This issue of Supervision in Brief discusses three topics that arose during a recent Western Bankers Association roundtable at our Los Angeles branch. While banking conditions remain very positive overall, our conversations at the roundtable revealed that banking and financial services still face a number of challenging and complex policy issues. These include CECL adoption, Community Reinvestment Act reform, and the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018. Taken individually, each of these issues is a key factor in the life of a modern financial institution. Taken together, they serve as a reminder that positive banking conditions, no matter how good, do not resolve hard policy challenges.
Working through each of these issues will require the time-tested approach of deep understanding and engagement – from industry participants, from lawmakers, and from regulators. By keeping each other as informed as possible, we can ensure policymakers have all the insights and perspectives necessary to arrive at useful and effective outcomes.