As we celebrate our nation's 234th birthday this weekend, we at Sawyers & Jacobs recently celebrated the first birthday of our firm.  It's been a fast and fun year filled with much excitement and success.  Thanks to the outstanding support of our clients and the hard work of our team, we have met or exceeded our business plan goals: achieving profitability in our first year in business; signing over 50 clients; and remaining focused on financial institutions...to name a few important goals. 

 

We look forward to more success as we begin our busy season this summer, traveling this great country serving our clients, speaking to industry groups, and teaching at banking schools.  

 

In this issue, we update you on the Sawyers & Jacobs team, our upcoming events, the new iPhone 4, and a new service, Enterprise Risk Assessment, that we believe will make a positive difference in our clients' operations.

 

We hope you are able to spend time with family and friends this weekend as we all celebrate our independence, unity, and freedom as a nation.  We also extend our deepest gratitude to our men and women of the armed forces who throughout our nation's history have put themselves in harm's way to protect the American way of life.

 

Best wishes for a safe, restful, and happy Independence Day weekend!

 

 

 

We extend hearty congratulations to our own Kristin McNeish for earning her Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) designation.  The CISA designation demonstrates Kristin's competency as an IT Auditor and her understanding of IT risk management.  Kristin also completed her first year of the Barret School of Banking this past May.    

 

We are proud of Kristin for her dedication to continuing education and her desire to be the best she can be for our clients.  Way to go, Kristin!

 

Launched last Thursday, the new iPhone sold over 1.7 million units in its first three days, the best performance yet for an iPhone launch.  

 

Our favorite new features: 

In recent days, some customers have reported reception problems.  Wireless antenna problems or AT&T network overload?  Time will tell.  The reported problems don't seem to be slowing Apple's momentum in the marketplace.  Yes.  It's still all about the apps.

 

Apple - Over 200,000

Google - 70,000

RIM BlackBerry - 7,000

    

Stay tuned to our Facebook page for more information in the coming weeks.  We have a new post here on the reception issues: 

 

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/sawyersjacobs?ref=ts 

 

 

 

According to a Bloomberg report yesterday, Verizon plans to start selling the iPhone in January 2011.  Can you hear the iPhone now?

 

The plethora of risk assessments in banking just got bigger.  We have seen a trend, influenced by the Sarbanes Oxley Act and the COSO Enterprise Risk Management Framework, for all banks to conduct Enterprise Risk Assessments.  While not yet a regulatory mandate, we expect examiners to suggest this comprehensive approach more frequently given the current environment.  Those banks that have already begun this process are ahead of the curve.

 

To help our clients meet this challenge, we have developed an Enterprise Risk Assessment model that is pain-free and simple to administer but covers the entire bank and serves as a valuable risk management tool for management and the Board of Directors.  Our current clients will be familiar with this color-coded, practical approach to the Enterprise Risk Assessment process.

 

For more information on how Sawyers & Jacobs can help your bank implement an Enterprise Risk Assessment, call Jimmy Sawyers at 901.487.2575 or email Jimmy at jsawyers@sawyersjacobs.com and he will provide a quick overview of the process.