Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, considered a leading contender for the Democratic vice presidential nomination, has spent this week signaling to the financial industry that he’ll go to bat for them.
On Monday, Kaine signed onto two letters, one to federal banking regulators and the other to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, urging them to loosen regulations on certain financial players. The timing of the letters, sent while Kaine is being vetted for the top of the ticket, could show potential financial industry donors that he is willing to serve as an ally on their regulatory issues.
In the letters, Kaine is offering to support community banks, credit unions, and even large regional banks. While separate from the Wall Street mega-banks like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, these financial institutions often partner with the larger industry to fight regulations and can be hostile to government efforts to safeguard the public, especially if it crimps their profits.
They also represent a key source of donor funds, one that has trended away from Democrats. The Independent Community Bankers of America have given 74 percent of their $873,949 in donations this cycle to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Regional banks like PNC Financial Services, SunTrust Bank, and First Republic Bank, have given even higher percentages to the Republicans.
Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is expected to announce her vice presidential pick on Friday. Kaine, if selected, could now help woo fundraising dollars away from Republicans, because he’s able to point to his support for financial industry causes. The letters also show Hillary Clinton’s campaign how Kaine could be an asset with banking interests on the fundraising trail.
The letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, signed by a bipartisan coalition of 16 Democrats and every Republican senator, asked that the consumer agency “carefully tailor its regulations” to exempt community banks and credit unions. It posits these smaller banks as “essential to spurring economic growth and prosperity at a local level.”
While this seems benign, tailoring rules that exempt large classes of financial institutions leaves consumers vulnerable to deceptive practices. A rule of this type could allow community banks and credit unions to sell high-risk mortgages or personal loans without the disclosure and ability to pay rules in place across the industry.
The fact that the entire Republican caucus, from Ted Cruz and Mike Lee to Mitch McConnell, supports this idea suggests that it’s not necessarily a bipartisan measure but a Republican desire that a few Democrats agree with. Kaine counts himself among those Democrats.
The second letter, sent to the heads of the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, seeks to protect an even bigger subset of banks, the large regional institutions like PNC and SunTrust. Kaine and three Democratic colleagues want regulators to change certain rules so they don’t apply to these regional banks.
Some regional banks have become so large that they may reach a threshold triggering daily reporting requirements under the liquidity coverage ratio rule, which requires qualifying banks to hold enough assets to cover a 30-day period of financial stress. Kaine and his colleagues argue that would “impose significant burdens on the firms” and want the regulators to alter that threshold and exempt all regional banks, regardless of size.
Next, Kaine and his fellow senators want to eliminate so-called “advanced approaches” capital requirements — which governs the ratio of reserves banks must carry to cover potential losses — for regional banks, even if they have over $250 billion in assets. The rule “captures many regional banks that do not share the same risk profile or complexity as their larger, systemically important brethren,” the senators write.
In fact, regional banks with over $50 billion in assets like PNC, BB&T, SunTrust, and Regions Financial, are among the 33 subject to annual stress tests by the Federal Reserve. In an interconnected financial system, a large regional bank that gets into trouble has as much chance of creating ripple effects as a mega-bank. It’s unclear why they should be exempted from regulations deemed appropriate for all facets of the financial sector.
While Kaine has focused on protecting banks this week, he has apparently been less concerned for consumers. He was one of 13 Democrats who did not sign onto a separate letter authored by Senate Banking Committee Chairperson Sherrod Brown, supporting a strengthening of new rules for payday lenders, so borrowers don’t continue to get trapped in a vortex of debt.
Please do some actual reporting. You don’t even briefly describe the rules from which the letter signers would like to exempt themselves.
Aside from all the statements in this ‘story,’ I am compelled to point out to the author and readers that, by Federal regs, all credit unions are established as not-for-profits, therefore debunking the statement,
“…In the letters, Kaine is offering to support community banks, credit unions, and even large regional banks. While separate from the Wall Street mega-banks like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, these financial institutions often partner with the larger industry to fight regulations and can be hostile to government efforts to safeguard the public, especially if it crimps their profits…”
http://www.cuna.org/Thecredituniondifference/Credit Union National Association
Credit unions are not-for-profit financial cooperatives. …
Given all this and the Wiki leaks revelations I would be happy to vote for Sanders if he decided to take Jill Stein up on her offer to run from the Green Party. I decided to vote for Stein as soon as Sanders backed Hillary.
Given all this and the Wiki leaks revelations I would be happy to vote for Sanders if he decided to take Jill Stein up on her offer to run from the Green Party.
Hummmmm!!! Prefiero a gente coerente com seus ideias ,que as HIPOCRITA$ !! Nos Latinos de ezquerda temos q estar mais informados.
NH Dems will not suport a ticket bent on rolling back hard-earned consumer protections from banker fraud
You libs are funny. Granny Clinton and Kaine stand for everything you hate. But they have “D” next to their names so you will baaaaahhhhh like good little communists and vote for the hag. Cuz party over principles man!!
We don’t need ‘grandma’ plus ‘hag’ applying to anyone 60 and over. Keep your ageist thoughts to your own self. (This. with luck. will be you.)
With l7ck this will be you. So keep your ageist comments to yourself. (There are plenty of actual reasons not to vote for Clinton. Do the work of finding them out.)
Blue Virginia has a big takedown of this incomplete analysis on Kaine’s position on banking regulation.
http://bluevirginia.us/2016/07/tim-kaine-oppose-bank-regulation-huffpost-fail-get-whole-story
“So, Does Tim Kaine Oppose Bank Regulation or Did HuffPost Fail to Get The Whole Story?”
They also have a statement from Kaine’s office clarifying his position.
“Kaine, if selected, could now help woo fundraising dollars away from Republicans, because he’s able to point to his support for financial industry causes. The letters also show Hillary Clinton’s campaign how Kaine could be an asset with banking interests on the fundraising trail.”
Does HRC really need help with this?! She seems to have it covered on her own.
Maby she needs a scapegoat.
In addition, we also know how Senator Kaine stands on the subject of the surveillance state. About three years ago I wrote him a letter expressing my support for Edward Snowden and urging that he support the efforts of Senators Udall and Wyden to reign in the surveillance activities of the NSA, CIA and FBI. Here are three paragraphs from the letter he sent me in reply:
“On June 6, 2013 details of two National Security Administration [sic!] (NSA) programs were published in the media as a result of leaked confidential documents. These articles indicated that since 2007, under provisions within the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the PATRIOT Act, the NSA has legally monitored private communications in an effort to increase national security.
Many have expressed legitimate concerns about the privacy implications of this policy. I believe there needs to be an open discussion about the limits of surveillance, the need for transparency, and the protection of Americans’ privacy, while maintaining national security.
The primary mission of the U.S. intelligence community is to detect and prevent the very real threat of terrorism in our homeland. According to General Keith Alexander, Director of the NSA, and Robert Mueller, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the intelligence community has successfully used these programs to identify and thwart dozens of terrorist plots at home and abroad. In addition, leaders from the House and Senate Intelligence Committees have defended these programs stating that they are transparent, lawful and have been instrumental in defending our homeland.”
I suppose he gave it away in the first sentence, showing that he was so in-tune with events that he did not even know what the letters N S A stand for. But then enhanced the documentation of his ignorance with a display of sheer gullibility, and of disregard for the only two members of either Congressional intelligence committee with the sense to realize the monstrosity of the NSA’s crimes.
The moment she picks Kaine or another wall street champion will be the moment she loses the election.
Truly sad.
The State of Virginia has the USA wealthiest county because of its many military contractors dwell there
Kaine also supports the S.764 bill which has been passed by both
the senate and the house and is waiting for Obama’s signature.
This bill is a corrupt cocktail of ingredients and among the ingredients
is the removal of mandatory listing of GMO’s in your food.
The Clintons and their ilk such as Senator Kaine represent a hostile corporate takeover, making the democrats part of the corporate uniparty. As the post above noting that the Chamber of Commerce supports the harpy, indicates, Trump is the lesser evil between the two of them. He is also less likely to set off a war with Russia than a candidate who is a war criminal and has indicated she supports a no-fly zone on behalf of the el qaeda element in Syria. By the way, a new story indicates that the “rebels” supported by NATO elements in Syria themselves chopped off the head of a 10 year old. The yankee regime and its potential leader are an international disgrace.
Yes, CrookdClinton makes Trump look GOOD! All her history is always someyhing off , wrpng, shady, mistake, not straightforward, wordcrafted thar makes her not Potusa matter. She is like a usgov groupie, she cannot go home and have a life even when she is not wanted!
no way clinton picks this guy. that would be like pissing on bernie sanders. then again maybe bernie likes to be pissed on because that’s what he endured from clinton and her dnc for the last year and he still endorsed her. so maybe sanders recommended the guy. to “do everything possible to defeat trump” wink wink
lots of evidence of dnc pissing on sanders in those wikileaked emails
Banks use bats? Don’t they have what Trump calls unbelievable intelligence, aircraft carriers, F-35s, M1s, DU, and AAA grade mortgage backed derivatives? I am certain they have had time to upgrade because my (ditched) brother-in-law used to be-head folks for them using an F-111 and an F-15 way back in the 1990s.
Thanks for this article on the ongoing neoliberalization of America. I’ve contacted Elizabeth Warren, champion of the Democratic party for financial reform (and recent Hillary for President™ endorser) for her input on this. Perhaps you can, too.
I will not be in contact with Warren because she is
a faker who supports the democrat corporatism first
and pretends to be something she is not.
IF she was real, she could not support Hillary Clinton,
but, of course,
she is an insider who pretends to be a reformer.
Warren is not a faker, she does the best,and then she is restricted. Or they would just dump her. So she does what she can. But the voter doesnot have those constraints, even if there is a place in hell for us!
“They” do not dump her because she is someone
who makes them look better. That is her role.
If she was the real thing, she would have denounced the
way they set up (with her help) the CFPB.
Instead, she schmoozes with the slimy corporatists and
helps keep the suckers in line.
Yeah, she didn’t have to endorse effing Hillary. What the hell was that.
The banksters,who give the hillaryous one a half a million a speech,need no nudge to support their girl toy.
The Banking interest are more powerful than the people, so teaming,with them would make great sense if they are determined to end abject poverty in America,It’s always thee ECONOMY, YOU KNOW THE PUNCH LINE,REBUILD THE MIDDLE CLASS,OUR COUNTRY IS AT STAKE.BILL MUST HEAD A BLUE RIBBON PANEL ON AN AMERICAN RENAISSANCE.
The Democrats are a pro-corporate party? Who woulda guessed?
Vote Green, Jill Stein.