career goals. As your Local ABA Training Provider, the New York Bankers Association is pleased to offer a wide selection of AIB/ABA training programs and resources to meet your professional development needs. The high quality training you've always received from AIB is available online. Thanks to today's technology, you may take an AIB course without ever having to leave your home or office. AIB Online courses are instructor led, include measurements of learning and are designed to increase job skills and enhance knowledge. They cover the spectrum, from fundamental courses like “Principles in Banking” to high level courses for senior executives, such as “Analyzing Bank Performance.” Course topics include banking basics, lending, retail banking, accounting, trust, bank management, marketing and sales and more. The new AIB online calendar, which lists all courses through August 2008, is available at NYBA.com (Educations & Meetings) and offers course descriptions and registration forms. For further information, call NYBA Professional Development at 212-297-1679.

COUNT ON NYBA FOR IRA TRAINING IN 2008

NYBA is your resource for up-to-the-minute IRA and Retirement Services training, including courses covering the issue from the basic to the advanced.  Partnering with BISYS Retirement Services, NYBA offers courses in both classroom and online delivery formats to meet a variety of needs. Sessions begin with Basic & Advanced IRA Seminars – March 2008: IRA Essentials: Everything from A to Z (March 26 – Syracuse); Beyond the Essentials: Moving IRA Assets (March 20 – Tarrytown; March 27 – Syracuse). Contact NYBA Professional Development at 212-297-1679.

Government Relations Update
 The Association’s Legislative and Regulatory Policy Committee and Board of Directors met last month to adopt NYBA’s 2008 legislative and regulatory policy. Among its actions, the Board adopted a set of principles to govern legislation affecting subprime mortgages. Among the principles are that non-bank mortgage bankers and brokers should be subject to effective regulation and supervision; legislation should not affect the prime mortgage market; and federal legislation should establish a uniform nationwide standard, adopting the best features of state legislation, but not adversely affecting the ability of banks and thrifts to serve all of their customers, including low- and moderate-income areas.  The Board does not believe any current federal legislation meets these standards.  NYBA will strongly urge members of the New York Congressional delegation, particularly Senators Schumer and Clinton, to pursue these principles in any legislation they support. 

At the state level, NYBA will continue to work with Governor Spitzer, Senator Schumer, Mayor Bloomberg, the State Banking Department and other public policy makers to assure New York’s continued preeminence as a headquarters state and the world financial capital. The Association will urge fair taxation of the State’s depository institutions, opposing tax increases at a time of economic turbulence and supporting appropriate relief from the regressive alternative tax on assets. NYBA will also continue to urge legislators to avoid inappropriate new restrictions that would limit the availability of consumer credit, pricing and services. On the federal front, NYBA will continue to urge enactment of legislation to appropriately regulate credit unions, industrial loan companies and government-sponsored enterprises, to reduce regulatory burden, particularly with regard to Bank Security Act/anti-money laundering compliance, and to reform and strengthen risk management programs such as the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act and the National Flood Insurance Program. NYBA will also continue to work with local, State and federal law enforcement officials to ensure effective bank security programs, but will oppose one-size-fits-all bank security legislation, such as mandatory 911 buttons and bandit barriers.       

 
 Albany

During last month’s special session by the State Senate, State Banks Superintendent Richard Neiman testified before the Senate Banks Committee on the State's efforts to assist subprime borrowers to avoid foreclosure.  After detailing the many programs currently underway, he stated that "more sweeping reform" of the State's high cost home loan law is being considered with the support of Governor Spitzer.  "The goal is to work toward a consensus legislative proposal that would, at a minimum, require more in-depth evaluation of a borrower's ability to repay, prohibit certain loan practices, clarify mortgage brokers' duties to borrowers, and further strengthen state enforcement tools." 

With hearings into proposals for the 2009 Executive Budget State budget underway, NYBA filed a statement with the Division of the Budget strongly urging that none of the tax increases proposed in the 2008 Executive Budget be included in next year’s proposal.  The Association noted that the Budget Division’s stated goals included that “companies pay their fair share,” and stated that, “by any measure, the banking industry is paying more than its fair share of its income in State taxes.”  The industry pays more than $6 billion in total taxes to the State and its municipalities, with over $1 billion in income taxes alone and an additional $5 billion in payroll, property taxes, sales and use taxes, New York City corporate income taxes, the MTA surcharge, and the New York City commercial rent tax.  NYBA urged that the Budget Division, in its recommendations to Governor Spitzer, avoid any provisions that would increase taxes on the State’s banking industry. 

WASHINGTON          

Just five days left before the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act was set to expire on Dec. 31, 2007, President George Bush on December 26 signed into law legislation that reauthorizes the federal backstop for seven years. NYBA had strongly supported the extension.

The House also passed two bills amending the “do not call” list, H.R. 2601 - the “Do-Not-Call Registry Fee Extension Act of 2007,” and H.R. 3541 - the “Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007.”  The bills extend authority for the FTC to charge businesses fees for access to the list and eliminate the expiration of telephone numbers on the list.

In a victory for the New York Bankers Association contact banker program, in conjunction with the national trade groups, the Senate leadership has reached agreement on a package of amendments that will be offered during debate on the 2007 Farm Bill (H.R. 2419) that does not include expansion of the Farm Credit System’s (FCS) lending authority.  Expanded lending authority was already stripped from the House-passed version of the bill on the House floor.  Debate on the Farm Bill began in the Senate late last week.  NYBA is grateful to the many bankers who contacted Senators Schumer and Clinton in opposition to this amendment.

The House Judiciary Committee, in a largely party-line vote of 17-15, reported out a bill on December 13 to provide bankruptcy judges the authority to alter the terms and conditions of subprime and non-traditional mortgages.  Judges would be able to “cram down” the principal of such loans to the value of the property securing the loan and could change interest rates, reset dates and other terms of the loans.  The bill applies to mortgages issued between January 1, 2000 and its date of enactment.  NYBA communicated to the New York members of the Committee its opposition to the original version of the bill, which would have applied to all mortgage loans, and plans to continue its opposition, in conjunction with the national trade groups, to this narrowed version if the bill is brought to the House floor.

President Bush announced a new private program to aid certain distressed homeowners in meeting their subprime loan obligations.  The program, established by large mortgage lenders, servicers and investors, is voluntary and would apply to subprime first-lien mortgages issued from January 1, 2005 to July 31, 2007 on owner-occupied homes.  Dividing borrowers into three categories, the program is designed to tailor relief to the borrower’s ability to repay, potential level of loan interest reset and credit rating and history.  Borrowers who are current on their loans with relatively high credit scores would be assisted in refinancing into prime or FHA loans.  Current borrowers with low credit scores could benefit from up to a five-year delay in the reset date for the interest rate on their loans.  Borrowers who fit neither of these two categories would be subject to loss mitigation assistance designed to maximize recoveries to investors.

MISCELLANEOUS

Fraudulent check schemes are on the rise over the Internet, fueled by the popularity of online auction, dating and social-networking sites where thieves troll for victims. Banks’ losses from such theft have reached $969 million.

 NYBA News

Citigroup Inc. confirmed the appointment of Vikram Pandit as Chief Executive Officer, and the company named Win Bischoff Chairman.

Thomas Geisel, who heads KeyBank's Albany-based northeast region, will become CEO of Sun Bancorp Inc. on January 7, 2008. Sun is the third-largest commercial bank in New Jersey, with $3.3 billion in assets.

NYBA’s Nominating Committee, chaired by NYBA Chairman Thomas O’Brien (President & CEO, State Bank of Long Island) has unanimously endorsed the following slate of officers for 2008: John M. Scarchilli (President & CEO, Pioneer Savings Bank) for the office of Chairman; Thomas L. Hoy (Chairman, President & CEO, Arrow Financial Corp.) for the office of Vice Chairman; and John F. Stewart (Managing Director, National Distribution, Citibank, N.A.) for the office of Treasurer and Chairman of the New Century Fund.

Four New York bankers have been elected to the Board of Directors of the American Bankers Association. Among the four is Brad Rock, Chairman, President and CEO, Bank of Smithtown, Smithtown, New York, who is the first New Yorker to serve as Chairman of the ABA in more than a quarter-century. Also elected: John M. Scarchilli, President and CEO of Pioneer Savings Bank. Mr. Scarchilli will also serve as NYBA’s 2008 Chairman; Thomas L. Hoy, CEO of Glens Falls National Bank and Trust Co. and Chairman, President and CEO of Arrow Financial Corp in Glens Falls, New York, parent to Glens Falls National and Saratoga National Bank and Trust Co. Mr. Hoy chairs NYBA’s Government Relations Council; and Maura Markus, President, Global Consumer Group, Citibank North America, Long Island City, New York.

Joseph R. Ficalora (Chairman, President & CEO, New York Community Bank) and John M. Scarchilli (President & CEO, Pioneer Savings Bank) were reelected to the Board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York. The FHLBNY is a congressionally chartered, $100 billion, wholesale bank. Part of the Federal Home Loan Bank System, its mission is to advance housing opportunity and local community development by maximizing the capacity of community-based member lenders to serve their markets. It serves 291 community lenders in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Federal Reserve Board has named seven new members of its Thrift Institutions Advisory Council, including Joseph R. Ficalora, (Chairman, President and CEO of New York Community Bank.)  In addition, Kerry Killinger (Chairman and CEO of Washington Mutual, Inc., a NYBA member) was named President of the Council.

Brendan McDonagh (HSBC) was named Chairman of the Consumer Bankers Association. He is a former Treasurer of the New York Bankers Association. NYBA’s current Treasurer John Stewart (Citigroup) is Chairman-Elect of the national trade group.

Wilber National Bank President & CEO Douglas Gulotty announced that Jeffrey Lord has been promoted to Regional President. He will lead the commercial development of the Bank’s Southern Tier and Mid-Hudson Valley markets. The Bank also announced that Joseph Sutaris, Secretary, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer, has also been promoted to Executive Vice President.

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