2025 Pub. 4 Issue 3

NICB Endorsed Partners Bankers Compliance Consulting — Dave Dickenson Barret Graduate School of Banking — Memphis, Tennessee Community Bankers Webinar Network — Financial Ed Dell Computers ICBA Securities — Jim Reber ICBA Bancard NICB-CBAK Liquidity Program SHAZAM — presented last year at Area Meetings Spectrum Financial — Fee Income with Credit Insurance Products/Services, Identity Theft […]

Just as financial institutions have worked to integrate FinCEN’s National AML/CFT Priorities into their compliance programs, a new administration could bring significant policy shifts. Banks and credit unions should closely monitor these potential changes to proactively manage risk.

An “on-us” check is one that is drawn on an account held at the same bank at which it is presented. That is, the bank is both the depository bank and the payor bank. In simple terms, the opposite of an on-us check is a transit check. A transit check is presented at another financial institution and subsequently sent to the payor bank through a clearing process for settlement. On-us checks carry different risks than transit checks, creating distinct responsibilities, particularly regarding wrongful dishonor and funds availability.

Auditing ACH transactions is an essential part of ensuring compliance and maintaining the integrity of your organization’s payments. It can often feel overwhelming, but fear not! EPCOR’s expert team is here to transform that chaos into a streamlined process. The following are the top 10 common ACH audit findings with practical solutions to tackle them.

Winston Churchill famously said, “To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to have changed often.”
If that’s true, the community banking industry must be edging close to flawlessness because change has become second nature over the past few years. We respond to market shifts and regulatory demands with resilience and tenacity, precisely because we place our communities and customers at the center of what we do, creating better experiences for them.

The following questions and answers (Q&A) are drawn from questions asked by bankers calling Young & Associates’ Compliance Hot Line. Please note that
Young & Associates Inc. is not engaged in the practice of law. The answers given here apply to individual situations that may differ from one institution to another. The advice of legal counsel should be sought on specific situations.

Sept. 7, 2008, was a watershed in the history of housing finance. On that day, as housing market conditions deteriorated, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two massive housing government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), were placed in “temporary” conservatorship. The shareholders, both common and preferred, were essentially wiped out. The bondholders, who included community banks, ironically had their positions preserved, as the federal government all but guaranteed the GSEs’ debt.