The California Bankers Association, led by the association’s volunteer Chairman Mary Curran with Union Bank and President and CEO Rodney Brown, and supported by EVP and Chief Operating Officer Maurine Padden and PAC/GR Administrator Mary Boruff, gathered last week with the Florida Bankers Association, September 11-13, in Washington, D.C. for the annual joint visit.The trip started out on Tuesday with a welcoming dinner and briefing on key federal legislative issues delivered by ABA Chief Operating Officer Mike Hunter, Executive Vice President of Congressional Relations and Political Affairs James Ballentine and Executive Vice President of Legislative Affairs/Chief Counsel Ken Clayton.

On Wednesday, attendees met with a number of congressional leaders including Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) .

These meetings were important opportunities to hear updates from key elected officials on both the Senate and House banking committees and subcommittees, and also to discuss issues of concern to the California banking industry including the TAG extension, the two regulatory capital proposals: “Basel III” and the “Standardized Approach”, as well as the ATM placard bill. That evening bankers attended a dinner hosted by Dwight Alexander, VP and director, legislative and regulatory affairs, and Kevin Blackburn, AVP, legislative and regulatory affairs, of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco.

On Thursday, the CFPB and the FDIC hosted two separate briefings for the bankers. During the CFPB briefing, Deputy Director Raj Date provided an update on recent activities underway at the Bureau, and Acting Chairman Martin Gruenberg, and seven members of his senior staff, led the FDIC briefing which covered a range of topics. During the FDIC briefing, Rod Brown led an extensive discussion on the importance of extending TAG and Alex Sanchez, the FBA’s president and CEO, led the discussion on the adverse impact of Basel III to community banks. In addition to the comment letters that will be prepared by individual California bankers and the association, CBA will also be coordinating a letter for circulation and signature to congressional members highlighting potential adverse impacts of Basel III, which would be sent to the FDIC in advance of the October 22 deadline to comment.

CBA would to thank all of the California joint visit attendees whose participation made it a worthwhile and successful event:

• Jeff Ball, Friendly Hills Bank
• Dann Bowman, Chino Commercial Bank
• Steve Buster, Mechanics Bank
• Tom Dobyns, Mission Community Bank
• Joe Eisele, Wells Fargo Bank
• Lesa Fynes, Sierra Vista Bank
• Bob Hughes, Finance and Thrift Company
• Buddy Ikeda, Bank of the West
• Bob McGill, Neighborhood National Bank
• Rick Sanborn, Seacoast Commerce Bank
• Al Severson, California Bank & Trust
• Rick Visser, Seacoast Commerce Bank