PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Lorrie Trogden | President & CEO | Arkansas Bankers Association

Iwrite this two weeks before we go to Washington D.C. for our fall fly-in trip. On this trip each year, we meet with various regulatory agencies and our Congressional delegation. It is a very busy two days, but we manage to fit it all in and work hard to make a difference for our industry.

There are certain topics that we’ve covered time and time again for the last five years I have been with the ABA, such as credit unions and cannabis banking. People sometimes ask if we get tired of talking about those same issues over and over. Maybe we do, but we must never, never, never give up. You cannot facilitate change if you stop talking about an issue that you are passionate about. These issues are vitally important to our industry and one day you might just put a hairline crack in the dam that may work its way into a flood.

We are finally seeing movement with cannabis banking. I read an alert yesterday saying a bipartisan coalition of senators behind a cannabis banking bill are pushing for a markup and are working across the aisle to shore up additional support. This could be our hairline crack. Cannabis banking is on the topic list for our trip, and we will continue to support it until a bill passes.

We will be covering a multitude of issues, but these are two of the most important topics right now.

Durbin 2.0 – Senator Marshall’s bill applying the Durbin amendment to credit cards is not getting much movement as a stand-alone bill, but he continues to make attempts to attach the language to “must-pass” legislation, like the NDAA and omnibus bills. We are staying in contact with our Senators, asking for them to register their opposition to allowing the language to be inserted into other bills.

An Advocacy Alert link for Durbin 2.0 has been included in the Government Relations section of the Tuesday eNews for almost two months. If you have not clicked the link to register your opposition, I urge you to do that as soon as you get the next eNews. It is vitally important that our delegation hear more from us about this bill than from the merchants and retailers.

Small Business Lending Data Collection (1071) – An Advocacy Alert link for 1071 has also been included in the eNews for about two months. In addition to the advocacy link, there are materials for your business customers as well. This is going to hurt their small business and they need to understand that. You are the only one that will be able to get that message across. I urge you to utilize the advocacy link and the small business materials to educate your customers about how the 81 additional data fields will affect their business. You’ll see an article in this magazine outlining two 1071 lawsuits filed by bankers associations against the CFPB. Injunctions have been issued, but there is no guarantee that the courts will vacate the rule, so we continue our advocacy efforts for Congressman Hill and Senator Boozman’s Small LENDER Act. This bill would raise the threshold for the loan exemption from 100 to 500, and lower the business revenue exemption from $5 million to $1 million. You can read more about this issue in the Chairman’s Column.

Chairman Jim Taylor (our resident 1071 expert) or I will be happy to answer any questions you may have about either of those bills or any other federal regulatory topics we are advocating about on our trip.

I close with a giant thank you to our banks, bankers, and bank board members that have contributed to both our PACs. Those contributions are one of the most important investments you will make in our government relations efforts. We MUST have representatives at state and federal tables when important decisions are being made. Be assured, if we do not have a seat at the table, we WILL be on the menu.

There is a thank you list in the magazine, so if you bump into someone you know on the list, please thank them for investing in safeguarding the banking industry. We are now able to take contributions by credit card online. You’ll find this on our website under the Advocacy tab. We are already making candidate campaign contributions and have not yet made it to the half-way mark for our ABA BankPAC fundraising goals. We need to bring more contributions in than we are putting out, and I encourage you to participate by making a PAC contribution. You will be recognized in the magazine and at our Annual Convention and other major conferences.

I’ve been on the road making visits and collecting hats! (Check out my social media or LinkedIn posts.) Let me know when I can come and say hello as I would love to schedule a visit…and maybe leave with new bank hat swag to feature in my posts. As always, never hesitate to call, text or email me about anything the ABA can be of help with - we exist to help you!