The Alaska House of Representatives passed House Bill 85 which aims to modernize Alaska laws governing the state banking industry. The bill would bring regulatory parity between nationally-chartered banks and state-chartered banks as well as increase regulatory efficiency.
District 1 Rep. Bart LeBon of Fairbanks is the bill’s sponsor, “The important part of this bill is that working with the division of banking the Alaska Bankers Association has gone through bank statute for the state of Alaska and made updates to the statute. Its worked to level the playing field, the competitive playing field, if you will, between the national banking organizations and the state banking organizations so that there’s equality between the organizations. Madam Speaker, the Alaska Bankers Association is in full support of this bill and the Division of Banking in the state of Alaska has also worked with Alaska bankers to craft this legislation. The important fiscal note is, Madam Speaker, there is none. This is not a cost to the state. This just rewrites state statute and addresses some of these imbalances that exist from a competitive nature.”
LeBon, who has spent over 42 years in the banking industry said that these changes are long overdue. Banks play a critical role in the Alaska and United States economies, channeling funds from savers to borrowers and, by doing so, facilitating economic activity. A bank’s choice of chartering authority is also a choice of primary regulator; state regulatory agencies serve as the primary regulators of state-chartered banks, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency serves as the primary regulator of national banks.House
Bill 85 is viewed as necessary due to what the House called increasingly broad powers granted to national banks and increasing the difficulty for state banks in trying to remain competitive.
The bill passed the House by a 35-2 vote and now goes to the Senate for consideration.
Transcribed audio courtesy of KTOO 360TV.
