Update: On February 12, 2015, CRL president Mike Calhoun delivered testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; the hearing was entitled "Regulatory Relief for Community Banks and Credit Unions." (Includes video of the full hearing)
In his testimony, Calhoun underlined that responsible regulations and regulatory oversight are critical to the success of small lenders. Download a transcript of his entire testimony. (PDF)
He also pointed out:
- Community banks and credit unions are different from their larger, national and international lending counterparts – and given the differences in business practices, scale, and resources, CRL supports a regulatory framework and oversight structure that appropriately recognizes and accommodates the specific nature of community banks and credit unions.
- Financial regulations are essential to preserving the financial health of American consumers and the health of this nation's economy.
- Relief for community financial institutions should be targeted to community financial institutions. Some regulatory and legislative actions that were initially intended to support community banks have mostly benefited large players with familiar names: Morgan Stanley, American Express, GE Capital, and the like – often while providing little to no benefit for truly small, community-servicing financial institutions.
- Substantive rollbacks of Dodd-Frank are not community bank regulatory relief. A number of community bank regulatory relief proposals focus on making substantive changes to the mortgage protections put in place by Dodd-Frank – but substantive rollbacks of those mortgage provisions undermine the legislative goal of protecting consumers and should not be included in community bank regulatory relief legislation.
From the testimony: "The need for regulatory flexibility must be balanced against the importance of consumer safeguards, an institution's safety and soundness, and the security of America's financial system as a whole. Federal financial regulators, like the CFPB, must be allowed to both protect the American people and ensure access to a broad, sustainable financial market."
To schedule a meeting with Mike Calhoun, please contact Catherine An at 202-349-1878 or catherine.an@responsiblelending.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Center for Responsible Lending President Mike Calhoun will join a slate of witnesses to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, February 12 at 10 am ET.
Calhoun will discuss the importance of responsible financial regulations in providing crucial consumer protections - and leveling the playing field for all financial institutions, especially smaller community banks and credit unions. Calhoun will also discuss the impact the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and other regulators have had in protecting and supporting small banking institutions; he is also expected to emphasize the importance of accurately defining community banks based on their differences in order to prevent larger financial institutions from circumventing prudent regulations at the expense of consumers and smaller lenders.
Drawing on his extensive, 20+ years of experience as an executive, and as an attorney and counsel for North Carolina-based Self-Help Credit Union, Calhoun specializes in consumer law and policy development. His tenure at Self Help Credit Union – and his leadership of the nonprofit organization Center for Responsible Lending – has made him a national voice on financial services-focused policy and regulation.
"As the recent housing crisis taught us so well, proactive, responsible financial regulations are essential to protecting consumers, small businesses, taxpayers, and the nation's economy as a whole," says Calhoun. "It would be a shame for the country's leadership to forget such a powerful lesson so soon."
The hearing will be livecast on the Senate Banking Committee website at: http://www.banking.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Home.Home
Who: Mike Calhoun - President, Center for Responsible Lending
What: Hearing of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
When: 10:00 a.m. ET - Thursday, February 12
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To schedule a meeting with Mike Calhoun, please contact Catherine An at 202-349-1878 or catherine.an@responsiblelending.org
For more information, contact Catherine An at 202-349-1878 or catherine.an@responsiblelending.org.