The 2022 KBA Trust Conference occurred Oct. 20-21 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Manhattan. Brian Dutton, KBA Trust Division President from Community National Bank & Trust in Winfield, welcomed all attendees to the Conference and introduced the first speaker, Michael Stillitano, from JP Morgan.

Stillitano presented “Investing in the World of Sticky Inflation.” A receding pandemic unleashed powerful pent-up demand, and escalating geopolitical tensions in commodity-intensive parts of the world are sending prices higher across various sectors. While some of these price pressures may be transitory, others may hang around for some time, namely higher wages, rising inflation expectations and rising home/rent prices, further complicating monetary policy. This explored how higher inflation and hawkish central banks will impact the investment landscape over the medium-to-long term.
After the lunch and tradeshow, Motivational and Keynote Speaker Matt Jones energized the audience with his presentation, “Banking is a Marathon – How to Stay Motivated.” Attendees learned strategies to use to attain greater VICTORY. Jones shared his against-all-odds story of conquering cancer three times, surviving a bone marrow transplant, relearning how to walk and completing marathons around
the world.

Dr. Roger Tutterow, Kennesaw State University, was up next with the Economic Update. He provided a timely overview of global, national and regional economies, including recent developments COVID-19 had on the retail sector and real estate, the causes and effects of the recent changes in energy prices, the structure and effect of recent fiscal stimulus and the linkages between trade policy and currency valuation.

The KBA Trust Division held its annual meeting at the end of the first day of the conference. The new slate of officers and directors was approved for 2022-2023.

The second day kicked off with Bill Ehling, Federated Hermes, with “Economic Assessment and Fixed Income Outlook.” Interest rates and the economy are inherently linked in a hand-in-glove relationship. The program described Federated’s assessment of the current state of the U.S. and global economies and the opportunities available in the fixed-income markets in light of that assessment.

Linda Duessel, Federated Hermes, spoke next with “Cryptocurrencies Demystified.” Bitcoin has been around since 2008, but its price, size in the market, and transaction volume has exploded in just the last few years. Most investors are aware of its existence, but they know very little else. Investors and their advisors are increasingly asking whether Bitcoin should be held in portfolios. The blockchain has been called one of the most disruptive innovations since the advent of the internet. The presentation explained the concept and many others that were important to understand, as well as opportunities and risks in cryptocurrencies in general and Bitcoin in particular.

Larry Divers from Cannon Financial wrapped up the second day with his presentations, “Fiduciary Advice Expanded for Retirement Discussions” and “2022 Tax Changes.”

The DOL expanded the interpretation of fiduciary advice described in the preamble to the prohibited transaction exemption (PTE 2020-02). In addition, in the preamble to the PTE, the IRS and the DOL announced an expanded interpretation of fiduciary advice which means more financial institutions are fiduciaries for their recommendations to Retirement Investors and, therefore, will need the protection provided by the exemption. This first presentation reviewed the PTE 2020-02 disclosure requirements and outlined how financial professionals in compliance teams can adequately meet them.

Several large tax breaks were enacted during the 2021 tax year by the American Rescue Plan, signed into law in March 2021; however, most of those tax law changes expired at the end of 2021. As a result, the Child Tax Credit, Child and Dependent Care Credit, Earned Income Credit, and other popular tax breaks are different for the 2022 tax year. Additionally, this second presentation included a summary of the key provisions of the SECURE ACT 2.0 that is highly likely to have been passed by the time of the conference.