View from CBA July 12, 2013

July 12, 2013

CFPB Radar

Tuesday's House hearing on data collection, with testimony from CFPB Acting Deputy Director Steve Antonakes, raised privacy concerns among lawmakers. There has not been any clarity from the Bureau regarding the need for or use of the data, how many individuals' data are being collected or any assurances of security.

News came out Wednesday morning at 12:01 a.m. the CFPB was issuing bulletins on debt collection, coinciding with the field hearing in Maine on the same issue. The bulletins themselves were made available later that morning and we shared them with our members 

Coming up next:

Senate Committee hearing on July 17, 2013 at 10 a.m.: "Shining a Light on the Consumer Debt Industry; Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection." 

CBA will file a comment letter on July 22, 2013, in response to a CFPB proposal to clarify provisions of the mortgage servicing and loan originator compensation rules. 

Member Visits

This has been a big week for CBA member visits. In Atlanta, I met with SunTrust’s Bill Rodgers, President, and CBA Board Member, Jeff Hooper, Executive Vice President, Retail Banking Manager. At Equifax I visited Rudy Ploder, President, Consumer Information Solutions, Joy Wilder-Morgan, Senior Vice President, Sales, and Tom Jolly, National Sales Consultant. I also spoke at the IFA's Atlanta Franchise Business Network meeting and provided insight on the state of credit markets with a focus on small business lending. 

CBA’s Pace Bradshaw and Liz Terry traveled to Pittsford, NY, to meet with Five Star Bank. Thanks to Jonathan Chase, Charles Guarino, and Richard Harrison of Five Star for their time.

I met Pace and Liz in Buffalo, NY, to visit with the executive teams from First Niagara and M&T Bank. Thanks to CBA Board of Directors members Richard Gold, Executive Vice President, M&T Bank, and Mark Rendulic, Executive Vice President, Retail Banking, First Niagara, for organizing this great opportunity. Thanks also to past CBA Board Member Mark J. Czarnecki, President of M&T Bank, for making time to catch up.  

Personnel

Richard C. Hartnack, Past CBA Chair (1997) and former Vice Chairman and Head of consumer and small business banking at U.S. Bank, has been elected to the Freddie Mac Board of Directors. 

Former GSRBM faculty member Elizabeth A. Duke submitted resignation as a member of the Board of Governors, effective August 31, 2013.

CBA Team News

I am honored to announce Mitslal Girmay of CBA's Accounting team became a U.S. citizen on July 2, 2013. Mitslal was born in Ethiopia and has been in our country for the past 11 years. 

This week, two CBA team members are ending their tenure with us: Deirdre Leahy, Director of Strategic Communications, and Stephen Congdon, Membership Coordinator. Thanks to both of them for their contributions and we wish them well in their next endeavors.

CBA is excited about the addition of our two newest team members. Please join me in welcoming Angie Berkey, Government Relations Coordinator, and Casey Dunfie, Membership Coordinator.