Iowa Trust Association
August 2009
Aug 4, 2009

Hi :

In this issue:
ITA Annual Conference
Iowa Trust Association Peer Groups
2009 Trust Schools
It's A Matter of Trust - ITA Offers Brochure to Promote Choosing a Corporate Trustee
The Economic Crisis: Helping Seniors Cope
Charitable Trust Registration
TrustCompare
ITA Newsletter Subscription

ITA Annual Conference

Keep Your Eye on the Future at the annual Iowa Trust Association Conference. The event will be October 8-9 at the Courtyard by Marriott in Ankeny. This year's event will be two days and will feature sessions on top trust issues. Exhibitors will also be on hand to display and discuss their products and services for trust departments.

This year's conference features Gene Maloney from Federated Investors discussing Fiduciary Risk Management. Also from Federated, Linda Duessel, a Senior Portfolio Manager will share an economic outlook. Other topics include estate recovery, tax law updates and a Washington Update from the American Bankers Association. Skip Fox will present recent developments in estate planning on day two followed by Michael Kitches' presentation "Understanding the Credit Crisis." There are also special sessions on Oct. 8 for operations personnel. Encourage your operations staff to attend!

Continuing education credit hours for CLE (8.75), CTFA (applied) and CFP (8.5) are approved.

See the ITA website for complete information and registration materials.

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Iowa Trust Association Peer Groups


peerless
adjective UNEQUALLED, excellent, unique, outstanding, unparalleled, superlative, unrivalled, second to none, incomparable, unmatched, unsurpassed, matchless, beyond compare, nonpareil OPPOSITE: mediocre

Who are your peers? Or are you peerless?

Turns out members of the Iowa Trust Association can have it both ways. This year, the ITA is holding the first peer group meetings for Iowa trust officers. We will gather on Wednesday, October 6 at 2:00 PM.These meetings will be held the afternoon prior to the ITA Annual Conference at the Courtyard by Marriott in Ankeny. There is no charge for you to attend.

Iowa bankers have formal peer groups where they meet to share ideas and discuss issues in their respective areas, and now trust officers will, too. If you have previously expressed an interest in attending such a meeting, you have already received an e-mail with the names and addresses of others in your group. If you are interested in attending, please contact Darcy Burnett at Iowa Bankers Association at (800) 532-1423.

Two groups have been identified, based on assets under management. In Ankeny, details of future activities will be discussed, such as frequency of meetings, locations and logistics.

We hope you will find peer groups to be another valuable benefit of your membership in the ITA.

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2009 Trust Schools

by Steven J. McLaughlin, Vice President & Senior Trust Officer, First National Bank, Ames

The School of Trust and Financial Services will be held September 21-25, 2009, in Topeka, KS and will provide attendees with a comprehensive overview of the complexities associated with operating a successful trust organization. This week- long school will cover operations to administration and is appropriate for new trust personnel, internal auditors, bank attorneys and officers entering trust, and experienced or specialized trust personnel seeking to update or broaden their knowledge.

The Advanced Trust Administration School will be held September 22-24, 2009, in Topeka and will provide a more in-depth course for those attendees who are directly involved in administration. The curriculum focuses on advanced account administration, estate planning techniques, tax issues, compliance, ethics, investments, and unique assets.

Over the years I have been associated with the Schools of Banking in various capacities. I attended The School of Trust and Financial Services many years ago; I serve as the liaison between the ITA and the Schools of Banking, I sit on the Board for the Trust Schools; I am on the faculty and teach the basic fiduciary income tax course; and lastly as Senior Trust Officer at First National Bank, I have sent all of my trust officers through the basic and advanced trust schools.

A notable feature of all the Trust Schools is the opportunity for students to develop a peer network within the industry, while receiving the most current information available from instructors who live their subject daily. The attendees and faculty traditionally have come from 10-14 states each year.

I firmly believe in the Trust Schools and urge you to check them out on their website at www.schoolsofbanking.com or contact me at (515) 663-3035 or at steve.mclaughlin@fnbames.com.

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It's A Matter of Trust - ITA Offers Brochure to Promote Choosing a Corporate Trustee

Choosing qualified trust professionals is an important part of estate planning. How do you counsel clients and potential clients about the qualities of an effective trustee? To help you the Iowa Trust Association has produced a brochure outlining the qualities of an effective trustee and the advantages of a corporate trustee.

This cost effective brochure is 5½” x 8 ½” and can be personalized with your bank name, address, city state, phone and web address. Educate your trust clients about the qualities that make an effective trustee with these helpful brochures.

Order a supply of these brochures today. To see the complete text of the brochure, go to www.iatrust.com.



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The Economic Crisis: Helping Seniors Cope

Helping Seniors Cope in a Broken Financial System
The following is a white paper from the Society of Certified Senior Advisory. The complete text can be found on the ITA website.

Seniors are particularly vulnerable in tough economic times. They have less time in their lives to recover from financial loss, fewer opportunities to thrive in a declining job market, and must cope with the inevitable demands of aging and its effect on their health, financial and social lives. If they're in their late 50s or early 60s, they may be forced to reassess when and how they might retire. If they are already retired, they often have to contemplate going back to work.

Additionally, seniors may find their social network fragmented as friends move to lowercost parts of the country and they may find their lives disrupted from the increased demands of other family members who are also being buffeted by a deteriorating economy.

The economy is taking an equally heavy toll on those who work with seniors. Dwindling resources, financial scandals and fear of the future are causing many seniors to scale down or re-think the use of professional counsel. In order to succeed today, professionals must understand how the slump in the economy is impacting their senior clients financially and emotionally. They also need to stay on top of changing trends, programs and policies that could help or harm their clients.

Finally, they must have strategies and tools in place to help communicate with existing and prospective senior clients. This report has been prepared to provide insight, advice and tactics for dealing with the complex issues facing professionals who serve seniors. It covers:

  • What is happening to seniors in today's economy
  • How it is affecting them
  • The mindset of seniors today
Strategies professionals are employing to serve and reach out to existing and prospective senior clients

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Charitable Trust Registration

Beginning July 1, 2009, charitable trusts in the State of Iowa must register with the Attorney General. Pursuant to Iowa Code § 633A.5107, the Attorney General has created the following forms for use by charitable trusts:
Charitable Trust Registration Form
Charitable Trust Annual Report Form

Questions about charitable trust registration

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TrustCompare

If you were asked to demonstrate how your organization's Trust Department is performing, how would you answer? In addition to the broad "assets under management number," how are you measuring the growth, profitability, resource efficiency, and success of your Trust Services?

TRUSTCOMPARE is the industry's leading performance comparative solution to help you accurately assess and improve your performance, profitability and productivity. It is the only comparative, comprehensive ratio system for measuring trust performance, allowing you to compare your core metrics to a peer group and to the universe of subscribers.

How Does It Work?

Trust information is collected from subscribers, then analyzed to provide comparative trend and benchmarking tools and management information reports. Product and service results are measured by asset, income, expense and profit. And, growth in income, fees, expenses and profit are measured at both the departmental and product level. We also offer an advanced business analytics level to provide line of business and product line profitability comparisons.

If you'd like to learn more about TRUSTCOMPARE, visit www.trustcompare.com. When you subscribe, please be sure to check the box on the subscription form that indicates state association membership. As an Iowa Trust Association member, if you elect to use TRUSTCOMPARE , you'll receive a 10% subscription discount. In addition, if enough subscribe from our state, you'll also receive an additional peer comparison at no extra charge.

If you have questions, you may contact Loyd Pohl, at elpohl@pohlconsulting.com, or 800-677-7432 ext. 225.

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ITA Newsletter Subscription

If this message was forwarded to you and you would like to receive the ITA Newsletter, e-mail Darcy Burnett to subscribe.


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