Musings from the field
Meeting and talking to my fellow community bankers ... was truly a high point for me.”
As I write this article for the November/December Texas Banking magazine, we have not had the elections yet, so I thought I would talk about my summer and early fall, along with the work the TBA staff and I have been doing for Texas banks.
Texas Tour
It was great traveling the state and visiting 19 different cities on the Texas Tour. Meeting and talking to my fellow community bankers from El Paso to Amarillo, to Kilgore to McAllen and everywhere in between was truly a high point for me. While I have a passion for our industry, I know from our conversations that you, also, share my passion for helping our customers.
Out-of-state trips
In June, I went to Omaha, Neb., to the Central States Bankers Conference. There we talked about issues affecting banks not only in Texas but across the central states of our country. In July, I was off to Boston for the American Bankers Association’s Leadership Meeting.
At both these out-of-state trips, just as I did at each stop on the Texas Tour, I shared my concern about the unchartered fintech companies that are grabbing up deposit market share without any regulatory oversight or the regulations that burden each of our banks.
I had lunch with Laurie Logan, the new president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank and with Michael Hsu, the Acting Comptroller of the Currency, and asked them how much longer they would allow these non-banks to operate without a charter and without any regulatory oversight. They both agreed that it is a problem and that it needs to be addressed. The important thing is that they are now starting to focus on this issue. I read an article that talked about how Director Rohit Chopra, head of the CFPB, is now addressing the peer-to-peer (P2P) payment providers in the area of fraud and how to protect their customers.
Our TBA staff is trying to get me an audience in Washington D.C. with Chopra and the Acting Chairman of the FDIC Martin J. Gruenberg, so I can tell them more about the risk to the American consumers that these P2P fintech companies such as Venmo and others pose. I believe this is one issue that bankers and the CFPB can all agree on.
ABA Convention
I got a lot out of the American Bankers Association National Convention, held October 3-4 in Austin. I particularly appreciated the chance to hear the Gruenberg speak. I wish I could say that I was impressed. I think he spent about 80% of his talk on “climate risk” to banks.
As long as he is in charge of the FDIC, I believe we will see more and more policy decisions based on his ideology around climate and see that ideology inserted into his examination process. That is not good news for Texas and the people across this country that need energy to heat and cool their homes and offices, run tractors on the farms, keep planes in the air, manufacture plastic products and keep commerce, as well as our economy, moving.
Energy Tour
In September, we had an Energy Tour where Rob Nichols, president and CEO of the ABA, came to learn more about how the banking industry in Texas is intertwined with the oil and gas industry.
We started at the Houston Branch of the Federal Reserve, where we got a briefing on the Texas economy and our energy sector. Texas not only leads in energy from oil and gas, but also in solar and wind.
We then went to the Port of Corpus Christi, where we had a tour of the largest oil exporting facility in the nation. Later we traveled to another facility in the port that is the second largest exporting facility of liquified natural gas (LNG). From there we went to Odessa to have a meeting with bankers who support the oil and gas business in the Permian Basin. It was an educational trip for Rob and for me as well.
Lasting impressions
While we face headwinds from Washington, know that our association is working hard on your behalf. Though it may not always feel like much progress is being made, I see signs of encouragement. In the five months as your Chairman, I have come to appreciate the banking industry more and more. I continue to be impressed with the bankers I meet and the jobs they do for their communities and customers. May God bless all of you for your service.