Pub. 3 2015 Issue 3

4 The Community Banker www.mibonline.org President’s Address All the member banks that participate are appreciative of the information and resources available through the program. I t has been another amazing fall in Montana and hopefully everyone has been able to get outside and enjoy it! Jim and Laura did another fantas- tic job putting on the annual convention at Big Sky Resort this summer, with great speakers, networking, and of course fun. While this time of year is typically a little slower for the as- sociation, especially on non-leg- islative years such as this, Laura and Jim have remained busy networking. Since our last issue, MIB has gained one new mem- ber, Granite Mountain Bank, and several new associate members: eFinancial Solutions, Eide Bailly, LLC, PacificSource Health Plans, and The Independent Bankers’ Bank (TIB). It is great to see our membership and associate membership continue to grow especially as the Montana bank- ing industry continues to shrink, and is a direct testament to Jim and Laura’s efforts. The board of directors had a wonderful fall meeting in Bigfork the first week in October. During that meeting we discussed Commissioner Melanie Hall’s progress on the modernization of the Montana Bank Act. As you will recall from the summer con- vention the Montana Division of Banking is looking to overhaul the entire act during the 2016 legislative session. If you are interested in participating in this discussion and process, please contact Jim at (406) 449-7444 or jbrown@mibonline.org . Also at this board meeting, we finalized two great new mem - ber benefits and services. The first is a partnership agreement with eFinancial Solutions, who has agreed to offer significant discounts on their AMP Loans software and license and main- tenance fees to MIB member banks. eFinancial Solutions was founded in 2007 by Don Ben- nett, President of MIB member Freedom Bank, to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of lending oper- ations for financial institutions through loan portfolio manage- ment and collaborative soft- ware solutions for the financial industry. The second new benefit MIB is providing its member banks is a $2,500 graduate-level banking scholarship. This scholarship is to a graduate-level banking school of your choice for the 2016 year, and our purpose is to enable you to afford the highest quality education for an employee. You can read more about these benefits on our MIB News page in this issue and at http://mibonline.org/member- ship/benefits/, and applications for the scholarship are found at http://mibonline.org/training/ banking-school-scholarship/. Our partnership with Young and Associates for the Commu- nity Bankers for Compliance Program is in its second year and the last few months have been busy with a webinar and a live seminar held in Bozeman in early September. This is a very ben- eficial program offered by the association at a very reasonable price. All the member banks that participate are appreciative of the information and resources available through the program. If your bank does not partici- pate and you would like more information or would like to sign up, please contact Laura at (406) 449-7444 or visit http://mibon- line.org/cbc-program/. The annual ICBA convention is scheduled for March 6-10, 2016 in New Orleans. This conference is a great opportunity to attend live workshops, seminars, and a trade expo, in addition to having a good time with friends and col- leagues. For more information or to register you can visit www. icba.org/convention2016. By Amy Quarles, MIB President 2015-2016 and CFO of First Security Bank of Helena Amy Quarles Photo by Kayla Martin