James Hughes, Ph.D., an economist from Rutgers University, began the program by presenting an Economic and Demographic Change. Professor Hughes compared the current post-recession expansion starting in June 2009 to the pre-recession expansion from November 2001-December 2007. He noted the significant job losses that New Jersey has suffered during recessionary periods while the state has failed to offset the losses by experiencing sufficient employment growth during periods of expansion to.

Dr. Hughes indicated the strong historical shift in employment from New York City to New Jersey has reversed over the past decade or so. He cited examples of the closing of several large corporate campuses headquartered in New Jersey in favor of more strategic locations. He also noted how “Age-Defined Demographics” has resulted in significant population shifts away from a number of counties in the tristate area.

BSA/AML Updates: Key Trends in BSA/AML Compliance was presented by David Lutz, Senior Manager from P&G Associates. David enumerated certain key trends in recent Suspicious Activity Reporting (“SAR”) by institutions and noted the money laundering vulnerabilities that banks are now facing. He emphasized the heightened level of regulatory expectations due to the fallout from the financial crisis, emergence of complex financial products and the lack of sufficient resources allocated to risk management and BSA/AML compliance.

David emphasized how enhanced due diligence and SARs monitoring have become the key areas of examinations. He noted the common deficiencies and the emerging trends in regard to BSA compliance and recommended a detailed action plan that financial managers can utilize to minimize exposure and maintain compliance.

Following a relaxing coffee break, Members returned to the conference room for a presentation by Lavent Kacan from Diebold entitled Making Sense of Your Branch Transformation. Lavent discussed the recent trends in branch expansion experienced by Diebold’s branch transformation team. He showed specific examples of new branch facilities ranging from a small storefront footprint to enormous “full-service” facilities offering customers the ultimate in services and accommodations. He noted that management teams must consider a number of relevant factors in order to properly evaluate the size and type of branch facility that will best fit the needs of the bank.

Cybersecurity: What CFO’s Need to Know was the final topic presented by William Nowik of Wolf & Company. William defined cybersecurity as “the ability to protect or defend the use of cyberspace from cyber attacks”. He described organized crime, spies, terrorists and hacktivists as “threat agents” and then described the common cyber threats to banks. Consequently, he enumerated “What Banks Need to Know” regarding cybersecurity, specifically that hackers have more than one motive and method of attack and too many people still fall for phishing attacks. William described examiners expectations regarding a bank’s risk management process. He provided guidelines for measuring a bank’s readiness level, benchmark testing and the impact of cybersecurity to the bank’s other risk management programs.

Topics and Speakers