Strunk at the ABA’s Conference for Community Bankers 2024

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This year, the American Bankers Association hosted the Conference for Community Bankers in San Antonio, Texas at the beautiful JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country from February 11-14. Attendees kicked the event off with a golf tournament, some educational sessions and once again, celebrated the Super Bowl with a Big Game Tailgate Party!

Speakers discussed topics such as how the FHLBs and the ABA work together most effectively, strategies for retaining customers, how to outperform peers and the state of our commercial lending markets. The highlight of the general sessions was quite possibly James Olson, a former Chief of Counterintelligence for the CIA who shared insights into his undercover career. Bankers and vendors alike enjoyed a reception on Monday evening celebrating Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.

Strunk was excited to have the opportunity to show their newest solution, Pricing Manager, to clients as well as many new faces. Pricing Manager is a full-featured loan and deposit pricing solution that will provide banks with the ability to set loan and deposit pricing consistently and profitably. Commercial loans can be priced consistently by every lender, creating options for customers that all achieve the bank’s profitability targets. Additionally, rate sheets for consumer loans, residential mortgage loans, and deposits were introduced. These rate sheets can easily be created also based on established profit objectives. Not only will Pricing Manager drive consistent achievement of profitability targets – it will also help banks win more quality deals!

Strunk’s goal is to continually provide value-added SaaS solutions that help community banks increase profitability, while controlling operating expense. In addition to their latest offering, Strunk highlighted their overdraft service and best-in-class governance, risk and compliance solution, Risk Manager.

For more information on Pricing Manager or any of Strunk’s other solutions, visit https://strunkaccess.com/ or contact Strunk at info@strunkaccess.com.

Repayment Plan Management from Beginning to End

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A Fresh Start Repayment Plan is a tool available to overdrawn customers that will allow them to repay the overdrawn balance in up to four payments and will also allow them to retain the use of their checking account. It also may help financial institutions recover and collect on accounts which may have otherwise charged off.

Included with Strunk’s hosted ODP Manager software, financial institutions have access to Strunk’s library of Fresh Start documentation. The library contains a Fresh Start Profile that addresses recommended features and optional considerations, a recommended Fresh Start Policy and Procedure Guidelines, a suggested Assessment template to determine Account holder’s ability to repay the Fresh Start Repayment Plan, and a recommended Fresh Start Agreement. These documents provide the necessary information to start offering and setting up Fresh Start Repayment Plans.

ODP Manager Formal Demand and Final Demand collection letters advise customers overdrawn for more than $100 to ask if a Fresh Start might be an option to repay the overdrawn balance in 4 payments or less. Once a customer contacts the institution, an assessment should be completed to confirm the customer’s ability to repay the Fresh Start Repayment Plan.

If a customer qualifies and accepts the Repayment Plan, ODP Manager users can enter a repayment schedule for each account. The repayment schedule can be used to generate the Fresh Start Agreement to be signed by the customer. It will also create payment reminders to show when a repayment should be due. The payment should be verified in the core system and then tracked in the repayment schedule once paid. If the account defaults on the repayment plan, the Fresh Start Default Letter can be generated in ODP Manager to inform the customer that the account has been closed, charged off, and reported to the appropriate agencies.

ODP Manager offers two reports related to Repayment Plans. The Fresh Start Tracking Report lists all accounts that have been identified as being in repayment by an ODP Status Code. A Repayment Schedules summary report can also be used to track the status of Fresh Starts, including payments made and outstanding balances. Both report options can be exported to PDF or Excel.

If you have any questions about Fresh Start Repayment Plan options in hosted ODP Manager, please contact Strunk Support at support@strunkaccess.com to find out more.

Setting Rates for Loans and Deposits

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When setting rates for loans or deposits many factors come into consideration. The credit risk of the borrower; collateral for the loan; ability to repay the loan; the term of the loan; and competition are all factors that most banks look at when determining the interest rate. One big factor that many financial institutions don’t consider is the size of the loan. That is a critical misstep when it comes to the profitability of that loan to the bank.

Similarly, banks set rates on deposits on market factors such as liquidity, borrowing capacity from the Federal Reserve or FHLB, and what the competition is offering. Money market rates are sometimes tiered based on the amount in the account but rarely do we see rates tiered on certificate of deposits or other interest bearing accounts. Occasionally banks will have a jumbo CD rate for accounts over $100K.

Most community banks lack the ability to determine costs associated with making loans or handling deposit accounts. With Strunk’s Loan, Relationship and Deposit pricing tool you can set target goals for profitability such as return in equity. Our solution will determine what rate you need to achieve on loans and what rate you can offer on deposits to meet that goal.

Give your loan officers a simple program to use to win more deals while meeting your profitability goals. Size matters when it comes to loans and deposits. Strunk’s loan and deposit pricing tool can make your bank a lot of money. Contact Strunk at 800.728.3116 or info@strunkaccess.com to see how it works.

 

Options to Customize Letter Templates

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Strunk’s hosted ODP Manager software includes a suite of standard, recommended, and compliant letter templates. These templates are set up so users can easily generate the letters due each day. Even though Strunk provides the recommended letter content, the ODP Manager software allows the letter appearance to be customized to match other letters sent by an institution.

The letter headers and footers can include logos or text so that letters can be printed on letterhead instead of plain paper.

Letters can be signed by the user that generated the letter or if requested, they can be signed by a specific person, department, or the institution name. If signature images are provided, they can be added so that they show when the letter is generated.

If an institution would prefer to have a letter display a branch contact’s name or the phone number of the branch, the contact information can be updated based on the branch assigned to the individual account. This allows the letters the flexibility to direct users to contact a central location or their local branch to discuss the Overdraft Privilege program.

These options allow financial institutions to feel confident in generating ODP program letters that not only are compliant, but also represent an institution’s desired letter appearance.

If you have any questions about customizing letter templates in hosted ODP Manager, please contact Strunk Support at support@strunkaccess.com to find out more.

Vendor Due Diligence Material Tracked in Strunk’s Vendor Manager Software

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Financial institutions regulated by the OCC, FDIC, and Federal Reserve must conduct due diligence on third-party relationships per the Interagency Guidance on Third-Party Relationships: Risk Management. Regulators expect financial institutions to review vendor documents thoroughly rather than just glance over them. Organizing all your vendor management in a secure, web-hosted database is the first place to start in this process. Strunk’s Vendor Manager software simplifies the overwhelming task of monitoring existing vendors and onboarding new ones.

A centralized repository for your due diligence documents ensures that your financial institution has a vendor management program that allows you to engage your vendors at each phase of the vendor lifecycle. This will ensure that all departments and business lines can easily access a unified document from your financial institution while dating it to make sure that it’s the most recent document. This process assists your financial institution in evaluating vendors to ensure they align with operational, financial, and regulatory standards.

Strunk’s Vendor Manager software automates due diligence process by sending alerts to financial institution stakeholders and vendors, saving time and effort. Vendor Manager automates vendor due diligence, providing a practical framework for deciding which vendors to assess in-depth, assessing the risk they present, and monitoring their performance. The Vendor Manager provides proactive risk management and reduces administrative burden. Strunk’s Vendor Manager software can help with your financial institution vendor due diligence to ensure that your organization has a process when entering into a third-party relationship. Click here to learn more.

 

Time to Consider a Loan and Deposit Pricing Tool?

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Many community bankers “look down the street” when pricing commercial loans to see what the competition is doing. Ironically, those bankers are looking at your bank as well to see what rate to offer! What if neither bank knows how to ensure the loan nor the borrower’s relationship is profitable?

In the mid 2000’s large and regional banks used pricing tools to help them win more deals and to ensure the loan/relationship met their profitability target. Community bankers were left out due to the complexity and cost of the pricing solutions.

Then from late 2008 until March 2022 the prime rate was so low that any loan a bank would make was better than investing in Fed Funds. Therefore, loan pricing tools weren’t much of a benefit to community banks. However, in the past two years rates have risen due to inflationary concerns and we are now faced with a prime rate of 8.5%.

There are many factors that go into a pricing decision and an inexpensive, simple to use loan pricing tool will give your bank an advantage in today’s interest rate environment. Size, term, fees, fixed or floating rate, balloon, collateral, and of course the borrower’s creditworthiness are all important factors.

2024 is the year to look at giving your loan officers a simple program to use to win more deals while meeting your profitability goals. Just like loans, size matters when it comes to deposits as well. Strunk’s loan and deposit pricing tool can make your bank a lot of money. Contact Strunk at 800.728.3116 or info@strunkaccess.com to see how it works.

Importance of an Effective Contract Review

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The Interagency Guidance of Third Party Risk Management states that an effective third-party risk management life cycle consists of planning, due diligence and third-party selection, contract negotiation, ongoing monitoring, and termination phase.

One of the most critical aspects of the third-party life cycle is the contract negotiation phase. It is essential to evaluate a vendor’s contract with other parties, including sub-contractors, which might transfer or bring additional risk to the financial institution. A vendor contract, sometimes referred to as a vendor agreement, is a legal document that outlines the terms of an exchange of goods or services for payment between the two parties.  Through this agreement both parties understand their responsibilities and obligations during the transaction.

The primary object of a vendor contract is to ensure that all parties involved are aware of what is expected in terms of deliverables, payment, and other relevant details. In the event of non-compliance, the vendor contract also specifies the consequences. Negotiating vendor contracts at the outset of any vendor partnership assists financial institutions in better managing their risks. Vendor contracts usually contain legal provisions, often in a specific order.

Strunk’s Vendor Manager Software allows you to score individual contracts based on the presence and quality of key provisions. Strunk’s vendor contract review enables financial institutions to identify gaps in their contracts and manage the vendor’s risk appropriately.

Flexible Fields in ODP Manager

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ODP Manager has a standard list of requested fields that are used in the recommended ODP Manager letter templates and reports. These fields are included in the extract file created by an institution’s core or report writer and are updated when the file is imported daily into ODP Manager.

ODP Manager mappings are customizable and can also allow additional institution-specific data fields to be imported. These fields will be marked as flexible fields and will be labeled with an institution-specific label in ODP Manager. Once the fields have been mapped and imported into the hosted ODP Manager software, letter criteria can be adjusted to use the additional data field values. Report groups can also be updated to use the newly available data fields as well.

This flexibility allows institutions additional opportunities to customize ODP Manager to make ODP Program management in the hosted software more efficient or informative. If you have any questions about adding Flexible Fields in hosted ODP Manager, please contact Strunk Support at support@strunkaccess.com to find out more.

Automatically Archive ODP Manager Reports

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The ODP Manager hosted software includes a suite of standard reports that are updated after each daily import. These reports can be viewed in the browser or exported to PDF or Excel. Reports for the most recent seven As of Dates are accessible.

If an institution would like the option to review, analyze, or retain past reports, users are able to export and save the reports as needed. However, if reports are not exported and saved within the most recent seven As of Dates, then the report data is no longer available. ODP Manager offers an alternative to manually saving and retaining reports. Upon request, Strunk can set up a Report Archive which automatically archives the requested reports after each daily import. This will alleviate the need to remember to manually save report copies.

The archived reports are saved as PDF files within the software. For each import As of Date, a folder containing the archived reports is created and can be downloaded. If an institution would rather download the archived reports to save to a network drive instead of accessing though the ODP Manager software, a Download Reports Archive link can be set up instead.

If you have any questions about the Report Archive option in hosted ODP Manager, please contact Strunk Support at support@strunkaccess.com to find out more.

How can Strunk’s software help with your vendor management program?

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Regulators take compliance with vendor management regulations seriously due to the critical role third-party vendors play in delivering products and services. Using third-party services can increase the risk of a banking organization, but this does not mean that the organization can neglect its responsibility to perform all activities in a safe and sound manner. It is the responsibility of the organization to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, including those related to consumer protection and security of customer information. What exactly are the Regulators looking for in a Vendor Management program? Regulators will look for your program to have structure, be consistent, and have accountability. Strunk’s software can be your perfect solution to achieve your objectives. Let’s take a closer look at how it can help you.

The first thing that needs to be accomplished is to have the right structure for your program. The financial institution needs to have a well-documented policy describing how your board and senior management intend to execute vendor management. Strunk’s Policy Manager Software can provide your financial institution with a structured, centralized single source of truth for your organization’s policies. You can also use Policy Manager to document all of your procedures, including links to policies, ownership responsibilities, automated change logging, and multiple file attachments. If your financial institution does not currently have a vendor management documented policy, Strunk can start you off with our recommended standard policy.

Next, the financial institution must establish a consistent framework for implementing the policy that was established. Strunk’s Vendor Manager software can streamline and standardize the entire process. The Vendor Manager software is designed to transform a complicated process into a more organized and self-documenting workflow. It helps to streamline and automate the process, making it more efficient and easier to manage.

The financial institution must be accountable for its vendor management program. Strunk’s Risk Assessor software can assist in identifying what risk your organization must consider with your Vendor Management program, while also mapping what controls and procedures are in place for that risk.

Preparing for your next Vendor Management exam is crucial for your financial institution. Strunk offers several tools that can help you in this regard. While regulators do not expect perfection, they do expect progress and performance. By utilizing Strunk’s software and expertise, you can ensure that you are up-to-date and organized for your upcoming exam. This will make exam time much easier.

An independent certified public accountant has examined Strunk’s operations and found them to be in compliance with the AICPA’s Trust Service Principles. It was determined that Strunk meets the Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy criteria for SOC 2 established by the AICPA.