Tag Archives: ICBA

The CFPB announced the approval of the Independent Community Bankers of America's (ICBA) proposed template to improve mortgage disclosures to "provide consumers greater clarity, streamline the process through improved disclosure requirements, and expand access to more affordable homes in rural areas with limited housing supply," according to Rebeca Romero Rainey, President and CEO of ICBA.

With Congress pondering (among other things) how best to reform the nation's housing finance system, Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) is urging lawmakers not to count smaller banks out when drafting new policies. ICBA warns policymakers to ""be careful not to create a new [secondary market] system that destroys liquidity for all but the few largest players.""

The Independent Bankers of America (ICBA) outlined its regulatory priorities for this year at the National Convention and Techworld in Las Vegas earlier this month. The organization addressed several industry reforms and pending regulations it asserts will negatively and unfairly impact community banks. As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and other government agencies work to define new guidelines for the mortgage banking industry, ICBA charges, ""any regulatory response to the financial crisis of 2008, including any changes to the capital standards, should begin with the recognition that community banks were not the cause of that crisis.""

Community banks should be exempt from pending regulations on high-cost mortgages since they were not responsible for the mortgage crises, the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) stated in a release. In July, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced it was proposing rules for high-cost mortgages, which would be determined based on interest rates, points and fees, or prepayment penalties.

Congressman Bill Posey of Florida has introduced a bill which would allow lenders to classify modified mortgages as accruing rather than non-accruing. Posey claims federal bank regulators are hindering the ability of community banks to modify home loans and keep homeowners out of foreclosure. A subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing Friday to review Rep. Posey's Common Sense Economic Recovery Act.

Freddie Mac and the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) announced Friday the extension of their eight-year alliance agreement, which gives ICBA member banks increased access to the secondary mortgage market. First announced in 2003, the Freddie Mac-ICBA partnership is designed to help ICBA members serve more customers and stay competitive in a dynamic marketplace. The new alliance agreement extends the relationship between the two organizations through March 2012.

The FDIC has approved a proposal that would change the way it determines how much banks pay for the agency's deposit insurance coverage. Since 1935, individual institutions' premiums have been based on the amount of their domestic deposits. The FDIC wants to amend the assessment scheme so that it is based on the bank's assets instead. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup could together hand over an estimated $1 billion annually in additional fees under the new structure.

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) recently welcomed Ron Haynie as president and CEO of ICBA Mortgage, the group's mortgage services subsidiary. Haynie joins the Washington, D.C.-based organization with more than 35 years' experience in mortgage banking, including tenures earlier in his career with Home Federal Bank in Nampa, Idaho, America's Community Bankers, and Freddie Mac.