CEOColleagues, fellow professionals and friends,

"Do what you can with what you've got, where you are."
 
What does a successful day look like to you? Is success different for someone "at the top" of a company versus someone just starting at an entry level position? Actually, the answer is "no" - each person's daily success should be viewed relative to that person's position, skills and responsibilities. This way, the junior associate can be just as successful as the most senior associate. Here's how Theodore Roosevelt put it:

"There are many kinds of success in life worth having. It is exceedingly interesting and attractive to be a successful business man, or railroad man, or farmer, or a successful lawyer or doctor; or a writer, or a President, or a ranchman, or the colonel of a fighting regiment, or to kill grizzly bears and lions ... why, the greatest happiness is the happiness that comes as a byproduct of striving to do what must be done ... There is a bit of homely philosophy, quoted by Squire Bill Widener, of Widener's Valley, Virginia, which sums up one's duty in life: 'Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are.'"*
 
A company will be successful if, each workday, its associates approach their assigned tasks with the goal of "doing what they can, with what they've got, where they are." Having done that, then at the end of the day, each has had a successful day and so has the company.
 
But, is there more to life than just "success" and "happiness" in a day's work? Does all happiness come from being successful in business, whether that business is running a company or even running a country? Not really. In the middle of Roosevelt's thoughts on his own life, as a President, a colonel, a big game hunter - he added this thought:

"For unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly makes all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison. It may be true that he travels farthest who travels alone; but the goal thus reached is not worth reaching."
 
Having just celebrated Thanksgiving, I would expand Roosevelt's "household of children" to a "household of family, friends and co-workers." May each of us have such a household that makes our goals in life worth reaching. 
 
I hope this edition of BankLine has many items of interest for you.
 
Sincerely,




James W. Bruce, III
CEO and General Counsel, American Bank Systems

*Theodore Roosevelt, An Autobiography, New York: The MacMillan Company. 1916 pp. 349-350.

Spotlight
The Elegance of Digital Authentication

Elegance: the quality of being graceful and stylish; pleasingly ingenious and simple.

That is an apt description of CoPilot's digital authentication process for "e-Signing" loan documents. No clunky signature pads. No images of scrawled signatures that look nothing like a person's actual signature - think of how your digital signature looks when you make a credit card purchase.

CoPilot's digital authentication functionality creates a unique alpha-numeric identifier for each signer in a transaction and puts that identifier on every document, on the appropriate signature line, wherever that person's signature is required. The System also creates a unique document identifier that is printed on each page of the e-signed document and is cross-referenced on the authentication agreement to link the signature to the document.

CoPilot also easily allows you to remove the digital authentication from any document in a transaction (such as a note or mortgage) if you want a "wet" signature. It's ingenious, simple, elegant programming - fully compliant with the requirements of the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign Act).

To learn more about CoPilot's digital authentication, give us a call today.
Acknowledgment

Jim Pennington is a Territory Manager for ABS, with three years experience at the company. He works in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Washington and Hawaii. 

While there are highlights in any job, Pennington says it's the people at ABS he likes most.

"The people at ABS really care about their customers and employees," Pennington said.

Pennington believes his greatest industry achievement is his ability throughout the past several years to keep up with the rapidly changing banking industry. 

He grew up in Rockwall, Texas, and stayed in state to get his degree. Pennington graduated from the University of North Texas with a B.B.A. in Finance.

Pennington has been married for 35 years to his wife, Demetra. They have two grown sons who both live and work in Dallas.

"Austin has his own law firm in Dallas," Pennington said. "Parker is a sales executive for ADP in Dallas."

Hobbies for Jim include fishing, boating, playing the guitar and singing. One thing you probably didn't know? Pennington played rugby for 10 years.

Blog
Check out these recent posts to our Compliance Blog by our very own team of compliance specialists.

HMDA Update Designated Key Data Fields Issued
By Gina Ellis, CRCM
November 14, 2017

As we noted in an earlier blog, regulatory agencies announced the issuance of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) Examiner Transaction Testing Guidelines to support the evaluation of financial institutions' compliance with HMDA's new requirements beginning January 1, 2018. Those guidelines describe testing procedures to be used by the regulatory agencies to ... View Article

CFPB Rule On Arbitration Agreements Overturned
By Elva Coffey-Sears, CRCM, CRP
October 30, 2017

We reported last August that, on July 19, 2017, the CFPB published a final rule and official interpretations to regulate arbitration agreements in contracts for specified consumer financial products and services. On July 25, 2017, the House of Representatives, using the Congressional Review Act, passed a resolution to repeal ... View Article
 
Customer Care For Today And Into The Future
By Gary Reed, Vice President - Customer Care Services
October 16, 2017

"Thank you for calling American Bank Systems, this is Customer Care, how can I help you? Hmm ... your program is locked up? Have you rebooted?" Gone are the days of simple solutions to issues called into our Customer Care team. When I first started with American ... View Article
By Cody Roberts, CRCM
October 2, 2017

When we bankers open accounts, we are always told to "check the OFAC list." This happens in all departments - deposits, loans, and even trust. But what exactly is the OFAC list? The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a department of the U.S. Treasury that administers and enforces economic ... View Article
tips
Tips
CoPilot Tips & Tricks
Resource Links
CoPilot is a loan and deposit account origination system with a user-friendly interface putting you in control.  Copilot Loans™  helps banks save money and time.
 
Resource links and even PDFs can be set up and customized within the CoPilot program for ease and convenience, such as links to HUD, FDIC, Google Search, etc. A link to the bank's website could also be added, or even a PDF of a specific bank product, for example, or various deposit account types. These resource sites allow the user to access these links and PDFs without needing to close the program screen or even the current loan or deposit account being opened, thus saving time.

To find out more about CoPilot, please contact our ABS Customer Care Team at (405) 607-7000 or visit our website at   americanbanksystems.com .
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