Department of Finance prepares for state bank supervisor conference

The Idaho Department of Finance has been working with bankers in preparation for the fourth annual Conference of State Bank Supervisors hosted by the Federal Reserve September 28 and 29.

The conference is a chance for the regulators of the 4,850 state-chartered financial institutions around the country to discuss economic projections and issues in their area.

The Idaho Department of finance interviewed eight Idaho bankers to prepare its presentation for the conference. The bankers discussed how low commodity prices could affect agriculture and agricultural lending, how the absorption of land and housing paired with Idaho’s construction job creation creates concern about the next housing bubble, and the impact of various regulations such as TRID, HMDA and CECL, which affect mortgage lending, business loans and estimated loan and lease losses respectively. The three regulations were created or modified after the recent financial crisis in order to better protect consumers from predatory banking practices, but many bankers feel the reporting requirements take too much time to satisfy.

Gavin Gee, director of the Idaho Department of Finance, said that nationally the number of community banks has declined significantly.

“We’re down from a high of 18,000 in 1986,” Gee said. “There is a concern with the regulatory burden they face. There is a real need for us to address that as a country, so that is the goal of this research conference — to highlight advantages community banks offer to states and the nation and what we can do about it as regulators.”

The conference and each state’s presentation will be available to stream via webcast through the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ website. The information from the conference is also published in an annual report each year.