Weekly Update

Congressional GOP: pursuing vote to overturn arbitration rule Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued its Final Rule that, in essence, prohibits banks and other lenders from using mandatory arbitration clauses in their lending and other documents.   “That’s the bad news,” OBA President and CEO Roger Beverage said.  “The good news is that congressional Republicans are poised to use …

Greetings from Guy By Guy Sims OBA Chairman Developing the next generation of bankers is one of the biggest challenges many of us face in our banks. Technical training, practical experience and a broad view of the banking landscape is important in developing quality bankers that will lead our banks in the future.  Our board, both at my bank and …

Greetings from Guy By Guy Sims OBA Chairman While the health care debate is taking up all of the oxygen in Washington, the next item on the agenda for the Republican congress is tax reform.  The plan is to have the framework hammered out by September and have a bill passed and signed by year-end. The house has been working …

Greetings from Guy By Guy Sims OBA Chairman Washington provided plenty of drama last week both political and personal. I would like to spend a few minutes discussing the horrific shooting at the congressional baseball game practice.  While the political rhetoric has been red hot for an extended period, it took this terrible event to produce some civility among our …

Financial CHOICE Act clears House of Representatives Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 10, the Financial CHOICE Act, on a party-line vote in which only one Republican voted with the Democrats to oppose the bill. No Democrats voted to approve the bill. The actual vote was 233-186, and all five Oklahoma Representatives voted in favor of the bill. As …

Greetings from Guy By Guy Sims OBA Chairman I hope everyone enjoyed the convention. It was great to see so many bankers from across the state. I want to thank the OBA staff for all the work it puts into making our convention successful.   I also would like thank Curtis Davidson for his leadership over the past year. Curtis …

CHOICE Act marked up, advanced to full House H.R. 10 – the Financial CHOICE Act, was recently introduced by Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) on April 26, 2017. Hensarling currently serves as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. The Committee conducted a three-day mark-up that concluded last Thursday, and an amended version was reported to the full House on strictly party-line …

From the chairman By Curtis Davidson OBA Chairman Chambers of Commence are one of our strongest allies. Be it local or national, chambers and banks have the same goal: to support economic growth, job creation and entrepreneurship. Last week, I watched a webcast from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Capital Markets Summit titled “Kickstarting Growth: The Small Business Story.” I …

CHOICE Act introduced, to be considered Wednesday Thursday, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, released his latest version of the Financial Choice Act.  We’ve talked about this approach before in this space and we featured it at the recent Bankers’ Night Out Programs across the state.   The intent of this 600-page bill is to “repeal …

From the chairman By Curtis Davidson OBA Chairman Someone once said, “What you put into life is what you get out of it.” That same concept is also true as it relates to your bank’s investment in the OBA.  As we were preparing the budget for the next fiscal year, it caused me to closely examine what my OBA dues …