Pub. 14 2017 Issue 1

O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S - H E L P I N G N E W M E X I C O R E A L I Z E D R E A M S 6 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE JAY JENKINS NMBA PRESIDENT Carlsbad Na�onal Bank I am very excited about the NMBA Annual Convention to be held June 8-9th in Ruidoso NM at the Inn of the Mountain Gods. We have a great program in store for you, with great speakers in a beautiful setting to learn, relax and promote our industry. This year’s ABA delegation of bankers from around the country broke a record whereby 1,500 bankers attended the event, a 50% in- crease from last year. This year’s topics in- cluded: the easing of Dodd Frank regulatory burden as it relates to various sizes of banks and specific products such as the banks’ abil- ity to make home mortgages and in a timely manner: repealing the Durbin Amendment; the Financial CHOICE Act, and the hot top- ic of cybersecurity, to name a few. Also, we proposed that Congress eliminate taxing SBA loans for the banking industry and possibly other commercial products and thereby cre- ating specific areas in which a bank can be on the same playing field as non-taxed credit unions. With New Mexico having the nation’s highest unemployment rate, our congres- sional delegates understand that banking is critical to helping move our state to a better place. Persistence really does make a differ- ence and our annual trips to DC reinforce that every year and, as a result, our relationships continue to grow. In fact, we were able to T hey say, “time f lies when you are having fun” and that phrase could not be truer than now - first quarter is gone and now we are off to the second quarter of 2017 - hold on! Recently, several NMBA members attended the American Bankers Association Governmental Relations Summit in Washington DC, led by John Anderson. Every year it is a success because we are at the table talking to our Senators and Representatives armed with the challenges facing the banking industry and voicing concerns from the people and places we serve in New Mexico.