June 8, 2022 – The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Todd M. Harper’s reappointment to the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Board until April 10, 2027.
The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Todd M. Harper’s reappointment to the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Board until April 10, 2027.
Before joining the NCUA Board, Mr. Harper served as director of the agency’s Office of Public and Congressional Affairs and chief policy advisor to former Chairmen Debbie Matz and Rick Metsger. He is the first member of the NCUA’s staff to become an NCUA Board Member and Chairman.
“On behalf of the National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors (NASCUS) and its stakeholders, I would like to congratulate Chairman Todd Harper on his full-term confirmation on the NCUA Board,” commented NASCUS President & CEO Brian Knight. “We look forward to furthering our productive discussions on the many issues facing the credit union system with Chairman Harper, Vice-Chair Hauptman, and Board Member Hood. We appreciate their continued positive dialogue with state regulators to find solutions that benefit both state and federal charters.”
As NCUA Board Chairman, Mr. Harper serves as a voting member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council and represents the NCUA on the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council and the Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure Committee.
“In the years ahead, my focus will remain on credit union members, the system’s resiliency and strength, and the NCUA’s readiness to respond to an evolving economic environment, credit union system, and financial services marketplace. Consistent with the law, I will also continue prioritizing capital and liquidity, cybersecurity, consumer financial protection, and diversity, equity, and inclusion,” stated Harper.
During his tenure as staff and legislative director with the U.S. House of Representatives, he contributed to impactful financial services reforms, from the enactment of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act in 1999 through the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010.
“It is an honor to continue working with my fellow NCUA Board members — Kyle Hauptman and Rodney Hood — and the dedicated team of professionals at the NCUA,” added Chairman Harper.
This week, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu gave remarks to the DC Blockchain Summit titled “Crypto: A Call to Reset and Recalibrate.”
By speaking at the Blockchain Summit, Mr. Hsu may have gone into the so-called belly of the beast to give his self-proclaimed crypto-skeptic message. Notwithstanding his skepticism, Mr. Hsu noted that he does see cryptocurrency’s potential, but will continue along the OCC’s “careful and cautious approach to crypto in order to ensure that the national banking system is safe, sound, and fair.”
Mr. Hsu noted that the recent collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin and the selloff seen in other crypto assets showed risks in the asset class, and he said it also showed that much of the growth in the crypto space is “indicative of the crypto economy’s dependency on hype.”
Mr. Hsu shared three “high-level observations from the perspective of a bank regulator.”
First, he said that recent events “have revealed deep vulnerabilities in the crypto system.” He noted three in particular:
- Cryptocurrency markets are highly fragmented and cryptocurrency exchanges are prone to hacks
- Contagion risks for cryptocurrency markets are just as real as other financial markets
- Custody and ownership rights are under-developed for the size, scope, and ambitions of the industry
Second, he pointed out that the OCC’s “careful and cautious” approach has shown value in the recent market volatility, as “there has been no contagion from cryptocurrencies to traditional banking and finance.”
Third, he observed that “hype is not harmless,” and elaborated by saying that the hype of crypto and digital assets and the associated vulnerabilities “make the crypto space very dangerous for investors of modest means.”
Mr. Hsu summarized his remarks by noting that the recent market volatility involving stablecoins (and cryptocurrencies more broadly) provides an opportunity “to reset and to recalibrate the problems the industry is trying to solve.”
Courtesy of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
Michel Euler/Pool via REUTERS
June 1 – Jamie Dimon, Chairman and Chief Executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co described the challenges facing the U.S. economy akin to an “hurricane” down the road and urged the Federal Reserve to take forceful measures to avoid tipping the world’s biggest economy into a recession.
Dimon’s comments come a day after President Joe Biden met with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to discuss inflation, which is hovering at 40-year highs.
“It’s a hurricane,” Dimon told a banking conference, adding that the current situation is unprecedented. “Right now, it’s kind of sunny, things are doing fine. Everyone thinks the Fed can handle this. That hurricane is right out there down the road coming our way. We just don’t know if it’s a minor one or Superstorm Sandy,” he added.
The Fed is under pressure to decisively make a dent in an inflation rate that is running at more than three times its 2% goal and has caused a jump in the cost of living for Americans. It faces a difficult task in dampening demand enough to curb inflation while not causing a recession.
“The Fed has to meet this now with raising rates and QT (quantitative tightening). In my view, they have to do QT. They do not have a choice because there’s so much liquidity in the system,” Dimon said.
Major central banks, already plotting interest rate hikes in a fight against inflation, are also preparing a common pullback from key financial markets in a first-ever round of global quantitative tightening expected to restrict credit and add stress to an already-slowing world economy.
The inflation battle has become the focal point of Biden’s June agenda amidst his sagging opinion polls and before November’s congressional election.
Uncertainty about the U.S. central bank’s policy move, the war in Ukraine, prolonged supply-chain snarls due to COVID-19 and higher Treasury yields have rocked global stock markets, with the benchmark S&P 500 index (.SPX) falling 13.3% year-to-date.
“You gotta brace yourself. JPMorgan is bracing ourselves, and we’re going to be very conservative in our balance sheet,” Dimon added.
SOFT LANDING?
Wells Fargo & Co’s (WFC.N) CEO warned that the Federal Reserve would find it “extremely difficult” to manage a soft landing of the economy as the central bank seeks to douse the inflation fire with interest rate hikes. The CEO of the fourth-largest U.S. lender also said that Wells Fargo is seeing a direct impact from inflation on consumers’ spending, particularly on fuel and food.
“The scenario of a soft landing is … extremely difficult to achieve in the environment that we’re in today,” Wells Fargo Chief Executive Officer Charlie Scharf said at the conference.
“If there is a short recession, that’s not all that deep… there will be some pain as you go through it, overall, everyone will be just fine coming out of it,” he added.
Scharf said while the overall consumer spending is strong, growth is slowing.
“Corporations are still spending, where they can they’re increasing inventories … we do expect the consumer and ultimately businesses to weaken, which is part of what the Fed is trying to engineer but hopefully in a constructive way,” he added.
Recent Fed reports and surveys reported households on average in a strong financial position, with working families doing well, and unemployment at levels more akin to the boom years of the 1950s and 1960s. Wages for many lower-skilled occupations are rising, and bank accounts, on average, are still flush with cash from coronavirus support programs.
But confidence has waned, and in a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll the economy topped respondents’ list of concerns.
“I don’t think our crystal ball relative to the macro later this year, 2023, 2024 is necessarily any better than others. Clearly, we’re going to see with the Fed actions different impacts in different businesses,” GE CEO Larry Culp, told the conference. Still, not everyone in corporate America is seeing slowdown.
“Of the vast majority of the markets we serve are still quite strong,” Caterpillar Inc CEO Jim Umplebly said.
“And our challenge at the moment, quite frankly, is supply chain, our ability to supply enough equipment to meet all the demand that’s out there,” he added.
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With special guest, NCUA Board Member, the Honorable Rodney E. Hood.
The US legal cannabis industry is predicted to top $30 billion in 2022. As a result, the demand for banking services will continue to intensify. Credit unions need to understand the complicated policy questions related to the cannabis industry and every examiner needs to have a working understanding of the state-licensed cannabis industry to understand a credit union’s true risk profile in states where marijuana has been legalized.
Throughout the entire symposium, understand the critical role vendors can play in enhancing a program and how to determine whether third-party assistance or self-contained compliance is the best path forward. And of course, the hot spots of compliance and audit will be explored for financial institutions and examiners.
- State Cannabis Legalization: Today and Tomorrow
- Cannabis, Insurance, and Data Analytics
- Hemp Banking Updates
- Cannabis Banking: Lessons Learned and Board Governance
- Compliance Considerations
Conference Admission Price:
- $700 members
- $850 non-members
Location: Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center
6700 North Gaylord Rockies Boulevard, Aurora, CO 80019
phone: (720) 452-6900
Hotel block reservations: Click here to access the event hotel block booking website
- Hotel Reservation cut off: May 23, 2022
- Check-in on Monday, June 13
- Depart on Wednesday, June 15
Room Rate: $229 per night
Agenda
Tuesday, June 14, 2022
7:30 am – 8:00 am Breakfast and Registration
8:00 am – 8:15 am Opening Remarks
Mark Valente, Commissioner of Financial Services, Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies; Division of Financial Services
Mike Williams, President/CEO, Colorado Credit Union
The Honorable Rodney Hood, NCUA Board Member
8:15 am – 9:15 am State Cannabis Legalization: Today and Tomorrow
Panel Discussion:
Zane Gilmer TDB Partner, Stinson LLP,
Katrina Skinner, General Counsel, Chief Banking Officer, Simplyfia
David C. Bass Partner, KNCH LLP
- The discussion will survey the latest developments in state legalization initiatives. Panelists will share their perspectives of the legal, political, and philosophical paths ahead.
9:15 am – 10:15 am Cannabis Banking: Lessons Learned and Board Governance
Todd Gunderson, CEO, CU1
Tim Rademaker, CEO, Trellis LLC
- Financial institutions that serve MRBs/CRBs will share their perspectives: lessons learned, board governance, pitfalls, & what banking cannabis means to them.
10:15 am – 10:30 am Comfort Break
10:30 am – 11:30 pm Cannabis and Data Analytics
Adam Crabtree, NCS Analytics
- In this changing and dynamic market, data analytics is key to understanding the cannabis industry.
11:30 am – 12:30 pm Cannabis Payments
Tyler Beuerlein, Strategic Business Development Officer, Safe Harbor Financial
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm Lunch
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm Hemp Banking Updates
Zane Gilmer, Partner, Stinson LLP
- If you are currently banking or contemplating banking hemp-related businesses, attendees must understand the unique nuances of the hemp industry and current regulatory updates everyone should know.
2:30 pm – 2:45 pm Comfort Break
2:45 pm – 3:30 pm Vendor Spotlight Green Check Verified
Mike Kennedy, Founder
- Cannabis Banking Compliance Software
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Cannabis Banking and NCUA’s Current Take on Legalization
The Honorable Rodney Hood, NCUA Board Member
4:30 pm – 4:45 pm The Day’s Wrap-up
Wednesday, June 15, 2022
7:30 am – 8:15 am Breakfast and Registration
8:15 am – 8:30 am Opening Remarks
8:30 am – 9:45 am State and Federal Agency Views on Cannabis Banking
Mark Valente, Commissioner of Financial Services, Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies; Division of Financial Services
Rebecca Laurie, Stakeholder and Innovations Strategist, Colorado Division of Financial Services
9:45 am – 10:30 am Vendor Spotlight Shield Compliance
Jenna Meyer, Director of Client Success
- Cannabis Compliance Software
10:30 am – 10:45 am Comfort Break
10:45 am – 11:30 am Cannabis and Insurance
Scott Eckburg, CEO Colorado Commercial Insurance
- Whether bond insurance for the financial institution or the myriad of business insurance products the financial institution would expect to find in the MRBs/CRBs, understanding the cannabis business model necessitates understanding its insurance coverage.
11:30 am – 12:30 pm Compliance Considerations
Panel Discussion:
Carole McCormick, Chief Compliance Officer NorthBay Credit Union and President of Higher Growth
Deirdra O’Gorman, CEO, DX Consulting and Empyreal Logistics
Katrina Skinner, General Counsel, Chief Banking Officer, Simplyfia
- This session will review the compliance program considerations for banking MRBs/CRBs. With industry changes, it is important to keep up with the latest trends and issues.
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm Lunch
1:30 pm – 2:15 pm Vendor Spotlight DocFox
Angela Limoncelli, Director of Marketing
- Cannabis Compliance Software