THE PRESIDENT'S REPORT

May 6, 2008

Welcome everyone to our general meeting and to our Annual Vendor’s Show.

I sadly begin my remarks by noting that we, as individuals, as an association, and as an industry, suffered a great, great loss last month with the passing of Bill Siegel. A Past President of this organization and former Chairman of FISCA, our national association, Bill Siegel was a true legend in our Industry. He will be greatly missed and never forgotten. I would like to take a moment of silence in honor of William Siegel. Thank you.

It has been a very active year for our Association and we have made good progress in several areas.  Our membership rolls are strong and our Association has continued to be a strong advocate for the NY check cashing industry. 

The check cashing fee rate increased to 1.75%, and the process for annual adjustments to our fees to keep pace with inflation is being implemented smoothly.

We were successful in preserving the provision of the Banco Bill with restriction applicable to Banks.  This was a major legislative effort that was successful only because we have taken the time over the years to build relationships in Albany.

Unfortunately, due to Bill Siegel’s untimely passing, we were unable to conduct our Albany blitz last month, but we will try to reschedule this important function.

We continue our efforts to work with our regulator, the NY Banking Department.  We met with Deputy Superintendent Regina Stone back in January and at that time we presented our yearly agenda to her and the newly appointed staff.  We were successful in getting the Department to issue a long awaited Industry Guidance letter on unlicensed check cashing activity, but, unfortunately, the Department has still not responded to several other of our concerns.  We are following up in order to schedule a meeting this month to deal with several issues that have been on our Agenda the last three years.

Specifically, we have been pushing the Department to investigate and take action against Jackson-Hewitt & other tax preparers that cash checks without a license. The process of applications has improved, but still takes too long.  The Department has yet to update the website. And, the Department had offered to present a workshop on how check cashers can deal with the new FILMS audit exam. These issues alone have been before the Department for 3 years now. We are still waiting for them to act on these issues. 

We do hope that, through better communication and working together we will make our relationships much stronger and more profitable. This will prevent misunderstandings and inaccurate information.

As you know, this is an important year, since there is a general election.  In January I announced that our goal was to raise $100,000 dollars for our PAC fund. We have not met this goal, but we cannot stop trying.  We must have the necessary dollars for the Industry to continue to advocate and reach members of the legislature, so that they understand our Industry.  I look for all members, particularly those who are on the Board, to contribute to the PAC.  I have also reached out for and received contributions from some non- members, and we thank those non members who contributed for the sake of our Industry.  I hope that everyone recognizes the importance of the PAC and that you contribute. Do not wait for someone else to lead in this effort-lead by example.  Our Albany representative, Dick Smith, is with us today.  Dick has worked in Albany for many years and will tell you how important it is to maintain good and close relationships with the Legislature.

In a few minutes, you will hear from Jane Azia, the Banking Department’s Director of Non-Depository Institutions and Consumer Affairs.  I am hoping she will enlighten us to what the Superintendent’s goals and positions are for this coming year.

In addition to other business today, Ed D’Alessio will report on our legislative and regulatory efforts.  Obviously we are pleased that Governor Spitzer signed the extension to the Banco Bill, albeit it’s good for two years and six months. We have in the legislature two bills now that penalize unlicensed check cashers who charge a fee to cash a check. We will work hard to get these Bills passed. I would like to thank our legal staff for the quick reaction and experienced way in the extension of the Banco Bill. Good job!  

In our Association business today we will ask for nominations for Officers and Directors of our Association. I ask you to consider people who are dedicated to showing up at our meetings and contributing to our Association. This being my last term as President, I feel it’s important to pass the baton and to help our next president to be.  I am endorsing Jason Carballo for our next leader.  Jason the last two years has been Vice President.  He has attended meetings with me, political events and has done anything I have asked of him. He is smart, well spoken, better looking and has the commitment to put in the long hours that the job demands. I know he is the right person to lead us for the next two years.  I ask that you show your support for Jason and vote for him.

I wish to thank our Vendors who are here today and who have very generously contributed to our Association.  Those dollars go to keep our Association running and allow us to continue to work on your behalf.  Thank you.

As you know already, we have completed and distributed the second installment of our newsletter, the FSCNY Update.  The Update was started at the end of last year and is one way for us to educate members, legislators, regulators and the media about our industry.  If you have news or notes that should be in the newsletter, please pass them to our Staff.  If you have any feedback on the newsletter, please pass that on as well.   If you have any suggestions or comments please let us know.

Please be sure to attend, and have your managers and tellers attend our compliance workshop this afternoon.  This compliance workshop is a good way to keep your staff up to date on BSA/AML compliance matters.  It is one way that our Association works for your business.

In closing, again I wish to thank our entire staff for the excellent job they did in reinstating the Banco Bill thru the Legislature.

I hope you all enjoy the presentations that will be put on this afternoon by our speakers, panel and vendors.

Thank you.

Matt Bardach, President

January 8, 2008                                                                                       

Welcome everyone to our general meeting! 

I hope you all had a safe and pleasant holiday. Let me start by telling you all that at our December Board meeting, the Board unanimously voted to keep the dues at the same rate for our 5th year in a row. So our Budget was passed with no dues increase to the membership. We are stretching every dollar for the Association and for those members who pay their dues.  

Last May I announced that we raised $40,000 dollars for our PAC fund. Well we spent it. We only have less than $10,000.00 in our NYCheck Pac account. We desperately need more money.  We must effectively have the necessary dollars for the Industry. What I am proposing for this year is to get our membership to pay through ACH, the Pac fund contribution. This way we can get funds transferred in directly and quarterly withdrawals. Those members give amounts to number of locations proportionately. We will ask for $200.00 per location initially. If we reach the levels we hope to attain through direct ACH of members’ accounts that should more than enough reach our goal of $100,000.00.  I will also reach out to non- members, and again ask them to contribute to our Pac account. Tonight I asked several non-members to attend our meeting. I thank those non members who contributed for the sake of our Industry.

Tonight you will hear from Bill Gogerty of Netspend, who will speak to you about the newly formed joint committee between FSCNY and Netspend. Through better communication and working together we will make our business relationship much stronger and more profitable. This will prevent misunderstandings and further strengthen Netspend’s commitment to our Association here in New York.

Ed Dalessio will report on the NYSB report and our Bills that have been submitted in Albany for the Banco bill to be made permanent as law. This will be a very nervous period of time, especially these next two months. In addition the Board of Directors will again meet in Albany in March to lobby our legislators. We will educate, enlighten and spread the word of our Industry and the vital services we provide for the community. If any member is interested in joining us, please contact myself or Hank, we gladly welcome any volunteers.  

We also will participate in a venture with a company, Pay Rent Build Credit, that will help our customers raise their credit scores and financial information. Tonight you will hear from Cory Stone about this partnership. I hope your locations will participate in this, for it’s a win-win situation for our customers and our Association.

There will also be new ventures that the Association is planning for 2008, that will enhance your membership. Besides discounts from various Vendors, we are expanding the Credit Union partnership and will raise the prices for Paynet companies that utilize this service. 

I wish to thank our Vendors who have come here tonight and who have very generously contributed to our Association and our budget. Those dollars go to keep this association running and not asking for increases to our membership. Thank you.

In closing, this is my last year as President.  It will make 6 years in September. I have enjoyed my terms of office and will continue to serve the Association after my presidency ends. I want to thank those members who have supported me, helped me and believed in the job that I have done. The same is true for the support I received from our professional staff. I feel we are stronger now as an Association than at any time in our 50 year history. I will continue to reach out to all members and non members to fight for our issues and respect for our Industry.

Thank you.

Matt Bardach, President

September 11, 2007                                                                                       

Welcome everyone to our general meeting! 

My report today is to express what you all are concerned about, the future of our Industry as we know it. Tonight you will hear that over the past two months we have been working for the industry in the hope and expectation of passing the Banco Bill. To show Governor Spitzer why our industry is so vital to the economy of New York. To keep a level playing field between our industry and that of any banks who wish to compete for our customers.

These next few months could very well decide the future of our industry.

On June 21st, your Executive Board with the Banking Department, Regina Stone the Deputy Superintendent chaired the meeting along with her assistant Mike Casparian and the newly appointed Chief legal Counsel and Barbara Kent’s replacement. It was a very spirited two and half hour meeting. We again presented a very strong list of complaints, proposals and questions for our members. I admit some issues were rehashed and were never answered by the Department for the past two years. And we said that! We hope the Department will take seriously our complaints, concerns and respond to them fully. As of tonight we still haven’t gotten a response from the Department. We were told a meeting was to be held this week, so I am hoping that will occur.

I am as frustrated as you all are. I too realize that it’s a new administration, with a new Superintendent. I know Mr. Nieman only took office several months ago, I was comforted slightly by his appearance at our May show, which he did not have to attend but came and addressed us. We have had a private meeting with the Superintendent and we will continue to press on with his recommendation to the Governor over the Banco Bill to make permanent.

I hope you can understand the delicate situation that we face, but we do have strong friends of our industry in Albany that is helping us. I ask for your patience in letting this process play out. The key dates for us are the Banking Department’s report to the Governor, then hopefully the reintroduction of the Bill in Albany, with the Governor’s signature by December 31st.

Tonight we are electing Board of Directors positions. Two board members are retiring. I would like to thank Osa & Ted Sahevitz for their work on the Board all these years. Thank you.   I would like for you to reach out to any Board of Director if you have a question or concern, you know my e-mail or phone number is always open to you. But I would like for you to engage your Board Members more and think about becoming one by next year’s May Vendor’s show.

I have not forgotten my pledge in January to make Housing payments my number one priority. We are continuing to press ahead and try to get NYCHA to open the network of operators to accept rental payments. We have asked our Vendors to make a bid for the contract and continue to meet with any persons who can help NYCHA overturn their limits on agents who can process NYCHA rent payments.

In May I announced that we raised $40,000 dollars for our PAC fund. No new monies have come in since then. We desperately need more money.  We must effectively have the necessary dollars for the Industry. Again I ask for those of you who haven’t contributed for this year to please do so. I also reached out to non- members, and ask them to contribute to our Pac account. Tonight I received several contributions from non-members who contributed to the PAC fund.  I thank those non members who contributed for the sake of our Industry.

If you haven’t made your reservations, the FiSCA conference is in Phoenix on October 6-8th. It will be a special event that I think you should attend.

In closing, this begins my last year as President. By this time next year you will elect a new President and executive Board to represent our Industry.  I hope my leadership these past 5 years served you well, I will still fight like heck this year and try to finish what I started all those years ago.  Which was to bring stability, respect and financial success for our Industry. 

Thank you.

Thank you.

Matt Bardach, President

May 8, 2007 General Meeting & Vendor Show     

Welcome everyone to our general meeting! 

You all are well aware that Diane Taylor has left the Banking  Department. We are very fortunate that the new Superintendent, Richard Neiman, is here today to address us. I welcome him and ask our membership to give him a warm greeting. I’m sure I’ll have to opportunity to meet with Mr. Neiman in the near future to discuss our issues that were presented on our agenda for the postponed January meeting. I want to continue the dialogue that was started with Ms. Taylor to have the department be aware of our needs and to work with us to solve the problems that have beset our industry and our membership. We just celebrated the 60th anniversary of our industry & we aren’t going away!

On March 19th, your Board had their regular monthly meeting up in Albany. The next day we met with legislators from both the Senate and Assembly. This went extremely well, we met with legislators who have been our supporters and with new legislators who never heard of our industry. By all measures it was a resounding success. We will go to Albany again next year! We will again meet with legislators and let them know who we are and the valuable services that we provide to their constituents.

Today we will be asking for additional nominations for Board of Directors positions. Two board members are retiring, I strongly urge anyone interested to come forward and participate. We have five new Board members that have been on the board these past two years. We need new members willing to help shape the future of our industry. So please if you wish to join the Board step up and be nominated.   

I have not forgotten my pledge in January to make Housing payments my number one priority. We are continuing to press ahead and try to get NYCHA to open the network of operators to accept rental payments. I have met with City councilmen, various lobbyists and even talked to our Vendors about getting Housing payments back into all of our locations!

We have so far raised over $40,000 dollars for our PAC fund. We desperately need more money. Given what lies before us in Albany, we must have the necessary financial support to help do the job. Again I ask that those of you who haven’t contributed for this year to please do so. I also ask if you can all reach out to non-members and ask them to contribute to our PAC account. I have gotten non-members to contribute for the sake of our industry, regardless of their feelings on whether they should join our Association or not.

In closing, again I would like to thank the membership for giving me the opportunity to lead this association! The new Executive Board of Jason Carballo, Eddie Rosario & Tom Musial is working very well! In fact, we have attended political fundraisers, have monthly teleconference calls discussing our Administration/Legal departments. We are all working together in an efficient manner for your Association.   

Thank you for coming today and please enjoy our Vendor show.

Thank you.

Matt Bardach, President

January 9, 2007 General Meeting

Welcome everyone to our general meeting! 

I would like to start off by letting everyone know, we your Board, have a very ambitious agenda for this year. We will be pro-active instead of reactive. We will introduce several pieces of legislation that will benefit our industry. We will be aggressive and outspoken with the media about who we are and what we do. We will work with our regulators to make things more streamlined and efficient. 

I don’t know when Ms. Taylor will be leaving the Banking Department. We already know of a few people who have left the department. We will continue to monitor the situation and have already said we wish to continue the meetings that we had last year, to start again. These were very good and we did get valuable information from them.

We have hired a new Media company. MWW will work in improving our image here in New York State. We have set an agenda with them and what we hope to accomplish this year. I am excited by what they say they will be able to do.

We will go to Albany this year! We have scheduled a Board meeting in March combined with a lobbying effort for the first time in many years. We will meet with legislators and let them know who we are and what we are doing for their communities.

Fidolink went online at the end of 2006. I recommend that members sign up for the service. It will be better for you in terms of receiving info on returned items much faster! The fax network will still be available to you this year, but the costs will go up.

I would like to also inform our membership that Western Union has again committed the same amount as last year, $25,000.00 to our operating budget. I would like to thank Guy Dimaggio, his staff and personnel of Western Union, for the very generous contribution.

This past September, we held elections and voted in some new Board members. I would like to introduce Penny Roberts and Ron Barberan to our membership. Also our new secretary on the executive Board is Eddie Rosario who replaced Dave Schwartz, who will still be a Board member. 

One final note for 2006, we ended in our fiscal year with a small surplus! That was the 4th year as president that we finished the year in the black! In order to continue this we have a very lean budget. It will be close, but I will try to stay to it. This of course all depends on our members paying their dues and getting new operators/owners to join our Association. With that said, we are offering a special deal for new members to join. If they join they will get free entry to our Vendors show in May, that’s a $500.00 savings. I ask if you can all reach out to non members and ask them to join our Association. Or at least let me call them and speak to them about joining.

This Association has worked for the better of our industry, but also for our membership. We have gotten discounts on office supplies, DSL wire services, energy/utility bill savings, and discounts from our vendors for members only on products. It’s important that everyone realize how we can offer savings to our membership. The program on the partnership with the credit unions. Which in fact has grown and continues to expand this year. We still do Paynet for banks and companies that prefer our location/services. Which means additional customers to your locations. 

I see for our industry a good future. There are more jobs in New York. There are more construction projects here than at any time. As examples, a new Yankee stadium, new Mets stadium, World Trade Center rebuilding, which means we will see more check cashing customers. The service sector continues to grow and small businesses have come back from 4 years ago after 9/11.

In closing, again I would like to thank the membership for giving me the opportunity to lead this association! This will be my fifth year and I still enjoy doing this job! I will continue to improve and make this association better but only with your support and help!

Thank you.

Matt Bardach, President

 

September 12, 2006 General Meeting   

Welcome everyone to our General Meeting! 

I hope everyone had an enjoyable summer. At the Board’s June meeting a motion was passed to look at the feasibility of bringing legal action against the Banking Department with regard to applications, audits and assessments. The biggest frustration being applications that certain members were experiencing with the Banking Department. We had a meeting with the Banking Department on August 16th and then a special Board meeting the next day.

With regards to the Banking Department meeting, they were aware of the frustration and anger of those applicants that were taking a very long time to process. They explained what had happened in 2004 and the need to raise the standards on applications. They admit they never told us about the changes nor did they effectively communicate that to check cashers whose applications were taking yrs to approve.   They stated that now they are doing a better job in processing and communicating to applicants what is deficient in their apps. We gave them our proposal in March on how to better handle/streamline the app process. We will continue to pressure the Department to utilize our proposal to make applications an easier and faster process. The department has said they will listen and look for ways to update and streamline the application itself.

At our special Board meeting, legal gave their opinion that taking legal action is not an option at this time for various reasons. There was a vigorous debate by the board, but the board voted to follow legal’s opinion and not to sue the Banking Department.  

I had said at our January General meeting that the Banking Department was my number one priority. I will continue with that, we have had 4 meetings with the Deputy superintendent to discuss these issues that effect our industry. But it’s not only pressuring the Banking department, we need help from Albany. We submitted a bill to make the Banking Department come up with a better procedure to streamline applications. This will give us more leverage with regard to our proposal to the Department to make them more efficient to our industry as a whole. Unfortunately Governor Pataki, did not sign the bill! We will try again at the next legislative session on this issue. 

In addition Senator Farley, Assemblyman Darryl Towns, were both very key to our issues with regard to the Banking department and legislation we introduced. As I have asked every meeting this election year, we must have enough funds in the PAC account to support those politicians that can help us with these issues. To date our FSCNY PAC FUND has only $15,000.00. Some of your Board of Directors had given monies out of their own pocket to help with candidates that we need to support over the last two months.  We need the money to “voice” our issues on a state- wide basis. Without everyone contributing to our Pac fund we will never achieve that success.

The PDA committee has been on hold due to certain market conditions that have occurred the last 6 months. We are still trying to navigate thru this changing Federal Mandates that occurred that caused banks to exit from this industry. Ed will give more details about this situation

I would like to also inform our membership that the Fido-Link program is now working. This was something that we have been working on for over 2 years with Tellermetrix.  I apologize that it took this long. We will now look at its effectiveness over the next few months.

Tonight under the POB/Paynet report you will hear from Mr. Jerry Goldenbroit. He is the man who the committee hired to go out and solicit credit unions to use this program. We have reached the point now that the POB system is running smoothly and being used by 2 credit unions now for the last few years. We are ready to take it to the next level with the hiring of Mr. Goldenbroit and I’m sure he will discuss his plans with you tonight.   

One a final note, I had warned in January we will be finishing the year with a very real possibility of a deficit! As you know last year we finished the year in the black with a small surplus! We did not raise dues because of that. Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control, we lost membership this year and now our budget is very tight. We all must ask non-members to join us and pay their fair share. We have to explain how the Association is the key to protecting our Industry. We are all in this together and we need everybody’s contributions.

In closing, tonight is election night! It will be my final two years as president.  The members who are up for reelection and the new members, who are eligible, must understand that they have to commit to time, money and effort, for the good of the Association! Please make the best choices for those candidates that you feel will best represent our industry!

Thank you.

Matt Bardach, President

May 9, 2006 General Meeting                   {Click for Meeting Highlights and Photos}

Welcome everyone to our General Meeting & Vendor Show! 

I hope everyone is doing well. The C.P.I. rate that raised our fees to 1.64% in March has been well received. I have not heard of any customer complaints about the new fee or anyone in our membership for that matter. The assessments that have gone out this year have included all the new corporate check cashers. This has helped keep the costs down in terms of the overall budget for our industry with regard to the Banking Department.

I have reached out to those operators and asked them to join our association. Three have joined us since January.

I am also running for president for my final term. I hope you will vote for me and will continue to support my efforts in making this Association a strong, vocal organization.

Running with me on the Executive Board is Jason Carballo from Castle Check Cashing as Vice President, Tom Musial  from New York Community Financial as Treasurer, and Dave Schwartz will remain as Secretary. We ask for your support in September’s election.

In February, I was up in Albany meeting with Assemblyman Darryl Towns who replaced Cathy Nolan as the Assembly Chairman to the Banking Committee. He was very receptive to us and listened to our proposals. Also Assemblyman Perralta met with us and is working with us on legislation he proposed for MSB’s businesses. In addition Senator Farley, Senator Jeff Klein, were both very open to our issues with regard to the Banking department and legislation we introduced. In this election year, we must have enough funds in the PAC account to support those politicians that are helpful to our issues. Please make your donations to FSCNY PAC FUND. We need the money to “voice” our issues on a State- wide basis.

Also, I have had three meetings with Deputy Superintendent Stone where we have discussed license applications, new audit program, repealing of unnecessary regulations.

This is another example of the type of relationship we have with the Banking Department and her deputy, Regina Stone. These relationships were not easy to make, but shows the strength of our membership that the department treats us better now than anytime before! Deputy Superintendent Stone has done an excellent job in keeping the lines of communication open and easy access to her office. She has been fair and forthright in her dealings with us and I wish to commend her for that. As you know later today we are doing the workshop on the Department’s new audit program, FILM, of which Ms. Stone has agreed to participate in.

The PDA committee is now in Phase two. We have attained the voluntary commitments of members to fund the “survey” that is necessary to get this ancillary service to our State. Once the Survey is finished we can then take that information to Albany showing how many people in New York are actually using this product from out of state companies! This document will further strengthen our case for this product to be allowed by our industry.

I would like to also inform our membership that Western Union has stepped in and contributed $25,000.00 to our operating budget! This was in light of Traveler’s Express/Moneygram’s decision to no longer contribute to our general budget. I wish to express our appreciation to the people at Western Union, in particular, Guy Damaggio for giving a generous amount to our Association. Thank you.

In addition, the Association raised the amount for a platinum membership from $5,000.00 to $10,000 and seven of those vendors paid the new amount. This will be reflected on our Association’s letterhead and website! I say Thank you to those Vendors, Rapid Armored Car, Western Union, Traveler’s Express/MoneyGram, Pay-O-Matic Corp, Marshall & Sterling, CheckFree, and NetSpend.  

This past February, Stanley Laxer from Samceil Check Cashing, resigned from the Board of Directors. Mr. Laxer was on the Board for over thirty years. He always represented the Association and has been a member for over 40 years! I would just like to say Thank you and the Board has presented a plaque to Mr. Laxer, in appreciation for his many years of service. Thank you Stanley!  The Board has replaced him with John Urban of Thrifty Check Cashing. John will serve out Mr. Laxer’s term. Today we will be taking nominations for the Executive Board and the Board of Directors. If you are interested in becoming either one, today is the day to be nominated. 

On a final note, we ended in our fiscal year with a small surplus! That was the first time in my 3 years as president that we finished the year in the black! We did not raise dues because of that. Our 2006 budget is now past the first quarter and some members have decided not to renew their membership. This hurts all our members. Right now our budget will be very tight and we will try to keep expenses down. But I ask all our members to reach out to those non-members and lobby them to join. Explain how effective we are in protecting our Industry. Tell them the tremendous strides we have accomplished in the past few years! We will continue to attract better deals with vendors that will go to the benefit of our members!  We will continue to have a working dialogue with the Banking Department. We will enact legislation that will protect and preserve our Industry. We are all in this together and we need everybody’s contributions.

Thank you.

Matt Bardach, President