NewsWatch Today

The Independent Community Bankers of America today thanked President Joe Biden for signing into law ICBA-advocated legislation to extend the Paycheck Protection Program ahead of its March 31 expiration.

While ICBA last week submitted its comment letter urging the National Credit Union Administration to withdraw a proposal on credit union services organizations, community banks can still submit comment letters after the agency extended the deadline 30 days.

The USDA’s Farm Service Agency asked lenders to suspend adverse actions against guaranteed farm loan borrowers who are members of socially disadvantaged (SDA) groups while the agency develops a method to pay off SDA borrowers' direct and guaranteed loans.

The Internal Revenue Service clarified that the purchase of personal protective equipment, such as masks, hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes, for the primary purpose of preventing the spread of COVID-19 are deductible medical expenses.

ICBA thanked Reps. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) and Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) for introducing legislation to exempt from taxation interest income on farm real estate and rural mortgage loans.

ICBA called on the NCUA to create a minimum regulatory capital framework that is no less stringent than the Basel III regulatory capital framework in effect for community banks.

April is Community Banking Month, and ICBA offers resources to help community banks get involved, including a toolkit to help tell the community banking story.

ICBA and The Venture Center hosted the ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator Virtual Demo Day to demonstrate the third Accelerator cohort's community bank-focused fintech solutions.

The SBA said it is increasing maximum Economic Injury Disaster Loan amounts for small businesses from $150,000 over six months to $500,000 over 24 months.

ICBA's affiliated state community banking associations are hosting a series of live and virtual agriculture conferences in 2021.

With Paycheck Protection Program and credit union issues coming to a head this week in Washington, ICBA is urging community bankers to weigh in with policymakers via its Be Heard grassroots action center.

ICBA-advocated legislation to establish a cannabis-banking safe harbor in states where cannabis is legal was reintroduced in the Senate following House introduction last week.