Mainebiz

V O L . X X I N O. X X V I I N OV E M B E R 3 0 , 2 0 1 5 26 B A N K I N G & F I N A N C E F O C U S Banks that are chartered by the state of Maine pay the state for all of their exams. Most people think the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.), which insures your deposits, is paid for by federal money. ere's no federal money in that. e banks pay an annual premium to the FDIC. In the history of the FDIC, not a single cent from the U.S. Treasury has been used to bail out or pay for banks that fail. So the regulatory relief we're seeking would be for right-sizing examina- tions. For example, we have a lot of laws that apply to everything. We have to report on forms to federal law enforce- ment agencies on a regular basis, some of them daily, depending on what the transactions are. [But a bank that's] not in the international marketplace, not doing currency exchanges, not hedging portfolios, and doesn't have subs that manage other people's portfolios is not as complex. ere is some hope that federal regulators will start to look at the complexity of a bank and right-size the examination with that complexity. We've gone to Congress and there are three dozen bills looking at diff erent ways to do this. One of the very simple ways to do this is, for example, is this time of year you are receiving many privacy notices from many companies. One of the simple bills we've asked for is that if you send a privacy notice out to a new account holder, then you don't have to send another one by mail unless you change your policy. An opt-out also might work. It's those types of things. Banks have to send the FDIC a Call Report every 90 days that is a detailed fi nancial report of everything the bank does. It's sent electronically. It gives the examiners a way to monitor off -site. e Call Report is 90 pages of data per quarter per bank. A human at the bank must fi ll this in. Our plea is to give the FDIC authority to bifurcate their rules based on business complex- ity. We think there's a reasonably good chance of Congress looking at this in November or December. We're putting a lot of pressure now to see if they'll pass some of these pieces. is is all diff erent parts of the federal law. Fourth is community. We have some things on the horizon that we want people to partner with us on. One is elder fi nancial fraud. We are in a unique position to be the identi- fi ers. e teller is in the position to say something is wrong. So the ques- tion is what do we do? We've spent a year working with the Department of Health and Human Services and others and we've created a program called Senior Safe. And we are almost through the fi rst year of it being deployed. We've trained almost 125 banks and credit unions where tell- ers have a card with things to look out for. We now have an 800 number manned by the state and the Bureau of Securities, and that number helps them triage the situation. Up till now we didn't have anyone to call. Now Judith Shaw, who is a state employee and securities administrator of the Offi ce of Securities, heads that program. She also recently became president of the North American Securities Administrators Association. We think we have a great program. ere's a lot of fraud by family and friends. ere was a guy we had a little while ago who was absolutely convinced he'd won the Jamaican Lottery and kept sending his money. e bank wouldn't give him the money to send any more so he went to Walmart and used the Western Union system. I believe Judy Shaw's organization has just adopted Senior Safe as their model program. Fifth is student loan debt. is is very personal for me because my fam- ily has three recent college graduates, two of whom went on to graduate school. Students are saddled with debt for years and will be renters as a result. We are starting to work with the Finance Authority of Maine, which has new authority from the Legislature, to look at some types of consolidation of student debt. We're opening discussions with some companies to give incentives to Maine graduates — students who go to school in Maine and are from Maine, or who are from Maine and coming back — to have a program of debt forgiveness that ties in with duration of employment. So these fi ve things are emerging issues on my list. L O r i Va L i G r a , M a i n e b i z s e n i o r w r i t e r, c a n b e r e a c h e d a t LVa L i G r a @ m a i n e b i z . b i z a n d @ L Va L i G r a » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E We have some things We have some things We have some things We have some things We have some things We have some things We have some things We have some things We have some things We have some things We have some things We have some things We have some things We have some things on the horizon that we on the horizon that we on the horizon that we on the horizon that we on the horizon that we on the horizon that we on the horizon that we on the horizon that we on the horizon that we on the horizon that we on the horizon that we on the horizon that we on the horizon that we want people to partner with us on ... We are in a unique position to be the identifiers. The teller is in the position to say something is wrong.

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