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Phone: 501.376.3741
Fax: 501.376.9243
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News Center - General Banking Issues |
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July 7, 2010
AmBA’s Yingling to Retire at End of Year
AmBA
President and CEO Ed Yingling -- who celebrated his 25th year at
ABA
last week -- will retire on December 31 of this year,
AmBA
announced today.
“Last December, Ed informed the AmBA Executive Committee that he wished to begin the planning process for his retirement at the end of 2010,” AmBA Chairman Arthur Johnson said. “For 25 years, first as head of government relations and then as president and CEO, Ed has led the banking industry in
Washington
through many challenges. He leaves with the appreciation and respect of bankers across the country, and we are pleased that he has agreed to consult with
AmBA
on business, regulatory and legislative matters after he retires from the association.”
“After 25 years at
AmBA
, I believe this is the best time to create the opportunity for new leadership,” Yingling said. “The conference report on the reform legislation is written, the historic merger of
AmBA
and
America
’s Community Bankers has been successfully completed, and
AmBA
has been restructured to best serve the industry for the future. Leaving
AmBA
at the end of a Congress and with sufficient time to implement a succession plan will ensure the best possible transition.”
Yingling, 61, indicated that he plans to stay active in the industry. In addition to working on legislation and regulation, he may return to the practice of law. “For two and a half decades, I have had the incredible opportunity to work with bankers from every part of the country and to serve with
AmBA
’s dedicated staff. I will forever be grateful for that opportunity,” he said.
AmBA
has created a search committee composed of board members and former officers of the association to look for Yingling’s replacement. Both internal and external candidates will be considered. The committee has retained Korn/Ferry to assist in the search.
June 30, 2010
WSJ Op-Ed: Reform Bill's New Regs Could End Community Banking
The regulatory reform bill's new regulations, along with the regs issued in the past year, could signal the end of people-oriented community banking, ABA banker Sarah Wallace said in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece yesterday.
"Less credit will be available, costs will increase, and we will be less able to make loans to regular people who were creditworthy in the past. This is the perfect storm for the small retail banking customer," wrote Wallace, chair of the $200-asset First Federal Saving and Loan Association,
Newark
,
Ohio
.
Going forward, she said, First Federal will no longer be able to evaluate loan applications based solely on a borrower's creditworthiness. "We will be making regulation compliance decisions instead of credit decisions," Wallace said. "This is not in the best interest of the consumer."
She also explained that the reform bill will reduce interchange-fee income -- often used to offset electronic banking costs at small institutions -- an estimated 75 percent. "Institutions will be faced with one of two choices: Either increase fees on checking accounts and continue to offer electronic banking, or stop providing the service altogether," Wallace said.
She added that to comply with the slew of new regulations, the 55-employee First Federal will need a proportionately higher number of people -- rather than the current lone compliance specialist -- working daily to interpret and implement the new federal rules.
"This in itself, because of the sheer volume, has the potential to destroy community banking," Wallace said. Read the opinion piece.
June 28, 2010
AmBA to Host Telephone Briefing Thursday on Reg Reform Bill
The full House may vote as early as Tuesday -- and the Senate soon after -- on the conference report of the reg reform bill (H.R. 4173) that House-Senate conference committee approved Friday. To update its members on this sweeping measure,
AmBA
is inviting bankers to participate in a one-hour telephone briefing at 11 a.m. EDT on Thursday, July 1.
The free telephone briefing -- conducted by AmBA Chairman Art Johnson, chairman and CEO, United Bank of
Michigan
,
Grand Rapids
,
Mich.
, and association President and CEO Ed Yingling -- is an opportunity for bankers to learn more about the legislation and ask questions. We strongly urge you to participate to better understand a bill that will affect every bank in the country.
A limited number of listening sites will be available for this live program, so bankers are encouraged to register early. Register for the call.
Media Gets AmBA’s Message: Reform Bill Will Hurt Traditional Banks, Credit Availability
More than 100 television and radio stations nationwide this weekend carried AmBA’s message that the financial regulatory reform bill will impose a huge reg burden on traditional banks and affect credit availability. The media outlets either used sound bites from President and CEO Ed Yingling’s CNBC television interview on Friday or Yingling’s statement following the House and Senate conferees’ approval of the bill’s conference report.
The bill “is going to impose thousands of pages … of new regulations on community banks who didn’t make any subprime loans, and the end result is going to be less credit,” Yingling said in the television interview.
A front-page story in Saturday’s New York Times also recounted Yingling’s recent letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that estimated banks had been hit with 50 new or expanded federal regulations during the last two years, including the 2009 Credit Card Bill that accounted for 252 pages of new regs.
And that count does not include the impact of the new legislation, Yingling said in the Times story. “It’s a massive compliance burden,” he said. “And there is going to be massive uncertainty in the financial industry about how all of this will play out.” Watch the CNBC interview.
Watch NBC affiliate coverage.
Watch CBS affiliate coverage.
Read the New York Times story.
June 17, 2010
AmBA Explains Interchange Issue in USA Today Op-Ed
AmBA
President and CEO Ed Yingling explained in today’s USA Today why the interchange restrictions -- included in the reg reform bill’s base text that the conference committee is working on -- are a bad deal for consumers.
Interchange revenue helps pay for a card system that provides consumers with convenience, security and accessibility, while providing merchants with lower overhead costs, less crime, fraud protection and guaranteed payment, Yingling explained in an opinion piece.
The Durbin amendment “would require the government to intervene in this private market, fix prices for interchange at levels well below cost, ignore the value debit cards provide, and essentially relieve merchants of the responsibility for paying their fair share,” Yingling wrote. “It cuts giant retailers a financial break, shifting a cost of doing business (not unlike paying rent or electricity bills) away from them and onto consumers. It’s very simple: if retailers pay less, consumers will pay more.”
Yingling emphasized that the so-called “carve-out” included in the amendment for small financial institutions won’t work. “An ebbing tide lowers all ships and once the government establishes an artificial price floor, all financial institutions will be forced to adhere to that price in order to compete effectively in the marketplace,” he said. Read the story.
June 4, 2010
N.D. Banker: Reg Reform Will Hurt Community Banks,
Not Wall Street
Financial regulatory reform legislation is going to hurt community banks instead of punishing the Wall Street players that were at were at the heart of the financial crisis,
AmBA
community banker Gary Petersen said in Tuesday’s Politico, a newspaper widely read by Capitol Hill lawmakers. “One of the things that is most distressing is the [Consumer Financial Protection Agency],” said Petersen, who is president of Lakeside State Bank, a $148 million bank in New Town, N.D. “There is obviously a need for consumer protection. Our argument is that there is already so much out there purportedly to protect consumers. Another whole agency with rule-writing authority is just another crushing level of regulatory authority for us to deal with.” Read more.
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