NEWS RELEASE
Oct. 22, 2009
ABA Media Contact: Peter Garuccio    
(202) 663-5452
E-mail: pgarucci@aba.com

ABA STATEMENT ON HOUSE COMMITTEE PASSAGE OF BILL TO
CREATE NEW CONSUMER FINANCIAL REGULATOR (H.R. 3126)

by Floyd E. Stoner, executive vice president for congressional relations & public policy

            “The American Bankers Association supports the goal of improved consumer protections and we will continue working with the Congress as this legislation moves to the House floor.  Recent changes to the bill by the House Financial Services Committee represent improvements to the underlying text of H.R. 3126.  These include deletion of mandatory ‘plain vanilla’ products, modification of the proposed new agency’s examination authority and inclusion of new provisions that now begin to consider the importance of uniform national law standards rather than simply eliminating them for national banks and savings associations.  We appreciate the Committee’s willingness to address these issues on an ongoing basis.

            “However, ABA remains opposed to this legislation because we still have major concerns with some principal areas, including restrictions on preemption standards for national banks and savings associations, and the very broad, ill-defined authority that is granted to this new agency that could be used to justify essentially any regulatory action.

            “We will continue to raise these concerns as the legislative process moves forward.”

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The American Bankers Association brings together banks of all sizes and charters into one association. ABA works to enhance the competitiveness of the nation's banking industry and strengthen America’s economy and communities. Its members – the majority of which are banks with less than $125 million in assets – represent over 95 percent of the industry’s $13.5 trillion in assets and employ over 2 million men and women.