Florida Banking May 2024

PRESIDENT'S PERSPECTIVE

A WASHINGTON UPDATE AND D.C. FLY-IN RECAP

BY KATHY KRANINGER, FBA PRESIDENT AND CEO

A fter a pretty rough Congressional session last year, Congress is clearing the decks and getting down to – at least some – business! At the end of March, during our D.C. Fly-In and nearly six months into the government’s fiscal year, the negotiations over government funding finally resulted in a deal. Moreover, the foreign aid package was enacted, FISA renewed, and TikTok addressed. Whatever your position on the policies and funding, the institution had been paralyzed over these issues. Policymaking is compromise, and the votes on these bills were definitive and bipartisan. Having them resolved enables Congress to focus on other business for the American people. And there are items on the FBA’s agenda that Congress could address. While the window is short in an election year, we will continue to raise the issues that matter and work with our partners to progress them. Thank you to all who attended the D.C. Fly-In! We had some fantastic speakers, conversations, and opportunities to engage with policymakers – as you will see in the photos shared in this issue. By print time, I will have joined a group of our Florida bankers in D.C. again – this time for the ICBA’s 2024 Capital Summit. There are opportunities for Florida bankers to get involved with the ABA and the ICBA – if you have any interest, please let me or the FBA team know. In terms of the agenda, here is a rundown of the top issues: Reining in Regulatory Overreach We want Congress to exercise oversight of the excessive regulation coming from all corners of Washington. It is not just the financial regulators that banks have to be concerned about, but the Federal Trade Commission, the Labor Department, and the SEC, just to name three more. The sweeping regulations drive up compliance costs and denigrate banks’ ability to serve their communities and customers, while not achieving their purported purpose. Even worse, often

where there is some consumer protection goal, these rules have the opposite impact by reducing access to credit for those who are most in need of bank services. FBA is working with ABA, ICBA, the U.S. Chamber, and others to counter these harmful regulations. Opposing Interchange Price Controls We strongly oppose the Credit Card Competition Act (S. 1838/ H.R. 3881) which would (ironically) reduce the number of credit card issuers competing for consumers’ business, wring out the competitive differences among card products, decimate card rewards programs, and put the nation’s private-sector payments system under government control. Credit Unions and the Farm Credit System Congress should hold hearings on the tax treatment of these entities. Oversight failures and permissive regulation have created multi-billion-dollar, tax subsidized institutions that are the functional equivalent of commercial banks, competing in the same markets, for the same customers, offering the same services. Fair competition is what we seek and hearings are a good starting place. Restricting the Sale of Mortgage “Trigger Leads” Please support the bipartisan Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act (H.R. 7297, S. 3502), which would restrict the sale of trigger leads. “Trigger leads” create a flood of unwanted solicitations, compromise consumer privacy, and create consumer confusion and complaints. The Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act strikes the right balance between safeguarding the financial privacy of our customers and fostering competition in the mortgage market by restricting the sale of trigger leads to consumers who provide their consent or lenders that have an existing mortgage relationship with the consumer. Creating a Safe Harbor for Legal Cannabis Please pass the SAFER / SAFE Banking Act (S. 2860 / H.R. 2891) to create a federal safe harbor

6 — FLORIDA BANKING THE VOICE OF FLORIDA BANKING