Page 4 - December 19. 2024 Bulletin

BANKING
ARTICLES

FCC Establishes Portal for Banks bankers from across the country have been saying – working capital
to Report Illegal Calls has evaporated. The most vulnerable growers are also our young
and beginning farmers – our next generation of producers who will
The Federal Communications Commission has established a “Private provide for our food security.”
Entity Robocall and Spoofing Portal,” where banks and other Read more: https://bankingjournal.aba.com/wp-content/
companies can submit information about a suspected illegal call, uploads/2024/12/Ag-Stex-Letter-to-Leadership-12.16.24.pdf
including illegally “spoofed” calls, to the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau.

The FCC’s rules prohibit transmitting inaccurate or misleading caller FCC Drops Bank Safety
ID information with the intent to defraud or cause harm. Banks that Rating Requirement for Rural
learn their customers are the target of an illegal spoofing campaign,
whereby criminals impersonate the bank in calls placed to customers, Broadband Program
can submit information about the suspected spoofing violations to The Federal Communications Commission announced that it
the FCC’s portal. will discontinue its requirement that banks obtain certain types
Read more: https://www.fcc.gov/enforcement/private-entity- of Weiss safety ratings to be eligible to provide a letter of credit
robocall-spoofing-portal to telecommunications provider recipients of the FCC’s Rural
Digital Opportunity Fund.
State Bankers Associations Urge The RDOF was launched in 2020 to expand high-speed
Congress to Help Struggling broadband in rural areas of the U.S. The FCC has required
Farmers banks issuing LOCs to telecommunications providers that
receive funds from the RDOF and its Universal Service Fund to
In a joint letter, NDBA joined 37 state bankers associations in urging maintain a Weiss bank safety rating of B- or higher. However,
congressional leaders to include meaningful economic assistance to starting in 2023, many banks learned they could no longer issue
U.S. farmers in a proposed continuing resolution to keep the federal LOCs because their Weiss safety ratings had dropped for no
government funded through March. “Agricultural producers are transparent reason. The FCC issued a temporary waiver for the
weathering the impact of multiple disasters and a severe downturn in requirement earlier this year.
the agricultural economy, and it is imperative that Congress act,” the Earlier this year, NDBA joined with the other 52 state bankers
letter said. associations in urging the FCC to drop the requirement.
The groups pointed to the ABA’s and Farmer Mac’s annual Ag Among other things, they noted the Weiss rating organization
Lender Survey, which found that borrow liquidity and farm income is not a nationally recognized statistical rating organization
were the top concerns for ag lenders. Those same lenders expect only registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
58% of borrowers will remain profitable this year, compared to 78% “There is no transparency as to the formula used for generating
last year. their bank safety ratings and several comments on their website
raise concerns as to the reliability of their analysis,” they said in
“Agricultural bankers have a unique position to view the true a joint letter.
financial stress of producers as they work through operating loan
renewals for next year,” the associations said. “The survey shows what In an announcement, the FCC said that the number of banks
that qualify for missing LOCs has significantly decreased

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