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Beginning this week, the Virginia Bankers Association (VBA) Education Foundation and four Virginia banks will again sponsor the Virginia Banking Fellows Program in partnership with the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education (VFCCE). The mission of this statewide program is to provide opportunities for deserving community college students to pursue their academic goals, strengthen their leadership skills, and learn more about the banking industry.

More than 29,000 public school students and their families from 68 schools across Virginia will read the same book on the same schedule starting Monday, March 4. It’s all part of Virginia Reads One Book – a statewide family financial literacy program designed to strengthen the educational connection between home and school from Richmond-based Read to Them. The Virginia Bankers Association (VBA) Education Foundation and 21 banks across Virginia are proud sponsors of this program at 38 Title 1 elementary schools, sponsoring nearly 50% of the total number of schools that will be participating in the program overall. This nearly $112,000 commitment supports more than 15,000 of the program participants.

Ncontracts, the leading provider of integrated compliance, vendor, and risk management solutions to the financial industry, has been officially endorsed by the Virginia Bankers Association (VBA) for its risk management software, including Nrisk, Nvendor, Ncontinuity, Nfindings and Ncomply, and its new online certification program, Nstitute.

District of Columbia – Maryland Bankers Association (MBA) and Virginia Bankers Association (VBA) together announce the formation of the D.C. Bankers Association (DCBA), which launched on July 28 to provide consistent and unified advocacy for the District of Columbia banking community.

Sixty Virginia bankers graduated from the Virginia Bankers School of Bank Management in Charlottesville on July 21, 2023. The three-year school is sponsored by the Virginia Bankers Association (VBA).

The Virginia Bankers Association (VBA) Education Foundation is pleased to announce that Carson Wang is the statewide winner of the VBA Bank Day Scholarship Program (Bank Day). Carson, who is a senior at the Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School in Richmond, was hosted by Village Bank to participate in Bank Day. Previously named the Capitol region winner, Carson was awarded a $2,500 scholarship and will now receive an additional $5,000, for a total of $7,500 for his college education.

This month, banks across Virginia are hosting more than 460 high school seniors for the Virginia Bankers Association Education Foundation (VBA) Bank Day Scholarship Program (Bank Day). The third Tuesday in March was declared Bank Day by the Virginia General Assembly in 1991, and students will shadow Virginia bankers at the bank, or in some cases virtually, in their roles for this important program to learn more about the banking industry, careers in banking, financial services, and the vital role banks play in their communities. Other topics to be discussed include banking fundamentals, the importance of establishing credit, managing the student loan process, and more. Students also have access to a Virginia banking industry resource website that houses videos, articles, and podcasts to explore and research.

Virginia banks are joining the American Bankers Association Foundation and banks across the country to promote the Get Smart About Credit program, a national campaign that encourages banks to teach teens and young adults how to manage their money.

Forty-four Virginia bankers graduated on July 29, 2022 from the Virginia Bankers School of Bank Management in Charlottesville.  The three-year school is sponsored by the Virginia Bankers Association.

The Virginia Bankers Association (VBA) Education Foundation is pleased to announce that Ronit Jain is the statewide scholarship winner of the VBA Bank Day Scholarship Program (Bank Day). Ronit, who is a senior at the Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School in Richmond, was hosted by Village Bank to participate in Bank Day. Previously named the Capitol regional winner, Ronit was awarded a $2,500 scholarship and will now receive an additional $5,000, for a total of $7,500 for his college education.

Cybersecurity is a constant concern for small businesses and with the latest Russian cyber threats it is becoming even more important for small business to be more vigilant with their cybersecurity plans. The financial services industry is highly focused on cybersecurity for all customers, including small businesses.

This week, banks across Virginia and the Virginia Bankers Association (VBA) are sharing tips on using credit wisely and saving for the unexpected, as well as information on careers in banking, via social media channels, in-branch handouts, in-person and virtual financial literacy lessons as part of the American Bankers Association Foundation’s Get Smart About Credit program (GSAC). GSAC is a national campaign that encourages banks to teach teens and young adults how to manage their money.

Sixty-three Virginia bankers graduated on August 6, 2021 from the Virginia Bankers School of Bank Management in Charlottesville. The three-year school is sponsored by the Virginia Bankers Association.

The Virginia Bankers Association (VBA) Education Foundation is pleased to announce that Carter Watts is the statewide scholarship winner of the VBA Bank Day Scholarship Program (Bank Day). Carter, who is a senior at Monacan High School in Chesterfield, was hosted virtually by Village Bank to participate in Bank Day. As the Capitol region winner, Carter was awarded a $2,500 scholarship and will now receive an additional $5,000, for a total of $7,500 for her college education.

Beginning Monday, March 15th, banks across Virginia will virtually host more than 420 high school seniors to participate in Bank Day, a statewide effort sponsored by the Virginia Bankers Association (VBA) Education Foundation and the VBA Emerging Bank Leaders.  The purpose of the program is to expose students to the banking industry and provide an opportunity for the students to learn about banking, careers in banking, financial services and the vital role banks across Virginia play in their communities.

The Virginia Bankers Association (VBA) announced it has endorsed Abrigo’s full suite of credit, lending, and portfolio risk products to aid its member banks in streamlining loan origination, enhancing credit analysis, and optimizing their portfolio risk.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimates that consumers lost $1.9 billion to phishing schemes and other fraud in 2019 and the ongoing pandemic has only increased the threat. For the month of October, Virginia banks are joining the Virginia Bankers Association (VBA), American Bankers Association and banks across the nation in launching a first-of-its-kind, industry-wide campaign to educate consumers about the persistent threat of phishing scams. To combat phishing, the #BanksNeverAskThat campaign uses attention-grabbing humor and other engaging content to empower consumers to identify bogus bank communications asking for sensitive information like their passwords and social security numbers.

The Virginia Bankers School of Bank Management (the school) graduating class of 2020 presented $11,300 to ReadyKids last week, which included nearly $1,000 worth of supplies. The funds and donations were raised this summer through a collaborative effort organized by the graduating class and in cooperation with the more than 180 total bankers in the school.

Thanks to the support of the Virginia Bankers Association Education Foundation (VBA) and banks across Virginia, the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges (VFIC) is able to provide its fifteen member colleges and universities a two-year partnership with Realworld starting in the fall of 2020.  Realworld is an online platform that helps students and recent graduates transition into life after school. From paying off student loans to saving for retirement, Realworld’s online modules provide students with critical knowledge and skills to thrive in life post-graduation.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza this morning issued updated data on the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

As the data released shows, since Round 2 of PPP loan processing began on April 27^th, 2.2 million loans have been made to small businesses, which surpasses the number of all loans made in PPP Round 1. The total value of these 2.2 million loans is over $175 billion. Notably, the average loan size in Round 2 is $79,000, showing the program is broadly based and assisting the smallest of small businesses. In fact, over 70% of loans are under $50,000.

Virginia banks of all sizes have been working around-the-clock to provide loans through the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), processing 40,371 applications totaling more than $8.7 billion as of April 16, according to the SBA. 

As eligible Americans prepare to receive their economic impact payment from the government, fraudsters are ramping up their efforts to scam people out of their payment. To help consumers protect themselves, Virginia banks are highlighting the five most common scams to watch out for:

The Virginia Bankers Association (VBA) is working closely with its 100 member banks across the state in proactively addressing the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

As the COVID-19 situation evolves, Virginia banks are taking aggressive steps to safeguard the health and safety of their customers, staff and communities while ensuring the delivery of important financial services such as money and credit availability.

Congratulations to Fairfax Academy student, Sujay Khona, sponsored by Burke & Herbert Bank for winning 2nd place in this year’s Lights, Camera, Save! video contest. Watch the winning videos here. View pictures from the celebration here. 

Lights, Camera, Save! is a video contest that engages teens in educating themselves and their peers about the value of saving and using money wisely.

As we near Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, shoppers should  exercise caution while making purchases this holiday season.

“While millions of credit and debit card transactions are conducted safely every day, it’s important that consumers are aware of the potential for holiday scams,” said Bruce Whitehurst, president and CEO of the Virginia Bankers Association.

Virginia bankers offer the following tips to help consumers keep their information safe whether shopping in the store or online:

During the 126^th Annual Convention of the Virginia Bankers Association, John C. Asbury, president & CEO of Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp., was named chairman-elect of the Virginia Bankers Association (VBA). As chairman-elect, he is slated to become the association’s chairman in June 2020.

The Virginia Bankers Association (VBA) Education Foundation has announced the winners of the 2019 VBA Bank Day Scholarship Program. After spending a day shadowing at one of the 36 banks that participated across the Commonwealth, students were asked to write an essay about their experience for the opportunity to win a college scholarship.

Bankers across Virginia teamed up with the American Bankers Association Foundation’s Get Smart About Credit program as part of an ongoing effort to teach teens how to effectively use credit.