WASHINGTON - Hoping to put up a united front, bank and thrift trade associations plan to meet to develop common positions on everything from taxing credit unions to cutting government red tape.
Though the American Bankers Association can stomach a "summit" meeting on these easy issues, the giant trade group is resisting pressure to add deposit insurance to the agenda.
Without the ABA, a consensus stance on the looming gap between what banks and thrifts pay for insurance would have little force.
The summit meeting is being pressed by the Savings and Community Bankers of America with the support of the Independent Bankers Association of America.
At least one state trade group, the Florida Bankers Association, also has asked the ABA to broker a deal on the premium issue. Like the IBAA and SCBA and other state associations, the Florida group counts thrifts among its members.
"Our read is that if we go in polarized among the bankers and among the thrifts, we will get a solution handed to us which we may not like," John Milstead, the Florida association's executive vice president, warned ABA executive director Don Ogilvie in a letter last month.
"A reasonable and equitable plan short of a merger seems to us to be the best solution," Mr. Milstead added.
But Ed Yingling, the ABA's chief lobbyist, said Tuesday that the banking industry has nothing to gain from finding a way to soften the impact on thrifts that will be paying substantially more for deposit insurance by yearend.
"We don't want to give a perception to policymakers that we will compromise on the premium issue, because we will not," Mr. Yingling said. "We're against any merger" of the Bank Insurance Fund and the Savings Association Insurance Fund.
Admitting that others, such as the Florida bankers, also oppose a merger, Mr. Yingling insisted that it will be impossible to discuss options without putting a merger on the table.
Still, Mr. Yingling said he expects association leaders to sit down together in the next few weeks.
"I think it's time for the trade associations to have a summit meeting," agreed Kenneth A. Guenther, the IBAA's executive vice president.
In addition to the BIF/SAIF question, Mr. Guenther said the confab should address credit union taxation, regulatory burden, lender liability, and reform of the Federal Home Loan Bank System.
"I think there's a lot to talk about," he said, noting that the last major meeting among the trade groups was in December 1992. That get- together focused on regulatory relief.
SCBA president Paul Schosberg got the ball rolling with a Jan. 11 letter inviting eight trade group chiefs to confer on common concerns.
"An industry consensus is vital to forging the political consensus needed for timely and effective legislative action," Mr. Schosberg wrote. Listing the SCBA's priorities, Mr. Schosberg put deposit insurance premiums first.
While SCBA has endorsed a merger of the funds, the group's main goal is equal premiums for banks and thrifts, SCBA spokesman Bob Schmermund said on Tuesday.
"The end is what we care about, and that is premium parity," he said.
But Mr. Yingling said the means to that end would cost the banking industry a bundle.
