ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols today warned bankers that the American Bankers Association will remain vigilant about legislation at the state level that threatens to undermine national bank preemption. In his opening remarks at the ABA Risk and Compliance Conference in Seattle, he observed that “we’re seeing both blue states and red states pass laws that would interfere with national bank operations, violate preemption and tread squarely onto the OCC’s turf.”
Nichols added that “ABA and the state association alliance raised these concerns in a letter to the OCC last month and joined our fellow trade associations in a Supreme Court brief in support of national bank preemption earlier this year. We will continue to use the advocacy tools at our disposal to protect this fundamental principle of banking in the United States.”
Nichols also highlighted the organization’s efforts to help banks confront a “truly staggering onslaught of new rules and ‘guidance’ documents, many without any real justification or need. No one knows better than this audience just how costly and complex these rules will be to implement.” Noting that “we won’t ever hesitate to use every available tool to push back against efforts to undermine the strength and vitality of our banking sector,” Nichols provided an update on ABA’s four active lawsuits challenging the CFPB’s unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices manual; the CFPB’s Section 1071 final rule; the interagency final rule on the Community Reinvestment Act; and the CFPB’s final rule on credit card late fees.
“We’ve seen regulators reaching far beyond the bounds of their authority,” Nichols said. “We’ve seen them finalize rules that dramatically underestimate compliance costs, and ignore valid concerns raised by industry stakeholders. And in a few cases, we’ve seen them try and twist the law to suit their own political agendas.
