Past President's Corner

Dear Fellow SCAFP Associates,

It has been my great pleasure serving as the President this past year. As I go back to last summer, I remember the things we did to educate members, promote the SCAFP to increase membership, board participation and host another successful EXPO LA.

• We provided sessions on: ARC, Lease vs. Buy, Recession.....Are we on our way?, What Bankers Won't Tell You, SEPA and Understanding China

• The meeting moved around town: Valley, LAX, different downtown locations

• You Bet Your Cash - Another year of laughs, education and some ferocious competitiveness amongst peers

• Many new members- Practitioners and Non Practitioners

• EXPO LA- A great two day event held in Pasadena. Next year, look for a new location and perhaps a shortened event (due to AFP being in CA for two years in a row)

As the cost of gas continues to rise, we are contemplating webinars to provide you with the education credit opportunities. We will not stop the in person meetings all together but recognize that LA traffic is no longer what is keeping people from meetings.....how about $4.80 per gallon!

In the words of the Past President, Dick Ercole, PARTICIPATE DON'T VEGITATE! The Board cannot continue to work with a skeleton crew, many of which are the same names you have known for years. The time allocation is not much, we all believe in this organization or we would not attend meetings, we need new faces! Please, evaluate your time availability and get more involved. We will continue to ask each month so please join us for this new year. Please call the EMA office or any Board Member with questions.

Best Wishes for the rest of the year and I look forward to seeing you all at our next meeting!

Shannon Wexler
SVP/Treasury Sales Officer
Bank of America
333 South Hope Street, 12th Fl
Los Angeles, CA 90071
shannon.wexler@bankofamerica.com

President's Corner

Fellow SCAFP members! The summer is here!  How unfair is it that there are people enjoying themselves on the beach while we slave away at the office. Now, in addition to your day-to-day responsibilities you have to worry about vacation plans for your families and the ever increasing cost of living in beautiful Southern California.  That is why I would like to thank each and every one of you for taking a few minutes out of your busy schedules to read this newsletter. As the incoming president of the Southern California Association of Financial Professionals, I am very grateful for the opportunity to serve in this role for the next 12 months.  Less than a decade ago I joined SCAFP (still TMA at the time) and after only a few years Janine Debban "volunteered" me for the LA EXPO committee.  Now I find myself writing this letter on my business trip to Washington, DC.  I know that I will not be able to match the profound industry knowledge of Dick Ercole, or Shannon Wexler's witty remarks, but I can definitely bring a lot of energy and drive to SCAFP to make it a breeding ground for new ideas and meeting new people! As a relative newcomer to the industry and SCAFP, I understand only too well how hard it is to establish business relationships.   I would like to welcome all new members of the Association and to encourage you to get involved with the organization.  At the same time, I would like to extend a warm welcome back to all our existing members and thank them for choosing to remain a vital part of our organization.  I would like to take this time to thank all new and past Board members and SCAFP volunteers - without your guidance, energy, help, and sheer drive the association would not be able to exist. In my day job I split my responsibilities between managing multiple product lines and consulting work.  Regardless of which hat I wear at the moment, the most crucial part of my job is to listen to and understand the client's objectives.  Over the years, I have learned more about the industry just by listening to my clients and absorbing their experiences than from any industry publication or finance book.  The strength of our Association is our shared knowledge and experience that each member brings to the table.  In addition to striving to attract new members to our organization, my primary goal for the next 12 month will be to create a more meaningful experience for the new and existing members alike.  As we are reviewing existing programs and developing new programs for this year, I would like to hear back from all of you.  If you have any suggestions, please drop me a line at zlieberman@informars.com.  We welcome all suggestions and ideas - please don't be selfish and keep them all to yourself! The Fourth of July fireworks have come and gone and we are already feeling the heat. With temperatures in the triple digits, gas prices threatening to hit $5 a gallon, and foreclosures in sunny Southern California going through the roof, we can expect new challenges in our business.  It is said that the when the going gets tough, the tough get going.  This is exactly how I would describe the current members of our Association.  This is the time for all of us, bankers and corporate practitioners alike, to come together and benefit from each other's wisdom and knowledge. I am looking forward the next 12 months! Zoya Lieberman, CTP, MBA zlieberman@informars.com

EDUCATION CORNER

Federal Reserve Tour August 21st will be this year's first tour of the Los Angeles branch of the 12th Federal Reserve District Bank.  The members will be able to view many different areas of the Fed including the check processing operations area, the coin and currency vaults, and the loading dock where armored carriers deliver deposits and funds undergo preliminary counting. Everyone is always amazed at the size of the cash vault; it's a football field in length and contains floor to ceiling shelving full of boxes of currency. The fully automated robotic machines that pull and store cases of cash in and out of the racks are also incredible pieces of machinery to be seen. A single box of $100 bills, for example, contains $40 million, so you can imagine how much money is stored in the vault! After viewing the processing areas, the unique money museum, and the lobby exhibit, "Fed Gallery: Your Central Bank in Focus" are usually the next stops in the tour. There, you can see antique equipment, purchase the new California quarters and the Lewis & Clark nickels, and work with simulations of the U.S. economy. Click here to register for the tour on Thursday, August 21, 2008 at 1:00PM. Visit http://www.frbsf.org/federalreserve/visit/toursla/toursla.html for additional information. Regulus Tour Have you ever seen a Lockbox processing operation in person?  If you have never, or if it's been a while since you have, please join us when we tour the Regulus processing center in downtown Los Angeles on September 25, 2008 from 9am-11am.  Click here to register for the tour. Headquartered in Napa, California, Regulus was founded in 1995 initially providing remittance processing services. Between 1998 and 2000, Regulus completed its envisioned end-to-end transactional processing solution with the acquisition of the print and mail distribution operations of Quantum Information Corporation and AccuDocs, LLC.  Regulus is the largest, independent payment processor with national collection coverage, uniting the entire billing and collection cycle under one provider. Regulus streamlines the process through one entity with a single resource point for everything and processes over 1.9 billion paper and electronic items annually for Fortune 50 clients. Visit http://www.regulusgroup.com for additional information. Treasury Management Association of San Diego's 25th Annual Fall Conference   SAVE THE DATE: Thursday, September 18, 2008   Block out Thursday, September 18, 2008 for this year's 25th Annual Fall Conference. We will be meeting from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM in beautiful waterfront rooms at the Marina Village: www.marinavillage.net.   At the conference approximately 60 of your peers will meet for a variety of educational sessions that will give you the opportunity to add value to your organization and earn up to 5 CCM / CTP credits. Continental breakfast, refreshment breaks, lunch, and a reception with hors devours will be provided. You will also have plenty of networking opportunities all throughout the day.   Agenda Tentatively booked: -     A Vice President from Fidelity Investments will provide an overview of the liquidity markets and will discuss what has happened to the market with specific types of securities -     The CFO of the San Diego Padres will be discussing some of the unique treasury/finance functions that professional sports team deal with. -     The Director of the Petco Foundation will discuss the challenges of running a non-profit Foundation. Additional sessions are being finalized and will soon be available on our web site:             www.sdtma.com   Registration Registration forms are now available on the web site www.sdtma.com. Please continue to check back for updates. Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you at the conference!   Best regards, Craig Watson Conference Chair 760-476-5111

Professional Announcements:

KESDEE Announces Launch of its e-Learning Courses on Bank Branch Management Drawing from the rich experience of developing e-learning courses, this course group is designed keeping in mind the full spectrum of Bank Branch Management from the perspective of the finance and banking professional. Prepared by best-in-class industry practitioners, these courses combine the academic rigor with an in-depth understanding of how Banks work and function in the real world. This course group is a thorough compendium of 36 courses organized into 12 course libraries, which are:                 BBM Deposits - 4 courses                 BBM Advances - 7 courses                 BBM Marketing - 3 courses                 BBM Foreign Exchange Operations - 3 courses                 BBM Payment & Settlement System - 2 courses                 BBM Trade Finance - 2 courses                 BMM Bookkeeping & Accounting - 3 courses                 BBM HRM & CSR - 2 courses                 BBM Retail Banking - 3 courses                 BBM Risk Management - 3 courses                 BBM Technology & Security - 2 courses                 BBM Ancillary Services - 2 courses These e-learning courses on Bank Branch Management act as a practical guide, which aids in the understanding of a Bank Branch. This is a complete package of learning solutions that cover courses on all aspects including Development, Organization, Supervision, Execution and Support Strategies of a typical Bank Branch. The courses are designed in a dynamic and highly interactive format interspersed with simulations and case studies. Exercises and Quizzes combine to make your learning a thorough experience. This On-line learning methodology is convenient when you want to learn at your own pace. The level of courses is basic to intermediate. In addition to the Finance and Banking Professional, this course can also be taken by anyone interested in learning about the workings of a Bank Branch. For a 30% discount, please check the Course Listing on our website: https://kesdee.com/action/Products/displayProducts?partnerCode=SCAFP/SCAFPTM Send professional announcements and promotion details to scafp@emaoffice.com

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