Executive Letter: The Value of Your WBA Legal Team
By Rose Oswald Poels
As our fiscal year ends, we typically look at various association data points to track the value that WBA is providing members. Given my past role working in our legal department, I am always interested to see the volume of calls and emails that the WBA Legal Team handles from members. Both WBA attorneys, Heather MacKinnon and Scott Birrenkott, make it a priority to respond to the wide variety of questions posed by members daily. The scope and depth of their knowledge makes the legal call program an incredibly valuable resource, and this year they answered more than 2,000 calls. We are particularly pleased when members try out the legal call program for the first time because we know it will lead to a greater comfort level with making future inquiries. It is a perfect example of the value proposition of WBA membership since there is no additional charge for these calls, and it is just one of many opportunities for your bank to benefit from the expertise and guidance of our legal team.
The depth and variety of resources offered by the WBA Legal Team beyond the call program has grown over the years. Below is a listing of just some of the resources available to members that your staff should be aware of and take advantage of.
WBA Compliance Journal: This monthly publication released via WBA’s Wisconsin Banker Daily e-publication and archived on the WBA website delivers articles about new compliance law, industry news, and insights. The website also provides helpful indexes for researching past articles.
Legal Live: Hear directly from WBA Legal about recent compliance concerns, hot issues, and best practice recommendations during free Legal Live webinar discussions. Watch for announcements in our Daily e-publication for the next periodic webinar.
Toolkits, Banker Guides, and other Resources: Numerous resources are made available on the WBA website and in the Compliance Folder of the WBA Best Practices Library, including Flood Insurance and Electronic Signature toolkits, Banker Guides for Marital Property Act, Transfer by Affidavit, LLCs, and a host of FAQs and other frequently requested resources.
Compliance Corner Videos: Informal, short videos of the latest agency guidance are released each month and can be found on WBA’s YouTube channel and website where they are archived.
Referral Letters to DFI: To help combat against deceptive use of banks’ names, the WBA Legal Team routinely reviews redacted versions of solicitations which include deceptive use of bank name for submission to DFI asking for a cease and desist order be issued against the wrongdoer. Please email the legal department when you discover such deceptive marketing.
Industry Advocacy: In ongoing efforts to reduce regulatory burden, the WBA Legal Team routinely files comment letters with regulatory agencies providing insight and impact of agency proposals.
Other WBA Legal Team Resources made available at nominal amounts:
The WBA Account Titling Video Series
(The WBA Legal Process Video Series – to be released this summer)
WBA Negotiable Instruments Manual
WBA Procedures Upon a Depositor’s Death Manual
WBA Wisconsin Law Book 2022 (new 2024 version and ‘24 supplement for 2022 manual currently in the making)
WBA Safe Deposit Box Manual
Finally, another recent service offered by the legal department is custom in-house compliance training at a very reasonable cost. We have already had a few banks take the team up on this opportunity for one of our attorneys to provide your staff with compliance training tailored to the needs of your bank on a robust list of topics. The training may be conducted in-person or as a virtual meeting.
WBA is proud to offer these local and meaningful compliance services to our members, which is not offered by every bankers’ association in the country. Your ongoing membership and support of WBA helps make this possible so I encourage you to continue to utilize the many resources we offer to your team and your bank.
