DBA Digest for February 28, 2025

Volunteer Today!

2025 Teach Children to Save Day!

33 Classrooms Still Available!

33 Classrooms are still in need of volunteers for this year's Teach Children to Save Day event, April 7th through 11th! Teaching is fun and easy with complete materials and training provided. Bankers can volunteer and receive detailed information via the link below.

This year's lesson is taken from the new comic book, The Savings Genie, featuring The Great Investo, Penny, and The Mystical Saveroo. The book will teach the importance of saving for a financially independent future. The comic book is made possible through the generous sponsorship of Barclays, Wells Fargo, WSFS, Bank of America, TD Bank, Artisans' Bank, Fulton Bank, M&T Bank, Sallie Mae, Smarty Pig, Visa, Comenity Bank, County Bank, First Citizens Community Bank, and Shore United Bank!

Don't Miss These Upcoming OnCourse Learning Webinars!

ACH Origination and Risk - March 4th

ACH origination plays a vital role in electronic payments, but it also presents unique risks that financial institutions must manage carefully. Join the Payments Professor for this webinar, where you’ll explore the intricacies of ACH origination processes, from transaction initiation to settlement, while learning how to effectively mitigate risks such as fraud, unauthorized transactions, and credit exposure. This session will also provide guidance on staying compliant with NACHA rules and regulations to ensure secure and efficient operations.

Audience: This webinar is designed for ACH operations staff, risk managers, compliance officers, and anyone involved in the origination of ACH transactions to equip you with the knowledge and strategies necessary to securely manage ACH origination while minimizing risk and ensuring regulatory compliance.

Preparing for Reg CC Changes - March 7th

During this session, we will use real-life scenarios to explain hold requirements under these new limits. In addition, we will describe an easy-to-implement monitoring and review process and dissect the required funds availability policy to be sent. Reg CC holds are an important way to protect your institution. We will provide the tools and resources to help you place holds with confidence – and fulfill the annual Reg CC training requirement!

Audience: This session is designed for frontline personnel, new deposit account staff, branch managers, deposit operations members, compliance officers, and internal auditors.

Learn more and browse all the webinars via the link below.

Bank of America Private Bank Market Minute

Last Friday marked the S&P 500’s worst day of the year so far after the index reached two record highs earlier in the week. The day’s disappointing economic data led the index lower by 1.7% over the week while the Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones Industrial Average both shed 2.5%. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index surged 16% last Friday, finishing last week slightly over 18. Defensive sectors like Utilities (+1.4%) and Healthcare (+1.1%) fared best while Consumer Discretionary (-4.3%) had its worst week since April 2024. Outperformance of overseas equity markets continued with the Euro Stoxx 600 Index down just 0.2%, while the MSCI China Index finished up 3.9% for the week. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury fell 7 basis points (bps) last Friday to finish the week at 4.43%. Contributing to the decline, S&P Global cited heightened company uncertainty as its preliminary services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) dipped into contractionary territory in February for the first time since January 2023.

FHLB of Pittsburgh Update - Reminder: Reminder: 2025 BOB Round Opens March 4

Banking On Business (BOB) offers unsecured secondary loans, in conjunction with member first loans, to help qualified small businesses that would otherwise not meet traditional underwriting requirements. The 2025 funding round for FHLBank Pittsburgh’s BOB product will open at 9 a.m. EST on Tuesday, March 4, with $12 million available to assist qualified small businesses.

In 2025, FHLBank will set aside $4 million of BOB funds for minority- and women-owned small businesses through the Banking On Business Inclusion and Equity fund (BOBIE). BOBIE is intended to meet the needs of underrepresented small businesses by providing expanded eligibility criteria to minority- and women-owned small business borrowers. Of the $4 million in BOBIE funds, $2 million will be allocated to minority-owned businesses and $2 million will be allocated to women-owned businesses.

University of Delaware Generative AI for Business Certificate

Apply your employer’s tuition benefit to shape the future of business with Gen AI.

Have you considered how a University of Delaware graduate business certificate in Gen AI for Business can enhance your skills and knowledge and keep you updated on the latest changes in your field? Consider using your employer’s tuition benefit toward UD’s Graduate Certificate in Generative AI for Business offered by the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics. This graduate certificate is designed for managers, analysts and other business leaders interested in advancing their projects and careers by mastering new Gen AI technologies. Learn at your pace in an online format and complete the program in as little as a year. 

Use your tuition benefit to start your program this spring! The enrollment deadline is March 1 and classes start March 31.