PRESIDENT’S COLUMN It’s About Time...
Finally, some movement. Ten years after the financial crisis we are getting some traction on the reg reforms we have been begging for. Pardon my French, but it is about damn time. On June 12, the Treasury Department issued a 150-page report making dozens of recommendations for how Congress and regulatory agencies can streamline bank regulation in a way that will promote small business lending, mortgage lending and economic growth. Coupled with the passage in the House of the CHOICE ACT recently, and the start of hearings in the Senate Banking Committee, we actually have some momentum. Christmas in July! The report was in response to President Trump’s executive order outlining core principles of financial regulation and calling for a comprehensive review of the regulatory structure. As ABA has long urged, the report called for significant tailoring of regulatory requirements. The report noted that economic growth and loan growth have been historically depressed during the current recovery, which Treasury attributed in part to the volume and structure of current regulations. When you read the Treasury’s report
you should notice that the word “tailoring” appears on every page of the report. Tailoring is finally getting everyone’s attention and support. We need to speed up economic recovery, and banks are a key player. While some of Treasury’s recommendations require congressional action, Sec. Mnuchin estimated that 70 to 80 percent can be put into motion by regulators immediately through their independent rulemaking authority. The report also highlighted numerous mortgage rules that the CFPB could address on its own. We all know that it will probably be more like a year before we see concrete results. A senior member of the Administration has supposedly tossed out a probable timeline for reg relief as follows: 2017, get the changes written and the implementation plans established; 2018, review and test the new rules for unintended consequences and actual fixes; 2019, rules and relief take effect. In the report the Treasury detailed the following conclusions:
ABA STAFF
BILL HOLMES
PRESIDENT/CEO 501.978.3602 | bill.holmes@arkbankers.org
CARLA BRINKLEY
VP/CONTROLLER 501.978.3608 | carla.brinkley@arkbankers.org
AVA F. ROBERTS
Appraisal relief for banks in rural areas Community banks are critical to serving local communities and small businesses
BARRY JACKSON
SVP/COO 501.978.3613 | barry.jackson@arkbankers.org
KAMI T. COLEMAN
VP/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 501.978.3614 | kami.coleman@arkbankers.org
TRACI LOGSDON
VP/DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT RELATIONS 501.978.3606 | ava.roberts@arkbankers.org
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS 501.978.3603 | traci.logsdon@arkbankers.org
JESSICA SAHENE
BRENDA SCARBROUGH
MARKETING COORDINATOR 501.978.3609 | jessica.sahene@arkbankers.org
4
PRESIDENT & CEO BILL HOLMES
The TheArkansas ArkansasBanker Banker || June June2017 2017
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT 501.978.3607 | brenda.scarbrough@arkbankers.org
