Main Street Matters Blog

In recent years, community banks across the nation have seen a drastic rise in check fraud. To compound the issue, many community banks are faced with challenges getting funds reimbursed from the banks of first deposit and are left to reimburse affected customers even when the community banks aren’t liable for the fraud.

They say, "success begets success" and in the case of the ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator program this timeless belief holds true. Before we even hit the halfway point on our fifth accelerator program, which kicked off on April 24, we found out that we’d reached capacity for both in-person and virtual bank visits.

When it comes to digital payments, we’ve come a long way. Global mobile payment transactions are valued at over $2 trillion, and more than three-quarters of consumers cite their preference for banking digitally.

Friendly fraud is on the rise, now accounting for up to 75% of all chargebacks. From instances of kids using their parents’ cards to purchase items to flat-out falsification to reverse an overspend, friendly fraud occurs when a cardholder disputes a legitimate transaction as fraud with the hope of having those funds returned.

Paying it forward — or repaying a kindness received with a good deed to someone else — is more than a concept, it’s put into practice every day at the nation’s community banks.

ICBA and community banks have been on a rollercoaster since the March 10 failure of Silicon Valley Bank, but we have once again proven to be strong and resilient. And we have done it by working together on behalf of our industry and the local communities we serve.

According to the latest survey from the Conference of State Banking Supervisors, 99.8 percent of community bankers feel the adoption of new or emerging technologies to meet customer demand is at least somewhat important, with 64.7 percent labeling it “extremely” or “very” important.

As news outlets continue to report on the demise of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and the broader implications for the industry, it bears repeating that not all banks are equal. Community banks are relationship lenders first and foremost and this distinction makes all the difference in times of uncertainty.

Video assets were one of the most significant production investments ICBA made for the ICBA National Campaign — an effort to elevate community banking in the hearts and minds of America’s consumers.

After several years of community banker engagement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the bureau has released for public comment an ICBA proposal to improve mortgage disclosures required under TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rules.