December 22, 2021

How many financial institutions consider
their brand to be a multi-sensory, personal experience, and not a service? Not many, perhaps. Considered too bougie for financial services? Maybe. But more institutions should. Apple® does. Amazon® and Netflix® do, as well.

CELTIC BANK Celtic Bank Helps Launch the First Ever Craft Lake City Business Academy Celtic Bank was pleased to sponsor the Craft Lake City Business Academy to provide local artist/entrepreneurs with the support and skills they need to launch their creative businesses. In addition to sponsoring businesses who could otherwise not attend, Celtic Bank also

BANK OF UTAH Michael Dustin has been appointed Personal Trust Officer in the Salt Lake City/City Creek office. Andrea Maughan has been named Mortgage Loan Originator in the Logan office. James McGuire has been promoted to Mortgage Loan Officer in the St. George office. Kim Wells has been named Mortgage Loan Originator in the Price

Congratulations to the 2021 graduates of UBA’s Executive Development Program, who were honored at the Bank Executive Winter Conference at the Little America December 3. This was the ninth year of the program, and this year’s class of 36 joins an elite group of 225 EDP alumni in the state.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines (FHLB Des Moines or Bank) is pleased to announce that Mr. Douglas DeFries was recently elected as a member director to the Bank’s board. Mr. DeFries will begin serving his first term on the board on Jan. 1, 2022.

Altabank™, a Division of Glacier Bank and the largest community bank in Utah, has named Terry Grant President. He will replace Len Williams, current Altabank™ CEO, who is retiring. Grant will begin his role on Jan. 10, 2022.

Bank executives from all over the state met for the 11th Annual UBA Bank Executive Winter Conference, titled “The New Year Risk Radar.” Following a virtual conference last year, it was wonderful to convene in person at the Little America in Salt Lake City, to look ahead at emerging trends and risks for the industry.

This year’s Emerging Bank Leaders Conference was held on Nov. 16, 2021, with more than 50 rising stars in attendance at Thanksgiving Point and more than 80 others joined via Zoom. It was a day full of engaging speakers from a wide variety of fields, each offering strategies, and tools to chart a better career path, develop stronger leaders, and create more productive workplaces.

Employers know that employees who have the training they need to do their jobs effectively are more confident in the workplace. They understand that these employees are also more satisfied with the organization as a whole and are less likely to leave. At some point in your professional life, you will find that you need

A bank’s perspective on how local companies helped your business get a PPP loan. Arecent Small Business Administration report of PPP loans ranked on assets used for PPP loans showed that six Utah banks leveraged about 30% of their assets or more toward those loans over the past year. These six banks were also in the top 40 of all 4,000+ banks participating in the PPP loan program.

In October, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published more targeted guidance for digital asset companies related to compliance with sanctions and best practices for mitigating risks. OFAC’s virtual currency guidance is directed at the entire industry, including “technology companies, exchangers, administrators, miners, wallet providers, and users.” It aims to “help the virtual currency industry prevent exploitation by sanctioned persons and other illicit actors,” according to the press release issued with the guidance. Essentially, the guidance emphasizes that anyone subject to U.S. sanctions laws and regulations must continue to abide by them when engaging with virtual currencies.

Zions Bank President and CEO Scott Anderson was elected chair of the American Bankers Association for the 2021-2022 association year. The election took place on October 19 during ABA’s annual convention in Tampa, FL.

It’s the message a CEO never wants to receive: “We’ve got your data and you need to pay up if you want it back.”

Unfortunately, that message is landing in CEO inboxes increasingly often, as ransomware attacks ramp up in the U.S. In just the first six months of 2021, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network identified $590 million in ransomware-related Suspicious Activity Reports — a 42% increase from the 2020 total of $416 million. And FinCEN reports that we could be on track to see a higher transaction value for ransomware-related SARs than we’ve seen in the past 10 years combined.

From this point forward, bankers can’t look at the political process the same. Everything changed the moment the President of the United States of America nominated Saule Omarova to be the top banking regulator. This is a person who is vocal about wanting to eliminate the U.S. Banking system as we know it. Some found her views to be shocking, but for me, they confirmed everything I’ve been watching for the last 15 years or so. The fact is, she is NOT the only person inside the beltway that wants to eliminate banks.