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Current Events - 03/06/2000

Staff News  — Our lead item this week once again deals with staff here at CBA. Lobbyist Jamie Clark of our Sacramento office was involved in a serious automobile accident last Thursday night. Many of you know Jamie personally and I wanted to let you know about his condition. The good news is that he is progressing well and a full recovery is expected. He is now starting to receive physical therapy. Jamie needs assistance to get out of bed or stand up, but considering what he experienced he is doing remarkably well.

Currently, Jamie can’t use either arm. His right wrist was shattered and had to be surgically reconstructed with metal parts and screws. His left arm is temporarily numb from trauma, but the doctors do not seem too concerned about this. He sustained several lacerations on the head and around his eyes, arms and legs from flying glass. Most importantly, however, Jamie’s sense of humor and infectious optimism are fully intact. He is already refocusing on office-related issues and anxious to get back in the saddle. It may be awhile, however. He is likely to be in the hospital for another few days and then convalescing at home for an indeterminate period after that. We have urged him not to hurry matters. I know Jamie would appreciate hearing from you. The best way to reach him is to send a card or note in care of our Sacramento Office, 1121 L Street, Suite 1050, Sacramento, CA   95814. We’ll see that he gets them.

In other news, we are pleased to announce that Susan Banashek will join the CBA team as VP of Communications and Public Relations effective March 6, 2000. Susan brings a wealth of experience in this area. She was a reporter for the LA Times, held senior PR positions at Bank of America, First Interstate, and Bank of California, and has recently acted as a PR consultant to some high tech ventures in Silicon Valley. She will be able to hit the ground running on banking issues and her contacts with the media are outstanding. We welcome Susan to our team. Her phone number is 415/284-6999 ext. 223.

Kerk Haller of our office has left his position as our information systems director to pursue other employment opportunities as a consultant in the information and technology field. We wish him well. Mark Colombo (who already heads our information systems efforts at CBIS) will be responsible for overseeing the technology strategy of all CBA/CBIS locations. Curtis Paulins of our staff will be the point person for CBA’s internal information systems. Congratulations to them both.

Janet Caggiano has joined CBA to provide some much needed administrative support for Mike Jones and his Regions activities and to help out with our other meetings logistics as well. Janet spent one of her first days on the job in an all day strategic planning session with the staff and jumped right in. She is a wonderful addition to our staff.

Finally, Nancy W. Hepburn will become CBA’s new Administrative Assistant / Receptionist on  March 9th. Nancy brings a great deal of experience in both areas from her work at KPMG Peat Marwick. Most of you already use the automated attendant to reach us directly at our desks (and we encourage you to continue that practice), but Nancy will take all of the general incoming calls to the office and direct them appropriately. She will also be an important administrative resource for members of the management team. As you know, the CBA has no secretaries, not even for Gary.

Privacy — Now back to the reality of the banking world you inhabit every day. The issue of the hour is privacy and the arena of action is the federal regulatory front. The primary federal banking regulators and the FTC have issued privacy regulations required under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Comments are due by March 31. These regulations require initial and annual disclosures of banks’ privacy policies and practices to consumers, as well as an opportunity for them to opt out. While opt out legislation amounted to a victory for the financial institutions industry and is infinitely more preferable than opt in, the challenges of honoring consumer opt outs is yet a daunting task. Banks that share consumer information with non-affiliated third parties not subject to an exemption will have to begin developing new systems to keep track of opt out requests arising from all lines of business. For example, if a deposit customer has opted out, then the bank must honor it when the customer later provides information in obtaining a loan. Banks must be alert also to a transactional consumer (e.g., purchaser of a cashier’s check) who has opted out and later becomes the bank’s customer, and a customer who leaves the bank and then returns. In each instance, the opt out request must be honored and the customer may not be required to opt out again. An opt out request remains valid until it is revoked. The CBA is developing its comments and encourages its members to do likewise. Please read the summary of the regulations in question and answer format (click here) and check our website at www.calbankers.com for a further discussion of issues for comment. Please share your comment letters with us. If you have questions or need further assistance, contact Associate General Counsel Leland Chan at 415/284-6999 ext. 214.

Legislation — It is the calm before the storm time for all but the warriors in Sacramento. As expected, the news is quiet on the federal front. There was a frenzy of activity last year in the financial services realm and this year people are focused on the election process. At the state level the deadline for bill introduction has passed and Greg and Maurine are literally wading through the thousands of bills to ferret out those with an impact on banking. These include nearly a dozen privacy bills that will occupy our attention all year. Thankfully, we have not yet seen a resurrection of the ATM fee-ban legislation in Sacramento.

Compliance Symposium — It is not too late to sign up for the annual compliance symposium telecast which we sponsor with the ABA. This year’s program includes an important discussion of the compliance impact that the federal financial modernization legislation will bring. That law  requires regulators to issue more than 40 new regulations, some of them on a very short time frame. The privacy regulations discussed in the attachment to this Current Events is only one example. Don’t let your bank’s compliance efforts be caught flat-footed. The half-day symposium is offered at both the Hyatt Regency Alicante Hotel in Anaheim and the Hyatt Regency Hotel in San Francisco. The date is March 16, 2000 beginning at 8:00 a.m. If you are interested or want more information, call Janet Caggiano of our San Francisco office at 415/284-6999 ext. 227.