October 2020

Rick Allen Kerr went to be with his Savior and sons suddenly on Oct.1, 2020. He was born April 22, 1953, in St. Ignatius, Montana to Ralph and Jane Kerr.
Rick grew up in Charlo, Montana, with his four sisters. He graduated from Charlo High School in 1971.

Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) scams continue to be costly and challenging for financial institutions. Wire transfer fraud can easily reach millions of dollars. With advancements in technology, such as online databases for county clerk records, online banking, and online title searching, financial institutions commonly use data to verify that customer identity for wire transactions is routinely and easily proven.

Whether we want to admit it or not, we all have implicit biases that affect how we live and work in the world. When most people think of bias, they probably think of an adverse action taken deliberately; however, unconscious biases can affect your behavior or decisions. Unconscious biases are often based on mistaken or incomplete information and may negatively affect your team and your organization’s bottom line. If you’re hiring based on “gut feeling,” your decision may be based on an unconscious (or implicit) bias. The best way to prevent yourself from succumbing to unconscious biases is to become aware of what they are, where they may pop up when recruiting, hiring and retaining employees, and how to prevent them.

As the calendar turns to the fall, millions of Americans gear up for their favorite sport — football. Of course, we’re still trying to figure out what it will look like with this being a year unlike any other. Nonetheless, what better way to usher in the new football season than to relate common gridiron phraseology to its investment portfolio equivalent? Some of this may sound like a stretch for the sticks, but perhaps you can find a loose ball in the pileup. If so, hopefully, you can convert the takeaway into a visit to the sweet land of six.

EFAA. Q: We have an existing customer who is depositing a large check into their account and we would like to place a five-day hold on the check because the customer does not have the funds on deposit. I was under the impression that we are required to make $5,525 available to them the next business day per Regulation CC. Is this incorrect? Can we hold the entire amount for five business days?

In response to the novel coronavirus, 2020 has been a momentous year for federal tax legislation that created programs and provisions to help small businesses weather the global pandemic storm.

NeighborWorks Montana and the board of directors are excited to welcome new board members:

What effect is the pandemic having on homeowners and lenders? Why are very few new community banks being chartered each year? With vacation rentals reducing available home inventory, what can be done to ensure homeownership is still an option for people? And with homeownership rates differing across demographic groups, how can the banking industry facilitate more equitable homeownership?
Students at Montana State University had the opportunity to hear national leaders address these and other questions during a roundtable held online Thursday, Oct. 1.

While there are still routine things to look for when stress testing in today’s world, there are also some new areas to address. To help you with this, we provide you with our six stress- testing tips for the pandemic.

At BankServices1, we have found that money is always left on the table when banks negotiate their own outsourced IT contract. This is true, regardless of the amount of savings realized. Bankers typically negotiate an outsourced contract once every five to seven years. The vendor, on the other hand, negotiates these contracts every day. Negotiating an outsourced contract should involve at a minimum: