Hawke Leaves Bankers with Firm Advice
The Comptroller of the Currency has announced his retirement from government service. As one of his last official acts, he addressed the ABA annual convention, sharing with the audience some astute observations and some serious warnings.
Hawke discussed regulatory burden, asking how necessary regulatory burden requirements actually are and what benefits consumers actually derive from them. He expressed the frustration that many disclosures that are carefully and expensively prepared by financial institutions "go straight from the printer to the landfill - unread, unfathomed, and unappreciated by financial consumers."
Hawke urged the industry to think about a very different approach to consumer protection, one that moves away from loading up consumers with all information possible to one that strives to provide the best and most basic information needed to make decisions. Hawke suggested that the disclosures refer consumers to websites for additional information.
Ultimately, we need to know more about what information consumers need, the format in which they need it, and how they use it. Hawke would like to see a solid study that takes a hard look at what could and should be done for consumer protection.
Finally, Hawke threw the baton to the industry. He urged bankers to look hard at the causes of regulatory burden and gave dire warnings about the direct results of predatory and other greedy practices. He referred to the "toxic combinations of terms such as negative amortization, balloon payments, demand features, and default interest rates." He believes that until the industry leaders denounce these practices, financial institutions will continue to pay a high price in the form of regulatory burden - a price that is inevitably passed on to the consumer.
Copyright © 2004 Compliance Action. Originally appeared in Compliance Action, Vol. 9, No. 10, 10/04
Privacy Policy Disclaimer Recommend This Site ! Contact Us
BankersOnline is a free service made possible by the generous support of our advertisers and sponsors. Advertisers and sponsors are not responsible for site content. Please help us keep BankersOnline FREE to all banking professionals. Support our advertisers and sponsors by clicking through to learn more about their products and services.
|
|
Print Friendly!
Email This Article!
Discuss NOW!