Annual Washington Visit
An Advocacy Success Story by Ava F. Roberts VP / Director of Government Relations
This year, the ABA headed to Washington a little later than normal; the weather was sunny and relatively cool, and our delegation seemed more responsive than usual. Maybe that was due to the timing in early October rather than mid-September; maybe that was due to actual changes in federal regulation on the horizon. About 28 bankers joined the ABA for our quick visit, which began with a cocktail hour at the Promontory Interfinancial Network in Arlington. This beautiful evening, sponsored by Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas, was on the rooftop of Arlington Tower, which looks straight up the Potomac. Everyone enjoyed spectacular views from the Washington Monument to the Pentagon. A few Hill staffers joined our crowd as we chatted about policy, stories from back home, and appreciated invaluable networking. Wednesday morning started bright and early at the American Bankers Association; association staff took turns advising and answering questions on policy issues from Community Reinvestment Act Reform, in which we were told the Treasury plans to get report out by the year end and advised to tell lawmakers the inconsistency of
how examiners apply the regulations, to speculation of CFPB Director Cordray’s tenure. Both lunch and breakfast were spent with American Bankers staffers, including a special advocacy training session. Eli Woerpel, Grassroots Manager of AmBA, walked the group through a new advocacy tool available to all members. Banks now have the ability to personalize advocacy messages to our federal delegation. From your logo, to the letter draft, your story may be personalized and shared among your bank employees. This tool is approachable, fast, and effective grassroots activity. Contact ABA’s Government Relations Division (contact information at the end of this article) to learn more. After quick lunch at AmBA, we were joined by four representatives from CFPB. As a whole, they were more congenial and interested than in the past, even asking for specific issues banks have with TILA/RESPA. The CFPB representatives seemed surprised and intrigued when asked to exempt vacant land from TRID, with the reasoning that consumers do not understand the forms the waiting periods for that type of land. Clearly, there must be a shortage of vacant land in the beltway!
The group’s Tuesday evening view of the entire National Mall. Special thanks to Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas for sponsoring the evening and to Promontory for opening their doors to the Arkansas bankers.
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The Arkansas Banker | October 2017
Three SBA employees joined us next. They were eager to ensure everyone is aware of the request for comment period to bring up any issues SBA presents that may be problematic for bankers. Bill Holmes then brought up the matter of small business data collection to ask whether SBA will change the statutory definition of small business. These SBA representatives gave no indication there would be a change to any codes currently in place. The small business data collection issue was discussed in several of our meetings, most notably with CFBP, SBA, and the FDIC. The CFPB explained they wanted to use this information to locate ‘credit deserts,’ so they could connect banks and businesses. They also reiterated they only want a finite set of data points, which, they alluded, should not be that onerous. However, our members were quick to explain simple is best and suggested, instead, CFBP return to Congress to explain how difficult gathering this information is and how detrimental it would be to small business lending across the nation. One of the group’s afternoon meetings was with FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg, who opened his discussion with the statement “we have largely recovered from the crisis.” However, he pointed out that regulators are paid to
