ABA Banking Journal 5/08 - (Page 16) briefing ABA Chairman’s Position ABA Resources Continued from page 16 BRADLEY E. ROCK CEO, Smithtown Bancorp brock@aba.com Each or all of eight modules can be downloaded by going to aba.com, clicking on the “For Members” tab at the top and scrolling down to “ABAWorks/Toolboxes.” CEOs can show the way with compliance training SOMETIMES LEADERSHIP MEANS showing others the way. That was my approach at Bank of Smithtown when we launched ABA’s Frontline Compliance Training. That’s ABA’s new program that can provide your employees access to over 70 ABA compliance eLearning courses. It’s free to ABA member banks. And it will help you meet one of the more difficult challenges bankers face—compliance training. As chairman, president, and CEO, I decided to get the ball rolling at my bank by having a member of our staff in charge of training assign job-appropriate courses to everyone in the bank, including myself and my assistant. I was assigned to take courses related to lending and privacy. I wanted to know first-hand what the courses were like and how the program operated. And, frankly, I’ve always believed that I shouldn’t ask anyone to do anything that I wouldn’t be willing to do myself. When members of the team see that is the boss’ attitude, they become more willing to follow your lead. I took the courses and the tests within the time assigned, and so did everyone else in the bank. Frontline Compliance includes a general course for each of the major regulations affecting the industry, as well as job-specific courses designed for five bank jobs—call center representatives, tellers, consumer lenders, customer service representatives, and personal bankers. Courses include information on what employees need to know about the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Anti-Money Laundering Regulations, HMDA, RESPA, the Bank Secrecy Act, and the Community Reinvestment Act. And that’s just a small sampling. Frontline Compliance includes training, tracking, and reporting all in one. The program covers a full range of bank regulations, and is kept current by ABA’s compliance experts. It has quickly become the industry standard. Once a bank has registered, then all an employee needs to take a compliance course in his or her area of responsibility is access to the internet. Employees can access their training program 24/7. As part of the system, an employee’s coursework is tracked through a reporting feature on a Learning Management System. That enables management to generate reports that are readily available if regulators want to know how well the bank is complying with their training requirements. Although it was launched only recently, over 1,000 banks have already signed up 25,000 employees who are enrolled in over 300,000 courses. That speaks volumes about how intensively our bankers are using Frontline Compliance and its individual courses. Compliance is one of our most challenging responsibilities as bankers, and ABA not only makes it easier, but cost effective. Frontline Compliance can eliminate the significant compliance training costs that many banks face, particularly in positions with high turnover. For many institutions, this service alone is worth from one-third to one-half of their ABA dues. There is additional information on ABA Frontline Compliance Training on the Frontline website, www.abafrontline.com, or you can call 1-800-BANKERS. Recent experience in my bank tells me that examiners are beginning to place more emphasis upon compliance training for the people who are face-to-face with customers on a daily basis. And from having taken the courses myself, seeing what it’s done for my staff, and experiencing a recent examination on the subject, I can’t think of a better and less costly way to address these important needs in your bank. BJ Homebuyer program expanded ABA has announced that it is expanding a program to help community bank members better serve homebuyers in their local markets. On the first anniversary of Community Bank Mortgage LLC, a subsidiary of ABA Total Business Solutions, ABA members are being invited to become joint LLC owners. “Community banks are in a unique position to meet their customers’ needs and those of their communities,” said Deborah Whiteside, president and COO of Community Bank Mortgage LLC. CBM LLC was created in 2007 to give community banks the power to leverage the aggregate quality and volume of their mortgage business for sale into the secondary market by negotiating advantaged terms for their loans. Initial relationships were negotiated with Wells Fargo Funding, Inc. and Countrywide Bank. CBM is discussing business relationships with other mortgage players. The current offering of joint ownership in the Community Bank Mortgage LLC will close on May 15. Ownership is available to all ABA members. For more information, call 1-800-BANKERS or visit www.cbmortgagellc.com. 16 MAY 2008/ABA BANKING JOURNAL Subscribe at www.ababj.com http://www.aba.com http://www.abafrontline.com http://www.cbmortgagellc.com http://www.ababj.com
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