In a live interview on Bloomberg today, American Bankers Association President and CEO Rob Nichols outlined three key policy priorities that ABA is looking to in 2019. Specifically, he highlighted Community Reinvestment Act modernization, which will “allow banks to better serve all parts of their communities,” as well as reforms to anti-money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act regulations and continued tailoring of existing rules to banks’ unique business models and risk profiles.
Nichols discussed the growth of leveraged lending in the nonbank “shadow banking” sector, which has been flagged as a growing risk by regulators. “This is the next area of potential systemic risk,” he said. And as former President George H.W. Bush lies in state at the U.S. Capitol, Nichols also shared his impressions of Bush’s dignity, kindness and humor when he served as a junior aide in the West Wing during the first Bush administration.
