Government Relations: Annual Washington Visit Pushing the Pendulum A group of 27 bankers and guests made the trip to our nation’s capital September 15-17 for the ABA’s Annual Washington Visit. This year’s event started out with something different: a dinner reception at President Lincoln’s Cottage. In addition to networking and dining on the lawn with Legislative Assistants, Congressman French Hill, and Senator John Boozman, our group was able VP / DIRECTOR OF to tour the historic estate, even GOVERNMENT taking the opportunity to stand RELATIONS in the very room where President AVA FRANKS Lincoln drafted the Emancipation Proclamation. While a new tradition for us, events of this nature will continue during our Washington Visits. American Bankers (AmBA) opened their doors to our group on Wednesday morning with breakfast and prep work. We discussed current bills and the approaches to get them moving, including what to say to your Congressmen when you call or write, and pointers to keep in mind when conveying your message. An important takeaway from this session is to focus on specific stories concerning the impact of federal over-regulation on customers, such as inability to receive a loan, or the amount of time it now takes a customer to receive those monies. While at AmBA, our group met with representatives from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for a briefing. It was nice to have them on our turf, if you will, and a mostly candid discussion commenced, including much about TRID and its effective date this month. CFPB verbally assured us that examiners will not examine immediately following the TRID effective date, but will instead look at a best efforts approach.
Discussion advanced to small customer loans. CFPB said they need to hear from the bankers that make small loans1, because they want to know how big the market is for these loans. Our bankers immediately spoke up—almost simultaneously—with examples of why one would need a small loan in Arkansas: air units, car maintenance, Christmas presents, catch-up money! Our bankers deal with these issues on a daily basis, and know what matters Arkansas customers face; as one banker stated, Idealistically, CFBP’s lending works; realistically, our customers need their money now. Next, we met with the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) for lunch and strategizing among allies. CSBS left us with this message: Congress has a short attention span and you have to keep coming. If you do not stay in front of them, they’re going to forget us, even if it is frustrating and you feel like you’re saying the same thing over and over. From CSBS to a brief stop at the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), we then marched onward to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Similarly to the CFPB, the OCC expressed that examiners will execute fines for those that blatantly disregard the rules, and intend to take a checks-andbalances approach with regard to fines. The chief of staff affirmed that “we aren’t expecting perfection on day one, we expect effort.” After a bit of discussion surrounding cybersecurity and its impact on our banks, we were off to the Capitol to meet with Senator Boozman for our final meeting of the day.
Congressman French Hill speaks with ABA Chairman Robert Taylor, Parkway Bank, Rogers; and his wife, Judy, during the group’s dinner reception at President Lincoln’s Cottage.
Senator Boozman sat among us and discussed the universal impact of Federal over-regulation: if you can’t get a home loan, you aren’t buying plumbing fixtures to go in those homes. We broached S. 774, the Financial Institutions Examination Fairness and Reform Act, which, among other issues, mandates a 60-day time frame for examination reports. The Senator was interested to hear examples of turn-around periods for Federal exam
1. The determination of what constituted a “small loan” was debated, but seemed to range below $8,000 for CFPB.
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The Arkansas Banker | October 2015
