Visit us online: Website | NCBA LinkedIn | NCEL LinkedIn NCBA Champions House Bill 754 to Strengthen Protections for Vulnerable Adults The North Carolina Bankers Association is advocating for the passage of House Bill 754, a bill to provide new tools to protect older adults and disabled adults from financial exploitation. NCBA developed the legislation with Representatives Stephen Ross (District 63 – Alamance), Julia Howard (District 77 – Davie, Rowan, Yadkin), Neal Jackson (District 78 – Moore, Randolph), and Sarah Crawford (District 66 – Wake).  House Bill 754 enjoys strong bipartisan support. The North Carolina House of Representatives passed the legislation earlier this month unanimously and sent it to the North Carolina Senate.   Read More ▶   Upcoming Professional Development: EFTA & Regulation E - June 5-6 Fraud Academy - August 12-14 Upcoming Annual Conferences: 2025 NCBA/OBL Annual Convention - June 23-26 Women Lead Symposium - July 17 2025 North Carolina School of Banking - July 21-25 NC Emerging Leaders Conference - November 3-4 (save the date!) 2025 Management Forum - November 4-6 (save the date!) Protect Your Customers with Fraud Academy  | August 12-14, 2025 Fraud is costing financial institutions valuable time and money, but your bank can fight back. Fraud Academy is a first-of-its-kind online training program designed to equip employees at all levels with the tools to detect, prevent, and mitigate fraud. Led by experts from the U.S. Secret Service, law enforcement, and fraud prevention specialists, this intensive, live streaming program covers over 18 fraud risk areas, including check fraud, elder fraud, cybercrime, and more. Send your team to the ultimate fraud prevention training program. Join us online or in-person on August 12-14! Learn More & Sign Up   State Legislative & Regulatory Update Disaster Recovery Bill Clears NC House Before leaving for the Memorial Day holiday, the NC House passed House Bill 1012, the Disaster Recovery Act of 2025 – Part II. The bill proposes an appropriation of $464.75 million in support of communities affected by Hurricane Helene and wildfires. Although the bill passed the House unanimously, it is unclear if the NC Senate will consider the bill as standalone legislation.  Under consideration is whether all or portions of the bill should be wrapped into state budget negotiations between the two chambers as they hash out the differences between the two chambers’ versions of Senate Bill 257, the 2025 Appropriations Act. Due to the holiday and those negotiations, no other bills are moving at present in the two chambers. Federal Legislative & Regulatory Update EEOC Data Collection Period Opens The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has opened the portal for employers to submit 2024 EEO-1 Component 1 data. The EEO-1 Component 1 survey requires private employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees to submit data on employees’ gender, race and ethnicity annually to the EEOC. The deadline for submitting 2024 EEO-1 Component 1 data is June 24.  The portal’s webpage includes a message from EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas stating employers may not use their EEO-1 data to facilitate unlawful employment discrimination in an effort to diversify the racial or gender composition of the employer’s workforce. Lucas also stated that EEOC will prioritize remedying intentional discrimination claims and will deprioritize ‘disparate impact’ enforcement. Congressional Activity The House Financial Services Committee held a meeting before the Memorial Day holiday to vote on a series of bills. Among the bills receiving a favorable vote are: H.R. 940, the FAIR Exams Act, which would provide greater transparency in bank exams and establish a new, independent appeals process. Rep. Tim Moore is an original cosponsor. H.R. 1013, the Retirement Fairness for Charities and Educational Institutions Act, which would authorize 403(b) retirement savings plans (for employees of public schools and certain charities) to invest in bank collective investment trusts.  H.R. 1469, the Senior Security Act, which would create a task force at the SEC dedicated to combating the exploitation of senior investors.  H.R. 1900, the Bank Failure Prevention Act of 2025, which would require the Federal Reserve to decide on merger applications within 90 days to restore transparency and timeliness in the bank acquisition application process. H.R. 2441, the Improving Disclosures for Investors Act of 2025, which would require the SEC to promulgate rules to allow for the use of electronic delivery options to meet regulatory communication requirements to investors.  H.R. 2702, the FIRM Act, which would prohibit the federal banking regulators from implementing subjective oversight akin to “Operation Chokepoint” in the future by removing reputational risk as a component of federal supervision when determining the safety and soundness of regulated depository institutions. Rep. Tim Moore is an original cosponsor. H.R. 3230, the Financial Institution Regulatory Tailoring Enhancement Act, which would raise the asset threshold from $10 billion to $50 billion for the applicability of certain regulations, including CFPB supervision, the Volcker Rule, qualified mortgage standards, and certain leverage and risk-based capital requirements. H.R. 3379, the HUMPS Act of 2025, which would require the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council to develop formal recommendations to revise the CAMELS rating system and require the regulatory agencies to implement them through joint rulemaking. H.R. 3380, the TAILOR Act of 2025, which would require the federal banking regulators to consider an institution’s risk profile and business model when issuing new regulations or taking supervisory actions. Goodbye Penny The U.S. Mint has placed its last order for penny blanks and plans to cease production when these blanks are used up, which should occur in 2026. The cost was 3.7 cents per penny for fiscal year 2024. Retailers will eventually need to round transactions to the nearest five cents. The penny was one of the first coins made by the U.S. Mint after its establishment in 1792.  The first penny was made of pure copper and featured a woman with flowing hair symbolizing liberty. In 1909, Abraham Lincoln became the first president featured on U.S. coins in honor of his 100th birthday. Analysis of the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ With the passage late last week by the U.S. House of H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” making changes to U.S. tax policy and spending, the Tax Foundation has released a preliminary analysis. The preliminary analysis predicts that the bill would increase long-run GDP by 0.8 percent, but the bill’s tax and spending changes would increase the 10-year budget deficit by $2.6 trillion from 2025 through 2034 on a conventional basis before added interest costs.  On a dynamic basis, accounting for economic growth, the deficit would increase by $1.7 trillion over ten years before interest costs. The bill passed the House by a vote of 215-214, mostly on a party line vote with two Republicans voting against and one Republican voting “present.” Quarterly Banking Profile Released  According to the FDIC’s latest Quarterly Banking Profile, insured depository institutions reported a return on assets ratio of 1.16% and aggregate net income of $70.6 billion, an increase of $3.8 billion, or 5.8%, from the prior quarter. An increase in noninterest income drove the quarterly increase in net income. The net interest margin fell by two basis points to 3.25 percent, equal to the pre-pandemic average. Congratulations to the Seventh BankWork$ Cohort! Congratulations to the seventh cohort to complete the BankWork$ program. BankWork$ is a collaborative partnership with Goodwill Industries offering an 8-week curriculum that gives participants the skills, access and coaching needed to succeed and grow in banking careers.  We'd like to thank North State Bank's Ryan Morgan, chair of the North Carolina Emerging Leaders, for serving as the keynote speaker, and we'd like to thank BankWork$ instructor Sondra Collins for attending the ceremony. NCBA Announcements Stay Ahead of EFTA and Regulation E with Patti Joyner | June 5-6, 2025 Notice: This program is eligible for 11.75 CERP/CAFP/CRCM credits. By popular request, we are excited to bring back Patti Joyner to walk your compliance team through the latest updates to the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E.  Join Patti Joyner for this in-depth exploration of the evolving payments landscape. This session will cover key updates to the EFTA and Regulation E, highlighting emerging risks, fintech and BaaS influences, and best practices for error resolution and fraud prevention. Equip your institution with the insights and tools needed to navigate today’s complex regulatory environment. Sign up today! Learn More & Sign Up   Save the Date for Two Exciting Leadership Events | November 3-6, 2025 This November, two generations of banking leadership come together at the historic Omni Grove Park Inn. Don't miss these back-to-back annual traditions: North Carolina Emerging Leaders Conference | Nov. 3–4 Management Forum | Nov. 4–6 Join us in Asheville, where tomorrow’s leaders will meet today’s decision-makers to exchange ideas, build connections, and shape what’s next for North Carolina's banking industry. Save the date and keep an eye out for more information as we approach the fall! Professional Development Training with our Partnered Providers Authentic Leadership (ABA) - Self Paced Building Collaborative Teams (ABA) - Self Paced Communicating Vision (ABA) - Self Paced Leadership in Action Suite (ABA) - Self Paced Management Essentials Suite (ABA) - Self Paced The Role of AI in Risk Management and Banking: Innovations, Challenges, and Future Trends - June 5 - 1.8 APRP Credits Appraisal Review Workshop - June 5 - 3 CRCM Credits AI FAQs for Bank Accountants - June 6 - 1 CPE Credit Compliance for the Board: Meeting Annual Training Requirements - June 10 - 2 CRCM Credits 2025 Fair Lending All-Day Live Streaming - June 10 - 7 CRCM Credits ACH File Formats: Learn ACH File Formatting and Prepare for the AAP Exam - June 12 - 2 AAP Credits Responsibilities of the Information Security Officer - June 17  Alert! Beneficial Ownership Evolution – New Interim Final Rule - June 27 Need credits? Earn SHRM, AAP, APRP, CRCM, CPE and more with our partnered webinars! CBS Spotlight Best Ways to Destroy a Hard Drive In today’s digital age, information security risks don’t end when you shut your laptop, turn off your smartphone, or unplug your servers. Nor does it vanish when your organization retires obsolete equipment, gets rid of broken-down devices, and upgrades its technology. Outdated or broken technology remains an information security risk. If you don’t properly destroy the data stored on that equipment, confidential information can still be retrieved and leave both your company and customers vulnerable. As long as the hardware physically exists, the sensitive data on it can potentially be retrieved with data recovery tools and misused by those with bad intentions. This includes hardware from: Desktop computers, laptops, and tablets External hard drives and flash drives Cellphones, smartphones, and smartwatches Printers, copiers, servers, and other common office equipment and technology Physical media storage, such as CDs, DVDs, magnetic back-up tapes, zip disks/drives, and floppy disks All this obsolete technology is a data breach waiting to happen – a liability you cannot afford to ignore. To securely destroy old hard drives and other electronic devices, consider hiring a professional hard drive destruction service. Services, like CBS endorsed partner Shred-it®, offer state-of-the-art destruction methods, including crushing and shearing, to ensure data is unrecoverable. They also provide certified data destruction with a secure chain of custody and environmentally responsible recycling. Learn more about how Shred-it® can help you protect your physical data with secure hard drives and document destruction services. Through the CBS endorsement, NCBA members enjoy 30% off Shred-it’s market rates for document and hard drive destruction. Industry Update Carter Bank Completes the Purchase of Two First Reliance Bank Branches in North Carolina Carter Bankshares, Inc. (Nasdaq: CARE), the holding company for Carter Bank, announced today the completion of the previously announced Purchase and Assumption for the deposits associated with two branches in Mooresville and Winston-Salem, North Carolina with First Reliance Bankshares, Inc. (OTC: FSRL), the holding company for First Reliance Bank. The bank acquired $55.9 million of deposits at the two branch locations and welcomed 10 new associates to its team. The transaction did not include any loans. The Winston-Salem branch is the bank's first location in the city, expanding its presence in the Triad, where it already has branches in Greensboro, Reidsville, Eden, and Mt. Airy. The Mooresville location, the bank's second in town, further enhances its footprint in the Charlotte area, which also includes a branch in downtown Charlotte. These expansions demonstrate the bank's commitment to fostering opportunities for individuals and businesses throughout North Carolina. “We’re grateful for the opportunity to expand our operations in North Carolina and help the people of Winston-Salem and Lake Norman live life to the fullest,” said Carter Bank Chief Executive Officer Litz Van Dyke. “I’m very proud of our team's hard work to ensure the smoothest transition possible for both the customers and bank associates, and we are very excited to continue building and expanding these relationships.” Peoples Bank Announces Retirement of Board Members Peoples Bank announces the retirement of two esteemed members of its board of directors, Larry Robinson and Dan Timmerman, Sr. They leave behind a legacy of dedicated service, leadership, and significant contributions to the Bank’s success. “Larry Robinson and Dan Timmerman, Sr.’s leadership and dedication have been pivotal to the Bank’s growth and direction over the years,” said Peoples Bank CEO Bill Cable. “We truly appreciate their insight, guidance, and willingness to serve our employees, communities, and shareholders.  Their contributions have set a benchmark that will continue to guide management and the board of directors as we move forward.”  Peoples Bank Board Chair Robert Abernethy reflected on their service, stating “Larry and Dan represented the board and Peoples Bank well for years, chairing and serving on every committee throughout their tenure.  Their leadership will be missed.” Words of Wisdom Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished -  Lao Tzu NC Bankers Association | 3601 Haworth Drive | Raleigh | NC | 27609 | US If you no longer want to receive emails regarding the NCBankers Bulletin, please profile.