ABA Banking Journal - January 2010 - (Page 8)
briefing ABA Chairman’s Position ABA Resources Continued from page 7 Chairman and CEO, United Bank of Michigan art.johnson@unitedbankofmichigan.com ARTHUR JOHNSON Report analyzes payment fraud Industry check-related losses were an estimated $1.024 billion in 2008, and 80% of all banks had check-fraud losses, according to the recently released ABA Deposit Account Fraud Survey Report. The survey also found that 2008 losses from debit card fraud—POS signature, POS PIN, and ATM transactions combined—hit an estimated $788 million. The survey covered baseline information on check and electronic-payment fraud losses, and the actions banks took to reduce these losses. It also examined the leading threats against deposit accounts, current and projected fraud losses, and other fraud-related topics, both by overall industry trends and by bank asset size. Among the other survey findings: • Industry check-related losses amounted to an estimated $1.024 billion in 2008, up slightly from the $969 million in 2006. The number of fraud cases also increased. • Eight in ten banks reported having check fraud losses in 2008. • Compared with the last survey, substantially more banks now capture check images at ATM, branch, central processing, and/or lockbox areas. Survey results show that electronic check processing has shortened check-clearing cycle. To learn more or to order the survey, go to www.aba.com/ Surveys+and+Statistics/2009_ Deposit_Fraud.htm or call 1-800-BANKERS. Stand up for banking at ABA’s GR Summit Washington is filled With ideas these days, and all too many are designed to keep traditional bankers from doing what we do best—helping our customers prosper and our communities grow. last March bankers from across the country came to Washington to stand up for banking, to tell our elected leaders who we are and what we do—and to make a difference for our banks and our industry. Now it’s time to gather again at ABA’s Government Relations Summit, March 16-18 at the Renaissance Washington Hotel. over 800 of us came together last year. our size and our energy surprised some members of Congress, members of the obama administration and federal regulators, all of whom attended and spoke. they also listened, and they heard us. now we need to set a new record for attendance and participation. as aBa Ceo ed Yingling has put it, “if we don’t speak for banking, others will.” and let me add, we won’t like what they say. the summit is your opportunity to join with other bankers and visit your representatives in their offices in Washington. it’s your opportunity to talk with them about hometown banking and the effect that some of the proposals they will vote on would have on their constituents. the challenge we face is enormous. We not only have to be alert to issues that directly affect our banks, we also need to treat issues affecting the whole financial services industry because legislation impacting non-banks could also affect us. every banker needs to be involved if we’re going to influence the outcome of the policy process. We need to keep last year’s momentum going and growing. We’re facing a far more dangerous threat than any of us have ever seen. That’s why ABA is making registration for the conference free to ABA member bankers. We want you to come and bring another banker with you. Numbers matter in Washington. And we need to come out in force and participate. as i said here last month, we’re all political risk managers now. We can’t just be bankers anymore. in business, we know the importance of the personal approach and the personal appeal. When we come to Washington for aBa’s government Relations summit, we can make our case one-on-one with representatives with local, back-home examples. as we learned last year, your participation will make a difference. aBa is the industry’s champion. But the greatest resource we have is bankers who are willing to engage in the policy process. there really is no better use of your time. on March 16-18, we need banks of all sizes and types represented. We want to marshall the energy and talent of all of our members to stand up to some of the bad ideas in Congress—ideas that would harm traditional banks that did nothing to cause the economic crisis. aBa has testified nine times over the past year in support of broad regulatory reform that would protect consumers from the non-banks that were largely responsible for the problems our country has been facing. now it’s our turn to let Congress hear from individual home town traditional bankers in our own words. Because when our industry is united, we are all stronger. JANUARY 2010/ABA BANKING JOURNAL Subscribe at www.ababj.com
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