Banking industry lobbyists will be partying it up election night no matter which political party wins the White House and Congress.
My lobbyists and I are going to be all over the place, attending events on both sides of the aisle, said Robert R. Davis, chief lobbyist for Americas Community Bankers. His trade group is helping sponsor five major congressional parties, including ones at the Republican and Democratic national committees headquarters on Capitol Hill, along with a House leadership shindig at the ESPN Zone restaurant in downtown Washington.
But it wont be all play and no work for Mr. Davis. Im going to be thinking about how the political dynamic will change and how that will portend for committee chairs and party leadership, he said. I end up being involved on a personal and professional level dealing with all the races as they unfold, looking at the big picture and specific races.
Edward L. Yingling, head of the American Bankers Associations lobbying shop, also plans to make the party scene, which he described as both fun and work. Where he will end up, Mr. Yingling admitted, depends on how close the election is and how much I am enjoying one party or another.
Generally its more fun to go to the party of the side that is winning, he said.
Longtime Bank of America Corp. lobbyist J. Mark Leggett is partied out. Come Tuesday evening, Mr. Leggett, who lives in Charlotte, N.C., said he plans to go home, take off my shoes, put my feet up, have a glass of cabernet, and watch the returns come in on television.
Many moons ago he used to kick up his heels at various campaign headquarters. Then one year I figured it out: They could have these events without me. My being there didnt change the outcome at all.
If the presidential election were up to thrift executives, George W. Bush should already be measuring new drapes for the Oval Office. Contrasting with national polls showing the Texas governor and Vice President Al Gore charging neck and neck toward Election Day, a straw poll at the Americas Community Bankers annual convention last week in Seattle had Gov. Bush crushing Mr. Gore, 931 to 174.
The ACB is pulling out the big guns for advice on deposit insurance reform. It announced Tuesday that former Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Ricki Helfer will help analyze issues raised by the agencys 84-page options paper released in August.Ms. Helfer was FDIC chairman from 1994 through 1997 and was active in supporting merger of the bank and thrift insurance funds a top priority for the trade group and the only reform step currently endorsed by the agency.
It should be a no-brainer to merge the funds, said Ms. Helfer. I dont understand why legislators and the administration havent taken the issue forward.
The Financial Services Roundtable named Maura K. Solomon director of banking and financial services last week. Starting next Monday, she said, she will analyze legislative and regulatory proposals on banking and economic issues that affect the groups members.Ms. Solomon has been a congressional affairs specialist at the Office of Thrift Supervision since May 1999.
Im excited about the opportunity, she said. The Roundtable has an exceptional group of people, with lots of innovative ideas.
Can they or cant they? A representative of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently defended its invocation of the Federal Trade Commission Act, forbidding unfair and deceptive practices, to crack down in June on alleged predatory lending practices at Providian National Bank.Nannette G. Goulet, the agencys director of community and consumer policy, said the other banking and thrift agencies felt the Comptrollers Office used the FTC law for a purpose other than that for which it was intended. I have heard through the grapevine that the other agencies are not too keen on this and feel we do not have the authority, but our agency disagrees, she said.
Undaunted, Ms. Goulet added that the Comptrollers Office could use the same method to pursue other institutions using similar practices.
If there are faults we see along the Providian lines, we will continue to use unfair and deceptive practices, as we did in Providian, Ms. Goulet said last week at a Consumer Bankers Association conference on fair-lending issues.
Members of the same panel from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Federal Reserve Board, and the OTS declined to criticize the decision; they said their agencies are still researching the issue.
Though singer Marilyn McCoo was the headliner at the ACB convention last week, the surprise and probably much cheaper talent was Keith E. Waggoner, president and chief executive officer of Rocky Ford Federal Savings and Loan Association in Rocky Ford, Colo. He kicked off the gathering Oct. 30 with an impressive rendition of the national anthem that would have made the average ballpark crooner jealous.
