4 Hartford Business Journal • May 4, 2015 www.HartfordBusiness.com
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responsibility to shield troubled mortgagees
from lenders' heavy-handed seizure tactics.
As for cybersecurity, state banks, many of
whom issue credit and debit cards, complain
increasingly about the financial burden and
worry dumped on them when retailers like Tar-
get and The Home Depot are hacking victims.
Bankers say commercial cybercrime victims
should be more open when attacks occur, and
that they shoulder some or all of the cost of new
cards when breaches happen.
"We have to come together to figure out
how best to deal with that," Perez said. "It's
getting tougher every day."
Greater credit access for small business,
he said, boils down to an economic-devel-
opment issue not just for larger Connecticut
cities, but state government, too. But Perez
said bank regulators at both the state and
federal level at times present bankers with a
Hobson's choice.
"We tell banks to lend more, but then we
put on all these restrictions that make it more
difficult" for them to lend, Perez said. "We
have to find a middle ground."
Perez has landed in his post in time for
the launch later this year of a pair of separate
accreditation reviews of his agency's consumer-
protection and financial-institutions divisions
by an organization representing his regulatory
peers. The Conference of State Bank Supervi-
sors' review occurs every five years.
Tribal lending spat
The "payday lender" flap that has ensnared
the agency, starting in the waning days of Per-
ez's predecessor, Howard Pitkin, who was a
career agency bank examiner before becom-
ing commissioner, is now in Perez's lap.
A pair of lenders owned by an Oklahoma
tribe are appealing in Connecticut state court
Pitkin's administrative orders denying them
access to ply Connecticut consumers with ultra-
high interest loans. The co-defendants also are
suing Connecticut in Oklahoma federal court,
claiming its civil rights are being violated.
A Connecticut judge recently denied the
state's motion to dismiss the parties' appeal,
meaning it is likely to get a full airing in court.
Perez insists the agency respects the
tribe's sovereignty, but also is firm as to the
state's primary responsibility in the matter.
"It is important we protect our most needy
consumers," he said. "The typical person who
uses [payday loans] is the one who can least
afford to pay higher interest rates."
Despite being a former New Haven alder-
man, Perez said don't expect him to use his
post as an activist cudgel.
"We are going to look at ways to increase
loans. Some people might call that being activ-
ist," the banking commissioner said. "Some
might say that's doing the right thing." n
Perez
THURSDAY
May 14, 2015
11:00am to 1:45pm
Connecticut Convention Center
CELEBRATING 8 REMARKABLE
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
TICKETS:
Single Ticket Rate $75 each;
Table of 10 / $700
Register online at
www.HartfordBusiness.com
Click on 'Our Events'
QUESTIONS? Contact Amy Orsini at
aorsini@HartfordBusiness.com
or 860-236-9998 ext. 134
Join us as we reflect on the accomplishments and
careers of these outstanding Women in Business.
Celebrate the feats of these strong and remarkable business women being recognized
at the Annual Women's Business Luncheon. These women are senior level executives,
CEOs and entrepreneurs in the Hartford community.
Event Partners:
Presenting Sponsor: Event Sponsors:
2015
Have lunch with these
remarkable women
on May 14!
Carolyn Bligh,
Principal,
Bligh Graphics, LLC
Susan Herbst,
President,
University of Connecticut
Mary Ellen Jones,
Vice President, Sales,
Asia Pacific & China,
Pratt & Whitney
Lisa Schwartz,
Vice President, Integrity
Merchant Solutions
Kristen Roberts,
Vice President of Public Relations
and Community Investment,
Comcast
Catherine Smith,
Commissioner,
State Department of
Economic & Community
Development
Nivea Torres,
Superintendent,
CT Technical High School
System
Carol Wallace,
Chairman, President & CEO,
Cooper-Atkins Corporation
Special Presentation:
A Conversation
with Carolyn
Kuan,
Music Director,
Hartford Symphony
Orchestra, facilitated by RONNA L.
REYNOLDS, Executive
Vice President, The
Bushnell Center for the
Performing Arts
Featuring a look at the finalists of the
Hartford Symphony Orchestra's Fanfare
Competition that honors the power of
women — a new work entitled Fanfare for
the Hartford Woman, which invited
composers to create a companion piece to
Aaron Copland's iconic Fanfare for the
Common Man. Carolyn will illustrate the link
between the creativity of composition
which is similar to the creativity of marketing
and creating a business product.
For more info go to www.HartfordBusiness.
com and click on 'Our Events'
The Luncheon's Emcee will be Lisa Carberg, special projects
reporter for NBC Connecticut's "Be Healthy" series
