The Sub S Bank Report – June 2017 (Volume 20, Issue 1)

HR 2339 was introduced  by Representative Kenny Marchant (R-Tex)  on May 4, 2017 in the 115th Congress.  The bill would  permit  Subchapter S Banks and their holding companies to  have  500 shareholders and  to issue preferred stock. The bill is identical to HR 2789 introduced by Rep. Marchant in the 114th Congress with the exception of minor changes recommended by the Joint  Committee on Taxation.  Those  changes  limit make the number of preferred shareholders subject to the 500 shareholder limit and limit preferred shareholders to shareholders who could otherwise own Subchapter S stock.  In addition, a  echnical wording  change  was made to coordinate the size of the S corp’s deduction for dividends paid on preferred stock with the gains taxable to preferred holders.

Congressman Marchant has asked that the industry encourage their representatives to co-sponsor the bill with him to evidence broad support.

He also asks that the industry secure the commitment of Chairman Brady to include the provisions in the original tax reform bill being drafted and anticipated to be introduced in July 2017.

We invite every bank to request their Congressional representatives to sign on as co-sponsors of the bill, whether you are an S corp bank or  a C corp bank, considering an election.
A copy of the bill can be found at https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/2339/all-actions?overview=closed

Bank Stock

For bank issuers  of preferred  stock, perpetual,  non­ cumulative preferred  shares  may  be treated  as tier 1 capital. To be treated as tier 1 capital, the stock must be  non-cumulative, must  be  perpetual, and  may  not be callable by  the holder.  The preferred  stock  must be   subordinate  to   general  creditors,  subordinated debt, and depositors in the event of a receivership, insolvency, or similar  proceeding. With narrow exceptions,  preferred  stock  with  additional  features, such as cumulative  dividends,  dividend  resets that are tied to market rates, or call features, will be treated as tier 2 capital.  The amount of preferred shares that may be treated as tier 1 capital  is limited to 25% of the total tier 1 capital,  and amounts exceeding 25% of total tier 1 capital  will be treated as tier 2 capital.

Small Bank Holding Companies

Small bank  holding  companies are generally  excepted from the  capital rules  of 12 CFR Part 217. For bank holding company issuers under $1 billion in assets, this means that the holding  company  may issue preferred stock and invest  its proceeds  in its subsidiary bank, which may be counted as tier 1 capital common stock for the subsidiary  bank. This provides  an effective method for bank holding companies  under $1 billion to provide additional  tier  1 capital   for subsidiary banks.  Please note  that,  based upon  the  risk  profile  and  complexity of  the bank and bank  holding company, regulators may choose by way of an order to apply capital  rules that are normally applicable to institutions with $1 billion or more in assets.

Larger Bank Holding Companies

For bank holding company issuers  with assets  of $1 billion or more, the issue of perpetual, non-cumulative preferred  shares may be treated  as tier 1 capital.  As with  bank  stock,  the  amount  of preferred  shares that may be treated as tier 1 capital is limited to 25% of the total  tier 1 capital.  Additional amounts  in excess  of 25% will be treated as  tier 2 capital.   As described above for bank issuers, most preferred shares with additional  features,   such  as dividend  cumulation, limited maturities, or a call feature for the holder cannot be treated as tier 1 capital and must be included in tier 2 capital.

Benefits of H.R. 2339

H.R. 2339 provides an additional tool  for Subchapter S banks to raise capital.  In contrast with an issue of additional common  stock,  issuing  preferred  stock  is non-dilutive   to  common  equity  holders.   In  addition, an  issue  of  preferred   shares  will  not  confer  voting rights on new shareholders  or alter the voting  rights of current shareholders. Stockholders who do not want to manage, or stockholders who no longer wish to actively oversee bank operations may find a preferred  dividend more attractive than their current shares of voting stock. Stockholders in these categories  may include  estates, trusts,  retired  directors  or stockholding managers, or shareholders with small holdings.

SubS Legistlative Task Force Report

Sub S Legislative  Task Force meets every 3 weeks  in a dial in conference  call which lasts no more than 15- 30 minutes. We encourage  you to designate  join the Task Force which is made  up of CEOs and their active designees.  The  goal  is  to  develop  tactical  plans  to support the legislative effort and to monitor the important tax legislation  being  worked  on by the Congress  and Administration.   Valuable  insights  are  shared  by  the Association Executive Team as well as Bank CEOs who are key participants at ABA and ICBA and a number of state associations.

The recently introduced SubS Capital Access Bill  HR 2339  was  modified by  Sub  S Bank Association and Congressman Marchant at the suggestion of   Joint Committee on Taxation  (JCT)   primarily to cut back on the  anticipated cost  of the  bill  as  initially envisioned by  JCT.  These  discussions with  JCT  took  place in June 2016 and we are still awaiting JCT's scoring conclusions. Several  SubS Bank CEO's attended this meeting and  saw  first  hand  how  JCT has  a powerful influence over such  legislation.

JCT Position on cost

The JCT took the position that numbers of shareholders drives up the cost to the Treasury using the assumption that  new Sub S Bank investors would  be taking  funds from taxable investments and  investing. We asserted that  this  does  not  necessarily follow.  First,  it's  about the amount  of new  capital coming into a Sub S Bank not necessarily the number of shareholders; secondly, most new community bank investment is going to come from idle cash,  generally not earning much  if anything and easily in a tax exempt  or pass-thru investment instrument.

Sub  s  bank  association  research  shows  no cost- more research dollars needed

The SubS Bank Association provided research to the JCT  which  actually supports " no cost"  a score  for the bill  and  a potential positive to the  US Treasury. While this conclusion was intuitive based on our decades of experience in this area, it was actually based on  call report  analysis of all S corp  and C Corp  banks  during 2014-2015. This research was  performed for us by  a Georgetown University graduate student  who  is now employed at  the  Bureau  of Statistics. We would  like to be  able  to update and  formalize  this  research but do  not  have  the  funds  available to  do  this.  We  had been communicating with  some  University Professor/ researchers  who  had   proposed to  do some data analysis on SubS Banks which would  have assisted us in this legislative effort, specifically proving our point to JCT.  The cost  estimates were  $30-40K  and  we would be most appreciative if one or more banks would  like to step forward to help  fund this effort,  it would  be  much appreciated and very  helpful  as we deal with JCT.  We understand that similar studies in other industries have come to the same conclusion.

JCT  has  yet  to  provide a score for  the  bill  despite continued urging  from  Congressman Marchant and Senator  Cornyn  who wants  to introduce the  bill  in the Senate.   JCT  says  they   are  swamped  with   scoring chores  on  the  health  care  and  tax  reform  legislation, but   we   think   with   more   co-sponsors  and   urging from Members of Congress, their priorities could  be changed.

SubS  Legistlative Task Force Report

Sub  S Legislative Task  Force  meets  every  3  weeks in a dial  in conference call  which  lasts  no  more  than 15-30  minutes.   We  encourage you  to  designate  join the  Task Force  which  is made  up  of CEOs  and  their active   designees.  The   goal   is  to   develop tactical plans  to support the  legislative effort  and  to monitor the  important tax  legislation being worked on by  the Congress and  Administration. Valuable insights are shared  by the Association Executive Team as well  as Bank CEOs who are key participants at ABA and ICBA and  a number  of  state  associations. Please  contact  Patrick  Kennedy or Amy Willcox  for more information. Our  next  call  will  take  place Thursday, June  29th at 3:00pm.
 

Bill   Expected  Soon  – A  conversation   with Speaker Ryan

Tax Reform progresses in the House and Administration and current information from committee members and in a recent  conversation with the Speaker suggest a bill will be introduced sometime this month or early July prior  to the summer  recess in August,  providing some time  over  the recess  to study  and  react  to provisions. Congressional Members believe a bill  will  be  passed by December.  In a visit on May 31, Speaker  Ryan told us  the  House under Chairman Brady's leadership, the White House  and Senate are working  on the bill.  He  advised that  the  bill  reflects  the  Republican Blueprint he and Chairman Brady  published last June  – and that the White House  has embraced most of its provisions.  He cited  the very low corporate rates in Canada, Ireland  and  many other  countries with  which we  compete and  said  that  after  35 years  its  time  for major  tax reform.  Despite the barrage of press  and "naysayers", our personal visit with Speaker  Ryan and key Congressional  Republicans  is  very  convincing that they have the will and confidence to get tax reform done.

Corporate tax rates are biggest opportunity

The  proposed  rate  changes for  both C  and S corp banks  under  the  House  or  the  President's proposals would  provide a tremendous benefit  to all  banks  and bank shareholders. In terms of immediate dollars,  there is no other higher priority in our view. We strongly urge you to call or write your Congressional representatives and Chairman Brady  in support of their  efforts.

The House Proposal

The  House  proposal from  June  2016  was  di scussed in full in  our  last  newsletter.  If the  Brady-Ryan Plan is enacted as proposed, Subchapter S bank  owners  will enjoy  significant tax  relief.  The current maximum rate of 39.6%  plus  the 3.8%  net  investment tax  would  melt down  to  a 25%  rate,  all  in,  which  would  flow through to individual Subchapter S shareholders. The President elect  has  proposed a 15%  rate,  but the  details of his plan are by no means evident  and our hope is that there would  be  a place in the  middle or even  at the  Brady Ryan number  that would  prevail.

While no text has been  released, we believe the bill  will emerge essentially as  originally outlined in  the  June 2016  Blueprint. The House Blueprint – A Better  Way Forward  is an  eminently readable and  very  thoughtful document which  truly sets out a very well reasoned and researched plan. It is most definitely worth reading and contains nearly 50 footnotes to books, research papers, testimony etc  in support of the plan  and the  problems with our current  system which it addresses. See https:// waysandmeans.house.gov/taxreform/

President's View

There is a belief  in the House that the President's more aggressive rate  cuts  proposed during   the  campaign and  again  recently in  the one  page  principles outline release  of ApriI 26th,  2017, would  be too expensive and that there would not be enough "offsets" to pay for it.  House Ways & Means Committee members are  determined not  to  balance cuts  against  revenue so no net cost.  This is where  the Congressional Policy and  Economic Theory  get interesting, since many economists and  in particular those favored  by the President and his team believe that economic impact of tax cuts and tax reform will more than cover  the deficits created.

Senate Participation

It  is  very   encouraging  to  know   that  the  Senate   is quietly   participating  in  these   discussions.  We  know from  discussions with  Senator  Cornyn that these conversations  are  ongoing.  We  also   know   that   his wisdom is that it  is very  important to make  tax  reform a bipartisan effort to ensure  its longevity.  Whether  this can happen remains to be seen.

"Showdown at Gucci Gulch"

"Showdown at Gucci Gulch" is a great  book written  by two  Wall  Street  Journal   reporters about  how  the  last major tax reform  got passed through Congress in 1986. It i s quite a read  and  will give you encouragement that the  stars  can  align  to  get  this  done,  even  though lots of storm  clouds appear on the way. See especially the dramatic discussion of the Senate Finance Committee's final  vote  of  approval at  the  begining of  Chapter 1, where  the committee vote was 20-0 "For" when no one on the committee let alone  all the lobbyist s outside the Committee Hearing  room,  known   as  "Gucci Gulch," knew the outcome until the actual vote was taken.
Frankly,  we hope  the President's view wins out. The combination of a new attitude about  regulation, the importance of business certainty in tax matters  and regulation will  do a tremendous amount  to encourage investment and prosperity.

Conclusion

In our  work  over  the  last few years  on Capitol Hill, we have seen many surprising things happen that were very positive and  frankly  never  get any press.  For example, Chairman Luedtkemeyer's passage in December 2015 of a bill  to increase the  small  bank  holding company dollar threshold to$1 billion in total assets from $500MM, which  helped over  600  bank   holding  companies  in their  capital planning and  could help  another  600  or more  banks  who  do  not  have  holding companies use leverage to fund  growth,  shareholder liquidity and  new opportunities. We  are  optimistic about  the  prospects of  reform  but know that it will not happen without  grassroots support from our  industry. We can't  emphasize enough the importance of each  bank,  board, shareholders and management encouraging their  Congressional Reps to pass Tax Reform and include our SubS Capital  Access bill  in it.

https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/Tax/us-tax-2017-tax-reform-for-economic-growth-and-american-jobs.pdf

MAIN STREET  FAIRNESS ACT INTRODUCED TO ASSURE PASS-THROUGH PARITY

Congressman Vern Buchanan (R-Fia.) reintroduced his bill this Congress  to help pass-through  entities  which are taxed at even high rates than C corp's  are. HR 116 provides  as follows.
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to prevent qualified business income attributed to individuals from being taxed at a higher rate than corporate income.

• a partnership  in  which the taxpayer holds  a capital  or profits interest;
• an S corporation in which the taxpayer is a shareholder;
• a sole proprietorship  or an entity otherwise disregarded as separate from its sole owner, in which the taxpayer is the sole owner; and
• a trust or estate in which the taxpayer is a beneficiary
• Qualified  business  income  does  not  include  any item taken into account in determining net capital gain or the financial services income of partnerships.

SENATE VERSION OF HR 2339- CAPITAL ACCESS  FOR SMALL BUSINESS BANKS PROGRESSING

With Senator  Cornyn's  commitment  to  introduce   the House  version  of our bill  into the Senate as soon as we have some Democratic  co-sponsors, we have a significant  opportunity.  The Senator who is the Majority Whip, the second most powerful position in the Senate, is also a member of the Senate Finance Committee, where the Tax Reform legislation  will ultimately  come as a last key step before  passage.   He plans to mark the bill  up which  will  be the predicate to  include  it if it is  not  already  in  the tax  reform proposal  from the House. This would of course  be thing to happen  since the biII would already have been scored as a part of the comprehensive package.
We have met with the following  Senate Offices on the Democratic  side and  briefed  each  legislative  and tax policy  director.

Florida- Senator Bill Nelson

Pennsylvania- Senator Bob Casey

All we need  now is a push  from constituent  banks  in each State. These efforts are underway  in Florida but we need  help from other states.   For a draft letter to send to your Senators, please contact  Amy Willcox at awillcox@kslawllp.com

Here is a list of other Senate Finance Committee members   which  we  need  to  have  sign  the  Senate version:

Idaho- Senator Chuck Grassley

Indiana- Senator Mike Crapo

Kansas- Senator Pat Roberts

Wyoming- Senator Michael Enzi

Texas- Senator John Cornyn

South Dakota- Senator John Thune

North Caroloina- Senator Richard Burr

Georgia- Senator Johnny Isakson

Ohio- Senator Rob Protman

Pensylvania- Senator Patrick Toomey

Nevada- Senator Dean Heller

South Carolina- Senator Tim Scott

Louisianna- Senator Bill Cassidy

Michigan- Senator Debbie Stabenow

Washington- Senator Maria Cantwell

Florida- Senator Bill Nelson

New Jersey- Senator Robert Menendez

Delaware- Senator Thomas R. Carper

Maryland-  Senator Benjamin L. Cardin

Ohio- Senator Sherrod Brown

Colorado- Senator Michael F. Bennet

Virginia- Senator Mark R. Warner

Missouri- Senator Claire McCaskill

All  signs   are  that  S corps and   other  pass  through business entities will  fare  even  better  under  all scenarios being discussed. The devil  is  in the  detail however,  which   is  hard   to  predict  at  this  point.   In summary, S corp income would  be  taxed   at  a  25% rate  under  the House  proposal and  15%  under  the President's proposal rather  than the current  individual rate of 39.6% plus 3.8%.  Net investment income tax for non-active shareholders plus  applicable state income rates.  C  corp's would   be  taxed   at  20%  rate  under House  proposals and dividend income would  be taxed at  50%  of  the  individual's  marginal rate  up  to  33% under  House Proposal and 35%  under  the President's proposal.

S corp and pass-through's advantage and potential abuse

There  has  been  a  fairly  significant amount  of  press about the potential for abuse and almost an assumption of   abuse   among  pass-through  entities    under   the proposed rate  changes. The  suggestion  has  been that  S corp  shareholders, LLC members and  partners in  a  partnership would   reduce their  salaries (which are  taxed   at  ordinary income rates)  and  move  that compensation into dividend/distribution or net taxable income that would flow through to individuals and  be taxed  at the hopefully new "flow- thru rates of 15-25% rather  than  the  highest proposed individual rates  of 33-35%.

Congressman Marchant, our bill sponsor  and a senior member of the  Ways & Means  Committee discussed this concept with us recently during a visit to his office in  DC.  He  says  the Committee is  working on  a "safe harbor" that would establish a ''70/30"  rule.   This idea comes  from the prior  work of former  Chairman Camp, which would  provide a strict  ratio  of wagers (70%)  to net income (30%)  amd tax any net income above that ratio  at  the  higher  "wage" or  ordinary income rate. The Brady-  Ryan Blueprint has this to say about  the concept:

 "Today, 95 percent of businesses  in the United States are operated  as sole proprietorships  or pass-through entities such as partnerships, limited liability companies (which are taxed in the same manner as partnerships), and S   corporations.  Moreover, more  than  50 percent of  business  income  in  the  United  States  is  earned through  sole proprietorships  or pass  through  entities. Business income  earned through a sole proprietorship or  a  pass-through entity  today  is  reported  by  the owner or owners of the business  on their individual tax returns and is taxed at an income tax rate as high as 44.6 percent. This Blueprint  will limit the tax rate that applies to small business  and pass-through  income to the 25 percent bracket.  In other words, the 33 percent bracket  will not apply  to  the  active business  income of   sole   proprietorships   and   pass-through   entities. This represents the lowest top tax rate on the income of such businesses  since before  World War II. Under this new approach for taxing small businesses,  sole proprietorships  and pass-through  businesses  will pay or be treated as having paid reasonable compensation to their owner-operators.  Such compensation  will be deductible  by the business  and will be  subject to tax at the graduated  rates for families and individuals. The compensation that is taxed at the lowest individual  tax bracket rate of 12 percent effectively will further reduce the total income tax burden on these small businesses and pass-through  entities.

We will urge  the Committee and  staff to avoid  getting too  concerned about  this  because particularly in the banking industry where there are pretty  accepted standards on compensation and the likelihood of "rate­ manipulation" is in our opinion very low.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP

In case  you can't  tell from this Sub S Bank Report,  we are very excited about  the prospects of meaningful tax rate  reduction and  expansion of  Subchapter S Bank Capital  Access. Now  more than anytime in the last 20 years has there been such a big opportunity. I strongly encourage you to take  some time and  step back  from your usual busy day to day routine to help make the difference.

1.   Call and write your Congressional Representatives and   their   staffs   and   express  your   support  for meaning tax reform in the form of rate reduction for C and S corps as outlined by the House  Blueprint; also  encourage them  to support HR        2339  by  co­ sponsoring the bill  and  asking Chairman Brady  to include it in the intitial tax reform  package.

2.   Ask your  Senator's to support the Senate  Version of the Bill soon to be introduced, so it can be a bipartisan effort;

3.   Send   a  check  to   Sub   S   Bank   Association  – Legislative  Fund   to   help   support  our   efforts;
      $150,000 needed.

4.   Consider sending a check to fund  data  research on Sub S bank  issues  to  support tax  reform  and Sub S legislative efforts  – $35,000  needed;

5.   Consider  contributions  to Chairman Brady, Senator Cornyn,  Congressman   Marchant   and  others;  we can channel your direct  contributions  or assist you in getting them to the right place.

6.   Encourage  Board  and  Shareholder  Participation in these issues;

7.   Call  us if you  need  background materials,  draft letters of support etc.

Thank you very much!!

The  OCC  issued   an  updated   licensing   manual  on new bank charters last September. The guidance is comprehensive and certainly reflects the more current regulatory environment, including the importance of corporate governance, technology and systems, risk measurement  and planning.  The Guidance  is a "user­ friendly"   roadmap  to  organizing   groups  and  clearly invites new bank charters. The guidance  specifically references the possibility  that a de novo bank could be organized as an S corp from the beginning and provides some  specific  recommendations   and  guidelines  that result from the S election.

The FDIC similarly issued guidance  on its deposit insurance application process which essentially is bundled   into  one  application  with  a  new  national bank.  The guidance  was first published in November
2016  for comment  by  the public  and   issued  in final form April 2017. In addition to recognizing and dealing with  the  uniqueness   of  a  Sub  S  Bank  applying   for deposit insurance in connection  with a new charter, the guidance  addresses  corporate  governance  practices in some  detail. Specifically, it sets out guidelines  for membership  on the board  of directors of the proposed bank,  director  independence,  talent  acquisition and succession and separately discusses duties and responsibilities  of  bank   holding   company   directors in contrast to their subsidiary  bank directors. The guidance  provides  as follows:

MORE  TO   KNOW:   Additional   Considerations    in
Board/Management Selections

Board Member Independence

Typically,  the   FDIC  requires   the  majority   of  the board   of  directors   to   be   independent   directors. An independent  director is generally  defined as a director  that is  (a) not  a principal,  member,  officer, or employee of the institution, and (b) not a principal, member, director,  officer, or employee of any affiliate or principal shareholder.
The  proposed  institution's  audit  committee  should meet  applicable  independent  director  requirements as set forth in Part 363 of the FDIC Rules and Regulations  and  the  Interagency  Policy  Statement on External Auditing Programs of Banks and Savings

Associations. Institutions with less than $500 million in assets are strongly encouraged to establish an audit committee consisting entirely of outside directors.

Individuals with Substantial Influence

•  The  FDIC  closely   evaluates   any  circumstance   in which a proposed individual  will substantially  influence the institution  beyond  that expected given  their official role. In such situations, organizers should ensure that appropriate  mitigating  factors  are  implemented,   such as well-developed business plans, sufficient board independence and oversight, and effective internal controls.
 

Management    Succession    Planning    and    Talent Development

Management succession planning and talent development are important for a new institution to ensure continuity in key senior management positions. "
The FDIC recognizes  that banks can be organized  as both S Corps and LLCs and provides  as follows:

"A de novo  institution  may elect  to be incorporated  as a C Corporation  (C Corp),  an S Corporation  (S Corp), or a limited  liability company  (LLC).  There are notable differences  between  corporate  forms  with  respect  to the number of allowable shareholders, the terms of prospective capital distributions, and the tax treatment of income and losses.

For example, the C Corp allows for an unlimited number of shareholders,  while S Corps are restricted by Internal Revenue Service regulations as to the number of shareholders. A C Corp pays taxes on its income directly, while its shareholders are taxed on cash dividends. Alternatively, an S Corp passes through taxable income or losses directly to shareholders, who report those earnings on individual  tax returns. Shareholders  of both the C Corp and S Corp are generally  subject to limited shareholder liability.

Although there are not presently any insured institutions incorporated  as  LLCs,  rules  for  LLCs  are provided  in state law  and Section  303.15  of the FDIC  Rules  and Regulations.   De  novo   organizers   should  thoroughly consider    the   legal,   tax,    and   capital    implications associated  with a particular corporate  form and choose the  corporate  structure  that  best  suits  their  business
strategy."
 

I   was   honored  to  be   asked  to  testify   before  the House  Financial Institutions and  Consumer Protection Subcommittee on March  21, 2017.    A summary of my remarks are included below.

Full Hearing can be found at https://financialservices.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventiD=401576

Our firm is please to have been  selected to file the first new national  bank  charter application since  2008 late last year.  The Bank has received preliminary approval from the  OCC  and  expects to be  open  for  business in  Winter  Park  Florida   in  August   2017.  It  is  being organized as an S corp  from the  beginning – a trend we hope to encourage and continue.

Another ambitious Agenda has been organized for our 20th Annual Conference.
Draft Agenda and registration link can be found here:

Register: https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07ee1w39nk9d78e5bf&oseq=&c=&ch=

Agenda: http://files.constantcontact.com/8c5c2ed6201/0a026c8c-0e0d-460f-8fd6-1c9432a68a7f.pdf

Conference attendees who register  for the Conference by  August   31,  2017  will  receive a  complimentary  S corp  v.  C  Corp  analysis.  Assuming you  are  already an  S Corp,   this  analysis  will  compare your  financial performance as an S corp as  if you  were  a C corp. In addition, we will attempt  to compare your Bank performance as if it were operating under the proposed House  tax  rate  regime- as an S vs.  C.  Most  of the inputs will  come   from  publicly  available call  report and   holding  company  information but  you   may  be asked to provide some non-public information such  as estimated tax  rates  and  related information. We view this as a significant value to your organization since we here many  questions and concerns about  what they should  be doing or thinking about.

The  Agenda will   also  include a  specific  workshop where the methodology and assumptions are reviewed and explained.  For further  information contact Amy Willcox  at awillcox@kslaw.llp.com
 

Amy WiIIcox has been named Executive Director of the Association effective May 24,2017. Amy is a graduate ofthe University of Texas in Austin and has held important positions  in the hospitalily industry  for the past 11 years, including as a   Meeting Planning Executive. We are very pleased to have her on board and look forward to utilizing her organizational skills for the benefit of our members and the industry.

"It is a pleasure to have joined the Subchapter  S Bank Association  and I consider myself fortunate to have been given this opportunity. I look forward to working with each of you and getting to know you in the near future!"

Amy Willcox can be reached at 210-802-4285 or awillcox@kslawllp.com

The Association engaged a team of software developers several years ago to develop a shareholder management system (SMS) especially designed for S corp banks and bank holding companies. The system is now operational in a number banks, who report very positive results. The SMS serves as a comprehensive shareholder communication and recordkeeping solution, replacing stock ledgers, excel spreadsheets and on-premises server based systems. It is interactive and can be used to digitally transmit information such as K-1s, proxy statements and other reports to shareholders. In addition, dividends can be delivered through directly into your shareholders’ bank account either at the bank or elsewhere through the generation of distribution reports and a related ACH file for each report, saving significant time and expense over cutting checks. For further information contact Amy Willcox, Dub Sutherland or Pat Kennedy (pkennedy@kslawllp.com) or click on
the following link for a demo. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8NK9Orr0MbMZmh0elk2RmNEeHM/view