BANKING & FINANCE: Roundtable.

• Position: Discussion

Every month, Utah Business partners with Holland & Hart and Big-D Construction to host roundtable events featuring industry insiders. This month we invited the top banking and finance specialists to discuss regulatory burdens, the Utah economy, and the second longest economic expansion on record. Moderated by Juliette Tennert, chief economist and director of economic and public policy at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah, here are a few highlights from the event.

THE FEDERAL RESERVE WANTS TO EASE CERTAIN REGULATORY BURDENS. WHAT'S GOING ON RIGHT NOW?

Frank Pignanelli | Executive Director | National Association of Industrial Bankers and Utah Association of Financial Services

Because the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has granted insurance to so few banks, over two-thirds of all financial transactions in this country are outside the regulated sphere. So Washington, DC and others have picked up on that. You have some great people like Randy Quarles and Jelena McWilliams, the chairwoman of the FDIC, realize they have a responsibility to start expanding the scope of banking services, because, otherwise, the people are going outside the regulatory sphere.

The other element, too, that is important is that the rise of Fintechs. And so the Federal Reserve and the FDIC are saying, 'okay, we need to catch up.' And in order to catch up, in order to respond to 21st-century dynamics, they've got to start addressing the regulatory issues.

Howard Headlee | Presidents CEO | Utah Bankers Association

Just re-looking at things that have been in place for years will have an equally significant impact in the economy with the way the capital is attracted to the financial services industry and the way it's deployed. So I think that's all very good news in the economy for business, for individuals. In the past, it's just been moving outside of the regulatory space, and I think that's not necessarily-you're not protecting anybody when you are just pushing stuff out of the regulated space.

WHAT DOES THIS ACTUALLY MEAN FOR UTAH BANKS AND FOR UTAH CONSUMERS AND BUSINESSES?

Roger Christensen | SVP of Marketing, Communications, and Business Development | Bank of Utah

Banks are doing a much better job of regulating themselves. There is a lot more information in the market today that wasn't even 10 years ago. Access to information is enabling banks to be more self-regulating to understand the types of loans that they want. And they also identify the types of borrowers they want. It's becoming easier for consumers to identify the type of product they want, and then identify the three or four banks that they really would like to go after.

Brock Blake | Founders CEO | Lendio

Since the new federal government has taken a much more ease of approach on the regulatory environment for small business lending, it's emboldened the state by state licensing, regulatory, and disclosures in the small business lending space. So we're very proactively helping them, educating them around the different loan products that are out there.

ShawnBerrett | Supervisor of Industrial Banks | Utah Department of Financial Institutions

I think the states recognize that there is what's called a patchwork quilt burden by state-by-state regimes, and I think they recognize that there...