OKBanker Direct

March 2018

• March 15, 2018

  Senate passes regulatory relief package

  On a vote of 67-31, the U.S. Senate passed its version of regulatory reform for traditional community banks. “This has been a tough fight,” OBA President and CEO Roger Beverage said. “We’ve been working on trying to shape a compromise for more than four years. Yesterday was a huge win for the banking industry, but especially for smaller community banks. …
• March 9, 2018

  Senate debates S. 2155; Check out Lankford’s incredible speech on Senate floor!

  This week has borne witness to a sometimes comical, sometimes irritating debate on the Senate floor about a bill that will bring regulatory relief to community banks. Much of the opposition to this bill is being led by a former supporter of community banks – Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) – who keeps reading from a list of talking points that …

February 2018

• February 8, 2018

  Step Up Oklahoma initiative – specifics of plan

  Just another reminder to let your representative or senator know how you feel and what you think about the plan that’s been developed by a group of leading business and civic leaders with the number of individual leaders who also support this program growing day by day. In the OBA Update on Tuesday, we briefly outlined a few of the …

December 2017

• December 16, 2017

  Senate Banking Committee approves regulatory relief bill

  Late Tuesday afternoon, the Senate Banking Committee voted to advance S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act to the full Senate for consideration. It was a strong bipartisan vote: 16-7, including four of the 11 Democrats on the Committee. “A small group of us began working on this concept about four years ago or so,” said …

July 2017

• July 25, 2017

  Small-business lending information needed

  Good afternoon everyone. As you know, the CFPB has published its Request for Information that deals with small business lending and the Bureau’s plan to implement the requirements of Sec. 1071 of Dodd-Frank. Those requirements will require your bank to collect HMDA-like data on small business loans. I’ve been included in a meeting at the Bureau on Monday to visit …

May 2017

• May 16, 2017

  Archive: URGENT REQUEST: Please contact your congressman about pulling Durbin Amendment bill from CHOICE Act

  On May 4, the House Financial Services Committee approved H.R. 10, the Financial CHOICE Act. The vote was strictly along party lines, 34-26. One of its provisions will repeal the harmful Durbin Amendment. It’s possible H.R. 10 will be brought up by the House leadership and considered on the House floor next week during the OBA Convention in Norman. We know the …
• May 2, 2017

  Archive: CHOICE Act mark-up is underway

  This morning, the House Financial Services Committee began considering H.R. 10, the Financial CHOICE Act. Introduced by House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), H.R. 10 is the chairman’s vision of the effort to “repeal and replace” Dodd-Frank. The Independent Community Bankers of America is having its annual ICBA Capital Summit in Washington, D.C., right now, and we want to …

April 2017

• April 26, 2017

  Archive: Immediate action needed on Senate Bill 291

  Late Tuesday, Senate Bill 291 was added to the House Floor calendar and could possibly be heard today or Thursday. SB 291 is a bad bill for banking! This bill makes the necessary changes to allow Green-Energy PACE Home Loans. These loans are currently under scrutiny from federal regulators and Congress. Current Oklahoma law states that these loans are junior …