Some bankers have not been consoled by meetings with the Bureau

While meetings with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have brought community bankers in Illinois cautious optimism about future regulation from the agency, a meeting with the Bureau did not comfort bankers in Indiana.

The CFPB Journal recently collected a list of meetings the Bureau had with banker associations across the country between July and October of last year. The CFPB met with the Indiana Bankers Association during IBA’s 2012 Washington visit in October.

IBA made the journey to Washington to talk with regulators about their ideas to produce workable regulations and to tell policymakers face-to-face about regulatory burden; they did not feel the meeting with the CFPB addressed their concerns.   

After arriving at the Bureau’s new office (which is the old Office of Thrift Supervision building) the bankers received a presentation that covered the CFPB’s complaint database and its lawsuits against banks. “They were proud to be suing the credit card companies,” said S. Joe DeHaven, president of IBA. “It seemed odd to have them share about the banks they have sued in a relationship-building meeting,” he added.

Bankers from institutions of all sizes came away apprehensive. IBA brought representatives from large banks which are on the cusp of CFPB supervision, like the $9.2 billion Evansville-based Old National Bank, Indiana’s largest bank. But it also brought representatives of community banks, which are not directly regulated by the Bureau.

“Universally, no one felt very comfortable,” DeHaven reported. “We understand they are the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, not the banker or lender protection bureau. There remains a concern from bankers and meeting [the Bureau] didn’t help.”