Monday, December 21, 2015

Shelby is holding up nominations to Banking! Really?

He is even sitting on the nomination to the position that ends money available to terrorist networks?

I hope everyone is paying attention. No wonder Shelby is never speaking up and always invisible to the Capital obstructions.

December 20, 2015
By Moe Lane

So it turns out (click here) that the Senate is sllooooooooooooow walking some of Barack Obama’s final-year nominations in the banking field. Specifically, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama is pretty much sitting on thirteen nominations Obama has made, including two each for the Federal Reserve and Securities and Exchange Commission, and one they-can’t-do-work-without-this-guy appointment to the Export-Import Bank… hold on, hold on! Don’t start cheering yet! Finish reading the post first! Sen. Shelby’s delay means that these spots won’t be filled before mid-January at the earliest. Assuming that they’re filled then. Hard for Sen. Shelby to say, really.  It’s not like he can foretell the future.

The WSJ – who is by the way a good deal more upset about this than I am, and probably you are,  and almost certainly the average American voter is – noted that the Fed spots were being held up as part of the usual I will sit on these nominations until you do what you said you would strategy, noted a little waspishly that “[Shelby] has been more vague about why he is delaying the rest.” I’m not entirely sure why the WSJ is being so peeved over what’s regular Dizzy City business. Possibly because Senator Shelby isn’t going to be the idiot that the WSJ wants him to be and spell it all out for the cameras?...

This is Selby's baby:

Financial Regulatory Improvement Act of 2015 (click here)
TITLE I--REGULATORY RELIEF AND PROTECTION OF CONSUMER ACCESS TO CREDIT
(Sec. 101) This bill amends the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (click here)

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act requires financial institutions – companies that offer consumers financial products or services like loans, financial or investment advice, or insurance – to explain their information-sharing practices to their customers and to safeguard sensitive data.

to exempt from the requirement to provide consumers with an annual written disclosure of their privacy policy certain financial institutions that provide nonpublic personal information to a nonaffiliated third party to perform services for or functions on behalf of the financial institution.

Oh, cute. Now if an American has a financial instrument where their personal information is contained, now the banks can sell it to a third party and the consumer of the financial instrument doesn't have to be notified it is a new and unregulated policy.

The Cognizant document (click here) is discussing primarily European banking. The section entitled "Entitlements" is where some of the discussion becomes evident.

There has been a troubling movement in banking that has been ongoing for a few years now. Banks don't necessarily discriminate between lawful depositors and depositors that make their living through illegal methods. That is how the monies of rebels can be laundered and then used to purchase weapons and the like. There are special classes of depositors with names like "Private Client."

So, if this the mess Selby is allowing to exist then there is a very good reason why he has obstructed the nominee by the Obama Administration to the banking administration that seeks out rebel and terrorist monies and putting an end to it.

Now, I don't know what Senator Shelby is being told, but, it seems to me he knows exactly what he is doing even if by proxy of directions of others.

From the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act:

Many companies collect personal information from their customers, including names, addresses, and phone numbers; bank and credit card account numbers; income and credit histories; and Social Security numbers. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act requires companies defined under the law as “financial institutions” to ensure the security and confidentiality of this type of information.

Here is another task for Democrats to insist on moving President Obama's nominations to a vote so the President is not working to end terrorist networks with one hand tied behind his back.

(Sec. 102) The Federal Home Loan Bank Act  (click here) is amended to set requirements for a credit union that has applied for membership in a Federal Home Loan Bank, but whose member accounts are not federally insured, to be treated nonetheless as an insured depository institution.

An act passed by the Hoover administration in 1932 that was designed to encourage home ownership by providing a source of low-cost funds for member banks to extend mortgage loans. The Federal Home Loan Bank Act was the first in a series of bills that sought to make home ownership an achievable goal for more Americans.


Credit Unions are owned by it's depositors. When monies are borrowed to finance a mortgage, the credit union is lending to an owner. To insure the monies as if the FDIC is double dipping. First the organization of owners have to insure the loans and then the mortgage owner has to insure the home in case of damage that would effect the loan.

I don't know what the Credit Unions think of all this, but, it sounds as if this proposed bill will change the definition of credit union.


In the United States, (click here) credit unions are not-for-profit organizations that exist to serve their members rather than to maximize corporate profits. Like banks, credit unions accept deposits, make loans, and provide a wide array of other financial services. But as member-owned institutions, credit unions focus on providing a safe place to save and borrow at reasonable rates. Unlike banks, credit unions return surplus income to their members in the form of dividends.

(Sec. 103) The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) shall establish a process under which a person who lives or does business in an area not CFPB-designated as rural may apply to the CFPB for a rural area designation. Evaluation criteria which the CFPB must consider are set forth.

Director Richard Cordray already has addressed this. Section 103 is unnecessary. Director Cordray was able to address the issue without further legislation through rule making. That is what Directors do. They have the power to issue rules that facilitate movement in their area of expertise.

January 25, 2015
Washington, DC – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) (click here) today proposed several changes to its mortgage rules to facilitate responsible lending by small creditors, particularly in rural and underserved areas. If finalized, the proposal issued today would increase the number of financial institutions able to offer certain types of mortgages in rural and underserved areas, and help small creditors adjust their business practices to comply with the new rules....

(Sec. 104) The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council Act of 1978 (click here) is amended to establish in the Financial Institutions Examination Council an Office of Independent Examination Review to investigate complaints concerning examinations, examination practices, or examination reports, as well as to conduct a continuing and regular program of examination quality assurance for all types of examinations conducted, by the federal financial institutions regulatory agencies.

It is the purpose of this chapter (click here) to establish a Financial Institutions Examination Council which shall prescribe uniform principles and standards for the Federal examination of financial institutions by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, and the National Credit Union Administration and make recommendations to promote uniformity in the supervision of these financial institutions. The Council’s actions shall be designed to promote consistency in such examination and to insure progressive and vigilant supervision.

Section 104 expands government. It is another tier that will examine the examinations to alter the outcome of the primary examiners. It is nothing short of corruption to circumvent the authority of the law.

The Riegle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994 (click here) is amended to require the CFPB to establish an independent intra-agency appellate process to ensure that safeguards exist to protect the insured depository institution or insured credit union from retaliation by a federal banking agency for exercising its rights.

More of the same. It removes authority from the CFPB and puts in the jurisdiction of a separate authority. It is expanding government for the purpose of corruption.

There is nothing any agency of the USA does that is exempt from litigation in the court systems. The court will render an interpretation of the law and decide on it's CONSTITUTIONALITY. Even when bills like this pass, they aren't necessarily constitutional. Realizing that means there will be a window of opportunity to circumvents laws and rules only to be grandfathered in after the ruling by the courts.

The principle of retaliation is expanded to include delaying consideration of, or withholding approval of, any request, notice, or application that would have been approved but for the exercise of its rights by the insured depository institution or credit union....

This is really funny. The CFPB is being accused of retaliating when complaints are made. But, at the same time the CFPB is suppose to be retaliating the US House wants to end the use of information collected by the bureau to make decisions. It means one hand doesn't know what the other is doing. This is nonsense.