Oklahoma Bankers Association We make bankers better!
In This Issue…
- ‘Durbin 2.0’ rears head again in Congress
- Oklahoma Housing Stability Program bill passes
- Fake fraud warnings most common banking text scam
- OBA co-hosts fraud prevention conference
- 2024 Oklahoma Views & Vistas Calendar available for early-bird orders
- OBA education corner …
‘Durbin 2.0’ rears head again in Congress
The Credit Card Competition Act has returned to Congress. This same legislation was introduced late last year and the supporters of this measure tried feverishly to get it passed in the last couple of days during the 117th Congress.
We greatly appreciate all the members who stood strong for community banks and opposed this measure at every turn. We have the same ask again for the 118th Congress as the bill has been reintroduced both in the Senate and in the House. You can click here to send a automated letter to your member of Congress to oppose the bill.
Last week, the OBA patterned with other state associations sending a letter to leadership in both chambers asking then to support their community banks and oppose this measure. The “Credit Card Competition Act” is also known as “Durbin 2.0” and we all remember what the original Durbin bill did to debit cards. The original Durbin amendment eliminated debit card rewards, raised banking fees and increased fraud expenses all without lowering costs for your customers. The current version of this bill would do exactly the same to credit cards. The impacts of the bill are clear: fewer choices for consumers, increased threats to consumer data privacy, weakened local banks and the disappearance of card rewards programs.
The Credit Card Competition Act puts breach-prone merchants in charge of our nation’s credit card system. The bill’s sponsor claim it would provide merchants a choice of across which networks credit card transactions are processed. This dual-routing technology they are depending on doesn’t exist today, and for a good reason. A credit card transaction is an extension of the bank’s own funds to its customer. Therefore, it’s critical banks be allowed to carefully and deliberately select the network over which their own funds flow to the merchant.
While merchants specialize in selling groceries or shoes, financial institutions are payments experts responsible for and best positioned to protect their customers against fraud, loss of private data and the inefficiencies of unreliable systems. Financial institutions are also routinely checked for strong privacy, data security and fair lending practices, while merchants are not.
If you like your credit card, you can’t keep it because the bill’s mandates render existing cards inoperable. The Credit Card Competition Act demands card issuers enable all types of transactions and security protocols, even if a bank board finds these methods are unnecessary, unaffordable or unsecured. Putting merchants in charge of these decisions would mean adopting many more than two networks, the only route to avoid a costly enforcement action from regulators. Each time a network is added or changed to keep up with merchant desires, hundreds of millions of new chip cards would have to be issued, inconveniencing cardholders, exposing consumers to identity fraud through mail theft and increasing costs – especially when there is a microchip shortage.
The Durbin Amendment proves the Credit Card Competition Act claims about protecting small banks is absolutely false. The legislation doubles-down on the harm already caused by the original Durbin Amendment.
In the last Congress, the OBA worked with our delegation on this bill, and we are grateful that not one single member signed on to support the Act. We are again working with our delegation in Washington to protect community banking in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Housing Stability Program bill passes
During the last week of the state legislative session, both the House and Senate passed HB 1031, which became law earlier this month.
HB 1031 creates the Oklahoma Housing Stability Program. The purpose of the program is to increase the number of single-family residences available for purchase across the State of Oklahoma for families with incomes up to $120% of the AMI, provide gap financing to aid and incentivize the production of rental housing across the state and remove the barrier to homeownership for Oklahomans caused by the lack of available funds for down payment and closing costs associated with buying a home.
Click here to read the white paper for the Oklahoma Housing Stability Program.
There are opportunities for bankers and the public to comment on the proposed program through an online forum. Click here to access the forum, which allows you to ask questions, provide feedback, etc.
There are opportunities for bankers and the public to comment on the proposed program. The Oklahoma Housing Finance Authority will be implementing rules and operating the program. Below are directions on how to access the website to leave comments or ask questions. There will be public hearings and webinars down the road to further educate everyone involved, as soon as that information is available we’ll get it to the membership.
Fake fraud warnings most common banking text scam
Bogus bank fraud warnings are the most common text message scam reported to the Federal Trade Commission, with scammers usually impersonating larger financial institutions, the agency said late last week in a new report.
Consumers reported losing $330 million to text scams in 2022, more than double what was reported in 2021, the FTC said. The agency examined a randomized sample of 1,000 scams and found that fake bank security messages were the most common type, with scammers often impersonating large banks. It also noted that reports of texts impersonating banks have increased nearly twenty-fold since 2019.
OBA co-hosts fraud prevention conference
The OBA is supporting a great training opportunity (.pdf) and our own Elaine Dodd will be presenting it along with the FBI and Department of Justice in the first session.
You can share this info with your customers and fellow bankers and together we can work to stop some of this multi-billion dollar victimization affecting our citizens.
Participation is available both in-person as well as online, and while older adults are our target market, there is no age requirement to attend. You can sign up for as many of the programs as desired. Each will be great and will build on the others, but there’s no commitment to attending them all.
Tara Hardin, TRIAD coordinator with the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office, is coordinating this event at the request of FBI and our federal partners. They are needing lunch sponsors and hope some of our banks will agree to support this great event. If any of our bankers are interested in a full or partial sponsorship for one of the days’ lunches, please give Tara a call or email her. They are happy to include the business name/logo at the event and give credit where credit is due.
If you have any questions please call Tara at the number on the flyer (.pdf) or call, text or email Elaine. Hope to see you and/or your customers June 23!
2024 Oklahoma Views & Vistas Calendar available for early-bird orders
The 2024 Oklahoma Views & Vista Calendar is now ready to be purchased – order yours by Aug. 1 to get the special low price of just $1.10 per calendar – pricing after Aug. 1 is $1.25 per calendar.
Deadline is Sept. 15. This is a great way to share your bank’s logo and information to your customers!
OBA education corner …
Father’s Day is approaching. We think a nice pair of socks … really funky/cool socks … would make a great gift … or maybe a cool bow tie … or maybe anything Star Trek related. While those who know are now realizing who writes these little intros to the education corner, others are wondering what their dads would do with a pair of silly socks. While browsing through Amazon looking for that last-minute gift, take a little time to prepare for upcoming continuing education opportunities available through the OBA:
- TRID Hot Spots, June 20, webinar — This webinar will look at hot spot areas related to TRID. Learn what examiners are citing as well as other common errors in plain English.
- SARs: Line by Line, June 21, webinar — In this webinar, you will gain expert insights into cybercrimes, FinCEN notes and narrative instructions, along with actionable tips to streamline your filings and ensure compliance.
- Vendor Management – Agencies’ Expectations, June 22, webinar — Stay ahead of the game in the new era of Fintech! Join this webinar and learn how to navigate the changing landscape of vendor management and mitigate risks associated with third-party relationships.
- Prepping for the Proposed Interagency CRA Rule, June 22, webinar — On May 5, 2022, after several false starts over recent years, the agencies issued a proposal to strengthen and modernize regulations implementing the CRA. The proposal features several significant revisions and will likely become final in 2023.
- Records Management and Retention – Compliance Requirements, June 29, webinar — Review the critical compliance requirements for record retention, and formulate and maintain an effective records management program.
- Section 1071 Final Rule: What you Need to Know Now, Aug. 1, Oklahoma City — This seminar, delves into the final rule, how it differs from the proposed requirements, and what your institution needs to know to ease the regulatory burden and make the implementation process as smooth as possible.