4 minute read
Straight Talk
STRAIGHT TALK by Ballard Cassady
KBA President & CEO bcassady@kybanks.com THE SAD CAT
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There are times I feel like I’m stuck in the “Sad Cat Diary” YouTube video, where the cat opens each entry with “Dear Diary” and laments the indignities suffered at the hands of his humans, aka The Authorities. When in need of some quick entertainment, look it up.
However much I’ve felt like a hostage to the times, our KBA staff has managed to sustain its work and find new ways to serve our members.
Virtual group meetings? None of us could have imagined it, until we had to. The positive reception has inspired a fresh look at many facets of our service delivery, and we appreciate the feedback that is guiding that work.
We were able to nominate three new directors to the board pending the vote at convention (though that vote will involve challenges of a different order). They are:
Group 6 - Charles Beach III Chairman, Peoples Exchange Bank Beattyville
Group 7 – Alex Cook CEO, Home Federal Bank Corp of Middlesboro
Group 8 - Anthony Kinder CEO, Peoples Bank of Kentucky, Inc., Flemingsburg
The Nominating Committee also nominated Ruth Bale as the incoming Treasurer. Ruth Bale is the Chairman of South Central Bancshares of Kentucky, Inc., Glasgow.
Board service has never been more challenging, so we’re especially grateful to these Kentucky Bankers for their willingness to undertake it. For years, we’ve dealt with change as a constant, but the pace of it has accelerated to a level that few of us saw coming. For our industry, as for our states and country, we desperately need strong leadership and the right “boots under the table” to get through what lies ahead.
One of our most concerning near-term issues has been the resolution of PPP loan uncertainties. We’ve worked hard on some level of blanket forgiveness at thresholds from $150,000 to $350.000. The $150,000 level would cover 85% of all the loans, but only 26% of the money, enabling Treasury/SBA to clear the deck of 3.8 million loans out of the 4.75 million loans made. A sensible solution to a very complex problem, we thought.
But Treasury has indicated in their Senate hearings that there won’t be any forgiveness level (even though their goal is to “forgive ALL loans”) unless instructed to do so by Congress – which would take until late July since they are on summer break. Treasury is indicating, however, that they will send out a less confusing forgiveness form, maybe six pages instead of 11. At the end of the day, our federal government in election year mode operates on its own principles, God help us. Further comment could only get me in trouble.
In better news, our banks are starting to receive some of their fees for making the loans, an encouraging sign as we continue to work on simplifying the forms.
FDIC Chair Jelena McWilliams and KDFI Commissioner Charles Vice met with all of our bankers to assure them that the regulatory agencies are going to be “understanding” in future exams due to the COVID19 pandemic and the PPP loan program. You and I both know we will still need to remain vigilant in order to assure that level of understanding is available.
It’s never been more important for every bank to complete the post-exam anonymous survey we do through our Compliance Alliance partnership. These surveys from exams all over the country give us a heads-up on what to expect in terms of exam focus and complexity.
GETTING BACK TO “NORMAL”
We had our first virtual board meeting in June, and we are doing everything we can to get back to normal. It appears we will be moving the Convention closer to home so that driving is an easy choice for those concerned about flying, concerns we all understand.
The year 2020 has been one wave after another of things to worry about: pandemics, empty grocery shelves, cancellations of milestone events, isolation, social unrest, murder hornets. Humor has been a life line. Last week, I ran across an internet headline, “Scientists Find 33 Creatures Living in a Cave That Was Sealed Off for 5 Million Years.” The first person to comment said, “Seal that cave back up and walk away!!! This is NOT the year, man.”
Be safe, stay healthy, and find a reason to laugh every day until we’re through this.
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Contact us today to see how we can put our skills and experience to work for you.
Scott Deters
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