1. Regulation is at top of everyone’s minds with the recent VA bill passed and proceeding to the Governor being just the most recent. If passed, the law creates a registration system for all brokers operating based in VA. More states to follow soon but approaching laws in two different ways; like CA and NY or the way VA did.
2. Mayor of Miami Francis Suarez continues his push to get businesses to Miami but says it’s a cooperative effort with the surrounding counties. Stresses the importance of this moment in time with the advance in technology, competitive threats, crypto, and the opportunities that South Florida has, using technology but also its position geographically.
3. Funders and brokers are being creative in building their relationships. Most important to the funder-broker relationship are communication, speed, and product knowledge.
4. Idea of Funders requiring new SBFA broker certification spreading. This certification was something the FTC recommended for the industry.
5. Kevin O’Leary is high on the business finance space, thinks inflation will level off, and the mid-term election results will cause deadlock in congress so nothing will get done, which he says is a good thing.
6. Data security in the age of remote workers and global geopolitical issues is continuously needing to improve as dishonest employees continue to leak data and hackers from around the world attempt to interrupt commerce.
7. New bill HR 6054 up for consideration in the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee this week at odds with the overall direction many industry veterans would like to go.
8. Brokers not going away any time soon because of technology, but the importance of high-performing ISOs/brokers is as critical as ever. Metrics tracking ISO performance has grown amongst Funders but of most importance is ISO portfolio Loss Ratio.
9. Congressman Andy Barr and others addressed CFPB proposed rule on Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act(Section 1071 amended the ECOA to require financial institutions to collect and report certain data in connection with credit applications made by small businesses, including women- or minority-owned small businesses). Many feel it's too restrictive to financial institutions which will cause a slowdown in the funding process.
10. 'Owner' of the merchant relationship continues to be an issue for some brokers which can snowball into other problems for both funder and broker. One CEO recommends thinking of it as ‘our’ relationship.
Bonus: The event went off without a hitch, was very well attended by influential individuals, and will be back next year. Location TBD.
See you then!