This article was taken from the Mortgage Banker Assoc
Sorohan, Mike
Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO John Courson will testify this morning at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on the Obama Administration's proposed reforms for the real estate finance industry.
The hearing focuses on H.R. 3126, the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2009. Introduced by Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., the bill formalizes a proposal by the Obama Administration to create an independent financial agency with a range of rulemaking, information-gathering, supervisory and enforcement tools affecting banks and non-bank financial institutions.
Courson is expected to iterate MBA's belief that more consumer protections are needed. However, MBA has urged Congress to move cautiously, warning that changes to the U.S. financial regulatory structure would likely have profound effects on availability and affordability of mortgage financing and other financial products.
Courson is also expected to discuss MBA's own proposal to establish rigorous lending standards and a new federal regulation of financial services institutions.
Yesterday, in testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Institution Michael Barr said the Administration's proposal has a simple purpose: to protect consumers across the financial services landscape.
“The need could not be clearer,” Barr said. “Today's consumer protection regime just experienced massive failure. It could not stem a plague of abusive and unaffordable mortgages and exploitative credit cards despite clear warning signs. It cost millions of responsible consumers their homes, their savings, and their dignity. And it contributed to the near-collapse of our financial system. We did not have just a financial crisis; we had a consumer crisis. Americans are still paying the price, and those forced into foreclosure or bankruptcy or put through other wrenching dislocations will pay for years.”
Joining Courson in testimony this morning: Steve Bartlett, president and CEO of The Financial Services Roundtable; Chris Stinebert, president and CEO of the American Financial Services Association; Steven Zeisel, vice president and senior counsel with the Consumer Bankers Association; Todd Zywicki, professor of law at George Mason University; Denise Leonard, vice president of government Affairs with the National Association of Mortgage Brokers; Edward Yingling, president and CEO of the American Bankers Association; and R. Michael Menzies Sr., president and CEO of Easton Bank and Trust Co., on behalf of Independent Community Bankers of America.
The hearing begins at 10:00 a.m. ET in Rayburn House Office Building room 2128. MBA NewsLink will provide coverage. The hearing can be viewed online at http://financialservices.house.gov/
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