STATE GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
Register for 2022 IBA Regional Meetings
The IBA is once again hosting a series of regional meetings around the state to facilitate grassroots communication between the bankers we serve and the legislators who serve our state. The meetings will include an hour-long update on the IBA, including legislative information and advocacy opportunities. Following the update, local legislators from the Indiana General Assembly will meet for lunch with bankers from the community. This year, the IBA will be hosting eight regional meetings, each beginning at 11:00 a.m. local time. Below are the dates, locations and registration links of our eight regional meetings.
Evansville – May 25
Biaggi’s Ristoranto Italiano
6401 E Lloyd Expy., Ste. 3
Evansville, IN 47715
Fort Wayne – June 1
The Landmark Center
6222 Ellison Road
Fort Wayne, IN 46804
Indianapolis – June 2
The Columbia Club
121 Monument Circle
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Merrillville – July 19
Cooper’s Hawk
2120 Southlake Mall
Merrillville, IN 46410
West Lafayette – July 20
Walt’s Pub & Grill
1050 Kalberer Road
West Lafayette, IN 47906
New Albany – August 4
The Exchange Pub
118 W Main Street
New Albany, IN 47150
Richmond – August 29
Olde Richmond Inn
138 South 5th Street
Richmond, IN 47374
Bloomington – August 30
Graduate Hotel
210 East Kirkwood Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47408
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
Chopra Resists Requests to Define ‘Junk Fees’ With Specificity
Under pressure from Republican lawmakers during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Wednesday to define what he meant by “junk fees” – a term coined by the bureau as part of a media campaign – Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra would not offer any formal definition. Asked by Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) if he could offer “any legal or statutory authority that defines ‘junk fees,’” Chopra replied: “No. Junk fees are something that everyone experiences at so many parts of their financial life.”
Elsewhere during the hearing, he said it refers to “a fee for a service that you didn’t ask for and didn’t necessarily want…or a fee that doesn’t feel like it’s subjected to the competitive process.” Chopra offered as examples “pay to pay” fees, where consumers are required to pay a fee in order to complete a payment transaction, or “payoff statement fees,” where consumers are charged a fee in order to receive the payoff amount on an amortizing loan.
Chopra: Next Step in 1033 Rulemaking Could Occur ‘Within a Year’
Implementing Section 1033 of the Dodd Frank Act – which addresses consumers’ rights to access and control information about their accounts – is a top priority for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Director Rohit Chopra told members of the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. While he did not give a specific timeline, he noted that the “hope is to get the next step” in the rulemaking process “done within a year.” That next step should be the identification of small banks, credit unions and fintechs that will provide feedback on an outline of proposals the CFPB is considering.
Calling the 1033 effort “one of the most important rules that the CFPB can do,” Chopra noted that it “has the ability to open up consumer opportunities,” and would “take some important steps toward open banking,” but acknowledged that there are “tough issues” related to data privacy and security that will need to be addressed.
“We really all want to think together about: how do we get to a world that is more ‘open banking’ – that people can switch more seamlessly, that people can compare more products across a broader range of participants. I see a lot of upside there,” Chopra said. However, “I do worry about big tech firms really modeling what we’re seeing in China with Alipay and WeChat Pay,” he added. “The fact that you have these dominant providers that have so much data about people’s movements, about people’s geolocation…it raises a lot of questions about: will there be a fair system and a transparent system?”
OCC’s Hsu Continues Call for Stablecoin Standards
Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu advocated for stablecoin technical standards on Wednesday during an event focused on artificial intelligence and the economy. “Well-designed standards can promote inclusive and responsible innovation,” Hsu said, using the technical foundations and work of standard-setting bodies created during the early days of the internet as an example of a similar process.
“Stablecoins lack shared standards and are not interoperable. To ensure that stablecoins are open and inclusive, I believe a standard-setting initiative … needs to be established, with representatives not just from crypto/Web3 firms, but also including academics and government." Hsu said government agencies like the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency should work together.
This is not the first time Hsu has pushed for stablecoin standardization. Earlier this month, he discussed establishing an “intentional architecture” for stablecoins that would focus on “stability, interoperability and separability,” and consider privacy, security and the need to prevent illicit finance.
CFPB to Examine Nonbanks for Consumer Risks
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Monday indicated it would invoke a “largely unused” authority under the Dodd-Frank Act to directly examine nonbank financial services providers. “Given the rapid growth of consumer offerings by nonbanks, the CFPB is now utilizing a dormant authority to hold nonbanks to the same standards that banks are held to,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “This authority gives us critical agility to move as quickly as the market, allowing us to conduct examinations of financial companies posing risks to consumers and stop harm before it spreads.”
The bureau also updated a 2013 procedural rule that implements its statutory authority to supervise nonbanks “whose activities the CFPB has reasonable cause to determine pose risks to consumers,” including unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices. The updated rule would exempt final decisions and orders from the CFPB director from being considered confidential supervisory information – meaning that they may be publicly released by the bureau. The rule takes effect upon publication in the Federal Register and has a 30-day comment period.
In addition to its authority to examine nonbanks that may pose consumer risks, under Dodd-Frank the bureau has direct supervisory authority over nonbanks in the mortgage, student loan and payday loan industries, as well as larger participants in other nonbank consumer financial product markets, and the bureau has conducted rulemakings to define larger participants in consumer reporting, debt collection, student loan servicing, remittances and auto loan servicing. The bureau also directly supervises banks and credit unions with more than $10 billion in assets.
Rep. McHenry to Pursue Financial Services Gavel
House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) will pursue the chairmanship of the committee should Republicans win control of the House, according to news reports on Monday. McHenry had previously served as chief deputy whip in the House Republican Conference, and a return to conference leadership on his part would have set off competition among a number of other committee members for the chairmanship.