A Texas community bank that is suing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau went to Capitol Hill with the case last week, making his argument before members of Congress. State National Bank CEO Jim Purcell spoke of the allegations the bank has made that it exited the mortgage business due to changes made by the CFPB and the uncertainty it has presented.
National Mortgage News reported on the Capitol Hill hearing.
The Texas community banker who’s leading the courtroom fight against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took his case to Capitol Hill on Thursday, using homespun adages to make the case against excessive regulation.
For the House Republicans who called the hearing, Jim Purcell, chief executive officer of State National Bank of Big Spring, was right out of central casting, speaking with a drawl and emphasizing his small-town roots, though he had a hard time answering certain questions from Democrats.
Purcell urged financial policymakers to show more caution regarding the impact of new regulations, saying they should follow the advice his first-grade teacher gave him regarding railroad tracks: “Stop, look, and listen.”
Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass., agreed that policymakers should show caution as they implement financial reform, but argued that they should not be frozen into inactivity.
“We are stopping, looking and listening,” he said. “I totally agree.”
Purcell thrust his $300 million asset bank into the national spotlight last month when he signed onto a lawsuit—spearheaded by conservative lawyers in Washington—that challenges the constitutionality of the consumer agency.
In the suit, State National Bank of Big Spring alleges that it exited the mortgage business because of regulatory uncertainty stemming from the Dodd-Frank Act’s wide grant of authority to the CFPB.
Read the full National Mortgage News article.
Written by Elizabeth Ecker
