August 4, 2021

Increased use of digital banking, coupled with the reality that people just don’t visit branches the way they used to, has made it more challenging than ever for financial institutions to deliver personalized customer interactions.

Bank of Utah Bank of Utah Wins Northern Utah Silver Award and The Best of Southern Utah 2021 Bank of Utah, a community bank with $1.9 billion in assets, was recently honored as a recipient of the Best Bank of Northern Utah Silver Award for its Cache and Box Elder County locations and won The Best

There’s no question that the pandemic caused devastating loss throughout the country. But as the world begins to open back up, companies are evaluating what their “new normal” looks like and identifying ways to drive more revenue into their business.

Bank of Utah Rick Northcott, from Bank of Utah, will step into the role of mortgage loan officer, bringing seven-plus years of customer service and sales experience to Bank of Utah’s Lindon branch.    Mary McBride, of Bank of Utah, has been appointed to the board of trustees of Davis Technical College Foundation which provides

Doug DeFries, President and CEO, Bank of Utah was presented with UBA’s highest honor, the Distinguished Banker Award at the 113th Annual UBA Convention. From time to time, the UBA recognizes an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to their community, their bank and the banking industry. Since the award was introduced, only 25 individuals have been given this honor.

Six bankers were honored with 40 Year Service awards at the 113th Annual UBA Convention held in Sun Valley on June 29, 2021.

The 113th Annual Utah Bankers Association Convention was held at Sun Valley Resort in beautiful Sun Valley, Idaho, June 27-30, 2021. This was the first live meeting held by the UBA since the pandemic. With close to 400 bankers, guests and business partners in attendance, all were excited to be back together once again. With an impressive lineup of speakers, perfect weather, world-renowned entertainment, great attendance, and the natural beauty of Sun Valley, this year’s convention was one for the books.

“Modern Economic Theory” (MET) has drawn increasing interest as the federal government accumulates record deficits and the national debt grows into the trillions of dollars. Traditional economic theory says deficits are bad because they cause inflation and impose unfair burdens on future taxpayers to repay the debts. MET says federal deficits do not matter. They are just accounting. Twenty years of record deficits with no inflation is the first hint MET may be right. If anything, interest rates are too low. MET says the federal government’s primary role is maintaining the optimal balance of supply and demand in the overall economy, not balancing government collections and spending.

The 2021 UBA Women in Banking Conference, “Rise Up! Building Confidence to Embrace Change” was held on April 21st with more than 500 bankers joining the virtual event on Zoom.

The Value of Training
Outstanding organizations realize how vital training is to their success and continue to invest in it, even in challenging times.

Vaccinations have become a top priority for businesses across the country as more employees are beginning to return to the workplace, and community banks have been no exception. If you have not started to plan already, now is the time to think through how to best bring your employees back.

There are so many ways to violate TRID. Mastering the content requirements (knowing what to put where) is difficult for even the most seasoned compliance professional and is the source of numerous violations. Conquering the timing requirements (knowing when to give what) seems to be a much easier assignment, but it too causes numerous violations. When it comes to what information to include in disclosures and in which section, there are many gray areas, too much, in fact. However, the regulations are a lot more black and white when it comes to giving the disclosures.

The Federal Reserve’s development of its instant payment infrastructure, the FedNow Service, is making “good progress,” according to FedNow Program Executive Kenneth Montgomery. The industry-wide launch timeline has moved up to 2023, and the pilot program has started with various financial industry players as participants, including PCBB. FedNow will increase the instant payment service options for financial institutions and their customers.

At the end of May, the government’s Paycheck Protection Program ended. If Congress does not extend the program, we can expect the “Monday morning quarterbacking” about the impact of the program on the economy, its design and implementation, and its ultimate cost to begin. Those are appropriate questions to ask as we consider the lessons learned from the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The debate surrounding the credit union tax subsidy has taken a lot of twists and turns over the past 25 years, but banks scheming with credit unions to divert the credit union tax subsidy into the pockets of bank shareholders is not something I saw coming.