View from CBA October 17, 2014

October 17, 2014

Regulators: A "Spaghetti Junction"

Citigroup's Chairman Michael O'Neill shared some keen observations on the state of our nation's federal banking regulators at a panel sponsored by the Volcker Alliance this week in Washington, D.C. Calling the current regulatory regime a "spaghetti junction," he suggested the system would be better off by combining the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency into a single banking regulator. He cited the example of how Citigroup is regulated not only as a bank holding company by the Fed, but also as a bank by the OCC. Though it may seem counterintuitive these days for banks to be telling regulators how to improve the system, former Fed Chair Paul Volcker held the event to air out these sorts of ideas. It is part of an ongoing effort by the Alliance he founded to bring some sense to our current regulatory system. If you don't agree with him just take a look at this chart courtesy of JPMorgan Chase.
 

CFPB Student Loan Report

The CFPB once again took the opportunity with the release of their Annual Report of the Student Loan Ombudsman to misconstrue the true nature of the private student loan market. They claimed a 38 percent increase in complaints received on private student loans, or a total of 5,300 over the past year. When put in context of the estimated 8.5 million private student loans in the market, we find a less than 0.1 percent complaint rate - none of which are verified by the regulator. While one complaint is too many, these numbers clearly demonstrate the success and good business practices by CBA's members which benefit students and their families. Not surprisingly, the CFPB had nothing but deafening silence on the Federal Government's own default rate of 14 percent, compared with the successful active repayment of 97 percent of the loans in the private market.
 

Election Throw Down with The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza on October 21, 2014

Next week CBA's membership will have a chance to hear directly from The Washington Post's political reporter Chris Cillizza just days ahead of the upcoming midterm election. The call will take place on October 21, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. EST where Chris will give us a run-down of how pivotal House and Senate races are shaping up. 
 

CFPB to Host Roundtable on Debt Collection and the Latino Community

The CFPB will host a roundtable on October 23, 2014 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST with the FTC entitled, "Debt Collection and the Latino Community." The event will examine how debt collection and credit reporting issues affect Latino consumers, especially those who have limited English proficiency. The event will take place at California State University in Long Beach, CA. The roundtable will feature consumer advocates, industry representatives, state and federal regulators, and academics. This event is open to the public, but registration is encouraged. To register, send an email with your name and affiliation. A livestream of the event will also be available on the CFPB's blog.
 

CBA Committee News

The Digital Channels Committee will convene in Washington, D.C. on October 20-21, 2014. They will hear from MasterCard, as well as participate in a working lunch with Novantas to review their digital study on consumers and bank choices.
 
Also meeting in D.C. next week is CBA's Fair and Responsible Banking Committee. Their in-person meeting takes place on October 21-22, 2014, where they are set to hear from Vantage Score and meet with the CFPB's office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity.
 

Lagniappe

William Jensen, Senior Vice President and National Retail Lending Credit Executive for Chase Auto Finance took attendees of the 2014 Auto Finance Summit on a trip to the year 2020 for a look into the future of indirect lending.