March 9, 2022

The Primax Payments Pulse: 2021 Holiday Spending Report takes an in-depth look at year-over-year, same-store financial institution comparisons, and provides a three-month view of consumer transactions and trends during the 2021 holiday spending season.

Now, more than ever, your customers need a banker watching out for them.

Growth opportunities abound for community banks that proactively help customers relieve financial stress.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digitization of many financial operations, and this includes the increasing use of electronic promissory notes. As we work to develop new products and services to meet the evolving needs of FHLBank San Francisco members and their customers, we’re pleased to report that as of Mar. 31, 2021, we began accepting eNotes as pledged collateral from our member financial institutions.

A record number of individual investors dove into financial markets in the last two years — many of them nontraditional investors with less investment experience.

With cryptocurrencies and investment apps making headlines, many felt encouraged to begin investing for the first time. As they eased in, buying only stocks from just a select few companies — often at the recommendation from a friend or social media influencer — many may have skipped a crucial step when beginning to invest: considering the risks and creating an asset allocation approach to properly diversify their investments.

While many bankers are working on the adoption of the accounting standard for current expected credit losses (CECL), they may find detours on their path as well, including some CECL myths. When we started with CECL, the initial expectation from most of the big banks was that there would be a significant increase in reserves overall. Then, the pandemic hit and credit loss reserves increased dramatically — from $13.9 billion to $52.7 billion. But, as of Q1 2021, $14.5 billion of reserves had been released, according to the FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile. So, what is going on with the reserves? The September 9 report by the Congressional Research Service notes that it remains very difficult to determine which changes in reserves are a result of the pandemic and which are driven by CECL.

Growing your business and taking it to the next level is an exciting time. There are so many ways to grow your business, including hiring more people, obtaining new technology, expanding your space and creating a more robust digital presence. The question is, how do you know your business is ready? Here are the top five signs your business is ready to grow.

The second regular session of the 55th Arizona legislature convened January 10, and legislators are off to a fast start. After two COVID-impacted sessions, there’s a feeling of “back to normal” down at
1700 West Washington. Despite
the omicron wave causing a number of positive tests among legislators in the first couple of weeks of the session, both the House and Senate are proceeding at full speed ahead. As of January 31, more than 1500 bills have been introduced — an all-time high. With the state again facing record surpluses and partisan margins still razor-thin, this session promises to be as exciting as the last.

When I became Director in the summer of 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 health crisis, the uncertainty facing the banking sector was palpable. I heard the same trepidation from bankers, regulators, and consumers alike — the COVID economy was the most serious test facing banks since the financial crisis in 2008. Thankfully, the banking system proved resilient, and though the health crisis remains with us almost two years later, the hunkered down “doom and gloom” sentiment of 2020 seems a little more optimistic in early 2022.