MEDIA RELEASE / April 23, 2009

Conference of State Bank Supervisors
1155 Connecticut Avenue NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20036

CSBS Says Mortgage Reform Must Allow for State Role in Supervision, Enforcement

WASHINGTON D.C. (April 23, 2009) — At a hearing today before the House Financial Services Committee, Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks Steven L. Antonakes pressed for a more coordinated system of oversight to enhance supervision of the mortgage market.

Testifying on behalf of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) at a hearing on H.R. 1728, The Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2009, Antonakes urged Congress to ensure that   states continue to play a major role in mortgage supervision and enforcement.

“The most effective system of supervision and consumer protection is not purely federal,” Antonakes said.

He pointed to the recently-enacted S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 requiring all mortgage loan originators to be licensed or registered through the CSBS-AARMR Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS), as a model for much-needed cooperative federalism.

“Within weeks of the Act’s passage, the states developed a model state law to implement its requirements. As of today, 20 states have passed legislation to become compliant with the S.A.F.E. Act, and an additional 29 states are in process,” Antonakes said.

CSBS supports the establishment of a federal predatory lending standard that allows the states to address abusive practices as they evolve.

“Any federal standards should be enforceable by state regulators and attorneys general,” he said, adding that “a static solution will not be able to keep pace with the market without the involvement of state authorities.”

He further asserted that the House Financial Services Committee and Congress should end regulatory preemption of state consumer protection laws.

Antonakes also suggested the Committee should require rulemaking to be coordinated through the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), where states are represented.

Antonakes was the second of 16 witnesses to testify at today’s hearing. View testimony

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The Conference of State Bank Supervisors is the nationwide regulatory organization for state banking, representing the bank regulators of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The CSBS is responsible for defending state authority to determine banking structure and the products and services state-chartered institutions can offer and for improving the quality of state bank supervision by providing department performance evaluation and accreditation programs and supervisory education/training programs for state banking department personnel.

CSBS Information Contact: John Ryan, CSBS Executive Vice President, jryan@csbs.org   (202) 728-5724