ICBA’s efforts to ensure community banks are included in a pending lawsuit challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Section 1071 final rule have taken a positive step forward.
Latest Development: The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas today granted a request by ICBA, the Independent Bankers Association of Texas (IBAT), and Texas First Bank to join the TBA v. CFPB case challenging the 1071 rule, a key procedural development as we call on the court to invalidate the bureau’s rule and seek injunctive relief from its implementation.
Court Filings: In a motion to intervene and in a separate complaint, ICBA, IBAT, and Texas First also called on the court to declare that the 1071 final rule is invalid and to provide injunctive relief. Our filings explained that the limited injunctive relief that the CFPB requested and the court granted to the parties in TBA v. CFPB does not extend to all community banks, and we expect the court to rule on those points in the coming weeks.
CFPB Letter: ICBA separately sent a letter to the CFPB reiterating its call for the agency to stay the effective date of its 1071 rule pending a court challenge to the constitutionality of the bureau’s funding structure. As ICBA told the CFPB in a March letter, a stay would provide regulatory certainty while the U.S. Supreme Court reviews a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decision that the CFPB’s funding structure violates the Constitution’s appropriations clause and separation of powers.
Grassroots Resources: While today’s decision is one more positive step in ICBA’s comprehensive campaign against the 1071 rule, we continue calling on community bankers to keep up the pressure. Community bankers can use ICBA’s Be Heard grassroots action center to urge their lawmakers to support a resolution to block the 1071 rule as well as ICBA’s customizable resources to educate and engage their customers on the issue.
Compliance Resources: Meanwhile, ICBA offers a summary of the rule as well as more than 100 Q&As about it on the ICBA Compliance Vault, while the CFPB offers frequently asked questions and a small entity compliance guide for more information.
ICBA has strongly opposed the 1071 rule for years, and we’re going to continue working every angle to protect community banks and small businesses from this harmful and burdensome policy. At ICBA, we will never stop fighting for those we exclusively represent—the nation’s community banks.
