Money Talk: Wynne banker to chair Arkansas Bankers Association
by May 16, 2016 7:11 am 288 views
Editor’s note: Each Monday, Talk Business & Politics provides “Money Talk,” a wrap-up of banking and financial news.
––––––––––––––––
SEAN WILLIAMS TO CHAIR ARKANSAS BANKERS
Sean Williams was installed as the 2016-17 chairman of the Arkansas Bankers Association at the 126th Annual ABA Convention last Thursday. Williams is President and CEO of First National Bank in Wynne and is also a member of First National Bank of Wynne’s board of directors. He is a lifelong resident of Woodruff County and received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in agricultural business and economics from Arkansas State University. Williams is also a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University.
Other ABA officers installed include Chairman-Elect Dave Dickson, Union Bank & Trust Company, Monticello; Vice Chairman, Cathy Owen, Eagle Bank, Little Rock; and Treasurer Judy Lawton, Heartland Bank, Little Rock.
FINRA FINES STEPHENS INC. $900,000 FOR INADEQUATE SUPERVISION OF RESEARCH DEPARTMENT’S ‘FLASH EMAILS’
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority recently announced that it has censured Stephens Inc., and fined the Little Rock investment firm $900,000 for inadequately supervising firm-wide internal “flash” emails sent by its research analysts to convey information about companies and industries the firm covered. These failures created the risk that the flash emails could potentially include material nonpublic information that might be misused by sales and trading personnel.
In settling the matter, Stephens neither admitted nor denied the charges, but consented to entry of FINRA’s findings, the industry watchdog agency said. Stephens will also cease distributing flash emails and will implement a plan to conduct a comprehensive review of its policies, procedures and training in the research area.
Stephens’ firm-wide flash email program was designed as an expeditious way for research analysts to share publicly available news and insights regarding covered companies with its sales and trading personnel for discussion with firm customers interested in those companies. FINRA found instances of firm personnel forwarding flash emails marked “internal use only” to customers, or cutting and pasting the text of an internal-use email into a separate communication sent to a customer.
FED WHITE PAPER OUT ON BANK LOAN UNDERWRITING STANDARDS
The Federal Office of Financial Research (OFR) has released a white paper describing how mortgage lending standards, as measured by responses to the Federal Reserve’s quarterly Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, relate to changes in the availability of mortgage loans at banks from 1990 to 2013. The research, called “The Real Consequences of Bank Mortgage Lending Standards,” suggests that the survey’s reported changes in credit standards are a leading indicator of the financial industry’s vulnerability to shocks.
According to the report, bank loan underwriting standards are key determinants of credit availability. Denial rate changes are larger for banks that hold most of their mortgages on portfolio (rather than securitizing them). Tighter standards are associated with about 16% fewer high interest rate loans, a proxy for riskier loans. Applications rise at banks that report strengthening demand for mortgage loans. To view the report, click here.