STATE GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
Holcomb Preparing 'Inflation Relief'
Gov. Eric Holcomb said Wednesday he was preparing a plan to potentially tap into the growing state budget surplus to help residents with the national inflation jump while rejecting calls for suspending state gas taxes.
State Lawmakers Return for Technical Corrections
Lawmakers gathered at the Statehouse Tuesday for what's called a "technical session." The legislature voted to override a veto from the governor and passed a technical corrections bill to correct unintended errors from the last session.
Read the technical corrections bill
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. Seven regional meetings remain, each beginning at 11:00 a.m. local time. Below are the dates, locations and registration links of each regional meeting.
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
CFPB Overhauls Fintech Supervision, Office of Innovation to Focus on 'Promoting Competition'
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has announced changes to its current processes for overseeing fintech innovation, establishing a new office known as the Office of Competition and Innovation while scrapping its fintech sandbox program. The CFPB contends the program was frequently misunderstood and occasionally misused by fintechs, and CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said he would rather focus more on encouraging competition.
This new office will replace the bureau's existing Office of Innovation, which was established in 2018 and focused on allowing companies to apply for no-action letters and regulatory sandboxes in order to test specific innovative product offerings. In a press release, the CFPB said that "after a review of these programs, the agency concludes that the initiatives proved to be ineffective."
The bureau further stated that the purpose of the new office will be to "focus on how to create market conditions where consumers have choices, the best products win, and large incumbents cannot stifle competition by exploiting their network effects or market power." Specifically, the CFPB said the office will seek to make it easier for consumers to switch accounts and service providers; research "structural problems" that create obstacles to innovation; understand dynamics between large and small players with regard to competition, and host events that explore barriers to entry and other obstacles.
Industry Groups: CBDC Would Hurt Banking System, Credit
Banking industry groups have urged the Federal Reserve to hold off on developing a central bank digital currency (CBDC), saying it would adversely affect the banking system and flow of credit. "Current research overwhelmingly undermines the purported benefits of a CBDC and instead indicates that a CBDC would seriously disrupt the financial system, significantly harming consumers and businesses," the Bank Policy Institute indicated.
Fed Holding Record $2.04T in Cash for Financial Firms
Cash that banks and other financial firms have on deposit for safekeeping with the Federal Reserve has climbed to a record $2.04 trillion, indicating the extent to which market turmoil has sent capital pouring into havens. This is the first time cash in the central bank's overnight reverse repurchase facility has topped $2 trillion.
Fed: Roughly One in 10 Americans Using Crypto, BNPL
The Federal Reserve’s annual Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households was released on Monday. For the first time the survey asked questions about cryptocurrencies, and found that 12% of adults had held or used crypto in the prior year – with almost all of these using it as an investment vehicle, not a form of payment. Crypto holders tended to be higher income, with 46% of those using it as an investment earning over $100,000 per year. Ninety-nine percent of crypto investors also had bank accounts, but of those who used crypto for transactions, 13% reported being unbanked.
The survey also covered the growth of "buy now pay later" (BNPL) loans for the first time, which 10% of respondents reported using in the prior year. Nearly 8 in 10 BNPL borrowers cited convenience as one reason, while 53% said they used BNPL because they did not want to use a credit card, 51% said it was the only way they could afford the purchase, and just under one-fifth said it was the only payment method they had. Among BNPL borrowers, just 15% had been late making a payment in the prior year.