By Dan Valente, IBANYS Director of Government Relations 

Today in Buffalo, IBANYS members from various banks located in the western part of the state had an opportunity to sit down and have a "roundtable discussion" with New York State Senate Banks Committee Chairman Joseph Griffo and Banks Committee member Senator Patrick Gallivan. The discussion was an excellent opportunity for IBANYS members to explain to the Senators about the good, the bad, and the ugly of Community Banking in New York State. Member banks reiterated that the Community Banking model was not the cause of the financial collapse in our economy and a "one size fits all" solution is not the answer.   Members continued to lay out the difference between community banks and our mega-bank/credit union counterparts. The differences are stark and we at IBANYS will continue to fight the good fight to make sure that community banks continue to be sustainable and serve as the economic engines providing for our communities.

Both Senators professed their commitment to Community Banking and are looking to expand on the relationships already in place. They expressed an interest in conducting a Community Bank Tour in conjunction with Department of Financial Services Superintendant Ben Lawsky in the coming year. IBANYS will certainly keep the membership informed as more information on this becomes available.

We ask that all members of IBANYS reach out to your state representatives and begin to have a conversation about what is that we do for our communities. Explain to them the burden of what over-regulation is doing to you as a banker and a small business owner. Explain to them how over-regulation is hurting your business, and in turn affecting the way in which you conduct business with your customers. These are the issues, and many more, that we need to start discussing with the legislature, the public and our customers.

Legislative Actions

Both the Senate and Assembly passed legislation (A. 8909, Jeffries/S. 6124, Savino) to exempt certain FHA loans from provisions of law requiring that proceeds of the loan not be paid directly to a home improvement contractor.

The Senate passed S. 3779 (Smith), allowing individuals who make no more than three mortgage loans a year to be exempt from licensing; and S. 5209 (Farley), clarifying regulation of money transmitters.

Assembly Local Governments to Ways and Means, A. 8971 (Magnarelli)/S. 5135 (Martins), authorizes local governments to use reciprocal deposit programs such as CDARS to collateralize municipal deposits for amounts in excess of $250K

Bills introduced in the Assembly include A. 9096 (Ra), imposing penalties on foreclosure plaintiffs who fail to act in "good faith," as defined, including principal write-downs and cancellations of the underlying mortgage loans; and A. 9109 (Crespo), requiring affidavits in foreclosure proceedings 30 days before commencing the proceedings.