The American Bankers Association sent a letter to Elizabeth Warren, assistant to the president and counselor to the Treasury secretary, asking that she be cautious in reforming financial disclosures.
Wayne Abernathy, the ABA's executive vice president of financial institutions policy and regulatory affairs, outlined the group's concerns in a letter to Warren on Tuesday that followed up on an Oct. 7 meeting she had with industry groups.
In the letter, Abernathy recognized the importance of simplifying disclosures, which Warren has advocated, but he also warned against the possibility of impeding innovation.
"As we all know, consumer interests and preferences vary greatly and service providers actively try to accommodate those variations," he wrote.
"Not everyone wants the same cell phone, and the same is also true for financial products. So that the value, quality or availability of services to consumers is not degraded, ABA believes that proposed regulatory standards should be developed in the context of broad consultation and exposed to full and ample public discussion to help identify and address any unintended consequences."
Warren has already made disclosures a principal priority, pushing for simplified credit card disclosures. She has also convened an industry meeting to merge mortgage disclosure documents, as mandated by the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.
Abernathy urged that new regulatory proposals or rules be subject to a cost-benefit analysis. And he called for Warren's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to coordinate with the other regulatory agencies so that rules apply equally to those outside CFPB enforcement, such as securities and insurance companies.
