Check fraud continues to be a growing problem for banks of all sizes — and it's not going away anytime soon. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by Intrafi — ABA's Paul Benda and James Hitchcock discuss how banks can enhance their defenses against check fraud, including new technologies and integration of investigative intelligence as check fraud and cyber fraud intersect in dangerous ways. Benda and Hitchcock also outline key dynamics of today's check fraud trends that bankers need to know. Finally, they discuss ABA's new and free Check Fraud Claim Directory, which provides all banks — ABA members and non-members alike — with access to contacts and formatting requirements for check fraud warranty breach claims.

• If you can't see the audio player above, click here to listen to this week's episode.
• Access the ABA Check Fraud Claim Directory.

Nearly 72 million Americans were covered by health savings accounts at the end of 2022, an increase of 6.5% from the year before, and HSAs are used across the income spectrum, with 75% of accountholders living in a zip code with a median household income of less than $100,000. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by Intrafi — ABA's Kevin McKechnie and HSA expert Eric Remjeske discuss the findings of the latest ABA HSA Council/Devenir survey of HSA accountholders. McKechnie and Remjeske also talk about how HSAs fit into the business models of banks of all sizes, why large numbers of community banks have become HSA funds custodians, how banks use HSA plans for their own employees and policy issues facing HSAs in the coming months and years.

• Read the ABA/Devenir study of HSA accountholders.

Bank partnerships with colleges and universities hold promise to help banks tackle human resources challenges: creating a pipeline of rising professionals with banking exposure, and diversifying banks' talent bases. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by Intrafi — Tennessee Tech professor Alma Núñez and ABA SVP Jamie Beaulieu discuss how these partnerships work and how to make the most of them. Among other topics, Núñez and Beaulieu explain the shape of these partnerships, explore how to design them to leverage the value of experiential learning and offer best practices and recommendations for banks building these partnerships.

• Hear Núñez and Beaulieu dive deeper on this topic at the ABA Annual Convention, Oct. 8-10 in Nashville.

In today's environment of elevated interest rates and a tech sector market correction, how is the banking-as-a-service landscape shaking out? The latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by Intrafi — features a conversation with Piermont Bank's Rodrigo Suarez on current trends in the BaaS sector (on both the bank side and the nonbank side), the BaaS business models that make the most sense and how banks can approach profitability in the BaaS space.

Suarez also discusses what it's like to jump to the de novo banking sector from a nonbank fintech like Piermont Bank and talks about his experience as a recent graduate of the ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking.

The latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by Intrafi — features the winners of ABA's Distinguished Service Awards for Risk and Compliance. Jim Bedsole, chief risk and compliance officer at BankSouth, won the 29th annual award for compliance professionals, while Joanne Campbell, EVP and chief risk officer at Camden National Bank, won the inaugural distinguished service award for risk management. Prior to receiving the awards at ABA's Risk and Compliance Conference in San Antonio, Bedsole and Campbell were interviewed about:

• Their career journeys in the risk and compliance sectors.
• How risk and compliance have both emerged as distinct practices as well as converging.
• How they stay current on risk and compliance trends.
• Technology and the future of risk and compliance.

Take a deep dive into the evolving world of transaction monitoring with Ted Sausen, an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) expert from NICE Actimize. Ted provides expert insights into the shifting AML paradigm, shedding light on recent innovations and their implications for your financial institution. Are you ready for the future of AML detection? Discover which game-changing technologies are set to transform the fight against financial crime. 

The cover story of the latest issue of the ABA Banking Journal features an unprecedentedly transparent look into what happens inside a financial institution during and after a ransomware attack. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by Intrafi — Evan Sparks shares the true story of this anonymized bank and how it tackled what could have become a crippling ransomware attack. Sparks discusses:

• How hackers got in, the early moments after an attack happens and how the bank responded.
• The current ransomware threat environment for banks.
• How to execute on a cyber incident playbook and mobilize partners and vendors.
• Messages and services the bank provided to customers during the incident.
• Fatigue and other challenges facing the bank's team during the hack.
• Lessons learned and post-mortem changes the bank made to prevent a future incident.

First quarter earnings reports are done, and bank shareholder meetings are currently going on — and rarely have these activities been in the public spotlight as now in the wake of three significant bank failures. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by Intrafi — ABA Banking Journal Contributing Editor Paul Davis discusses:

• The overall resilience seen in the banking sector's first-quarter earnings reports.
• The disconnect between the health of the banking sector and financial market performance for certain bank stocks.
• What to expect from this season's annual shareholder meetings, including anticipated activist activities.
• An update on M&A activity in 2023.

The CFPB's final rule implementing Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act represents major change to how banks process and handle small business loans — taking what in many banks is a bespoke, tailored financial product and requiring a whole new way of doing business. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by Intrafi — ABA SVP Kitty Ryan discusses:

• An overview of the Section 1071 final rule.
• Implementation deadlines and partial wins in extending them from the narrow timeframes in the proposed rule.
• Other wins from ABA advocacy, including on privacy and on racial and ethnic identification that aligns the final rule more closely with the statute.
• Software challenges banks will face as they implement the final rule.
• Despite a few improvements, why ABA continues to be disappointed in the final rule — with an open advocacy call for Congress to rescind the rule.

• Key implementation deadlines for FedNow in 2023.
• How FedNow compares to existing instant payments services like RTP and Zelle.
• Lessons from the FedNow pilot experience.
• Business strategies that banks are employing in their FedNow rollout.
• Where to start with core providers on FedNow implementation.

If you can't see the audio player above, click here to listen to this week's episode.

Register for and view recordings from ABA's free FedNow webinar series.