Very few people in the financial industry relish the idea of answering to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – most have been dead set against it since it was a mere twinkle in Elizabeth Warren’s eye.
But now that Massachusetts’ Banking Commissioner Steven Antonakes has been appointed to a position there, the bureau isn’t looking quite as sinister to some. Local industry leaders say they know there will now be at least one reasonable voice on the board.
“[It’s] a very good omen if Steve and others like him are recruited to the agency,” said Dan Forte, president of the Massachusetts Bankers Association. Forte said Antonakes has been progressive on compliance issues and consumer protection, but also attentive to the needs of the industry.
The Division of Banks announced last week that Antonakes had been appointed to the CFPB, a new agency formed in the wave of recent regulatory legislation. He will leave his Massachusetts post, which he has held for seven years, to build the implementation team for the new bureau. Division of Banks’ COO David Cotney, who has 20 years experience at the division, will take over as acting commissioner.
Successful Tenure
Despite the tensions often inherent between regulators and the industries they regulate, local financial leaders acknowledged that Antonakes has done well.
“We’ve been blessed in Massachusetts with some really terrific banking commissioners, and Steve is definitely one of those,” said Bill Dunlaevy, president and CEO of Pittsfield-based Legacy Banks, for whom Antonakes is the primary regulator. “I’m sort of disappointed to lose him.”
The commissioner has presided over the Division of Banks during an extremely turbulent time in the U.S. financial system, and his department has doled out hefty fines and enforcement actions in the past few years, in addition to the tricky work of implementing new regulations. Nonetheless, few in the industry have bad words for the commissioner.
Implementing tough regulations isn’t the easiest task, said Robert Wilson, CEO of Cambridge Savings Bank, but Antonakes’ approachability and listening skills served him well, Wilson said, and, “Anybody who’s dealt with him would say the same thing.”
William Mullin, head of Waltham-based NE Moves Mortgage Co., recalled when the state enacted a mandate to apply Community Reinvestment Act standards to non-depository institutions. He said the division ran the implementation smoothly and without any major logistical headaches.
It wasn’t an easy transition to apply a national banking law onto local mortgage companies, he added, but it worked out well, thanks to Antonakes and his staff at the division.
Mass Bankers’ Forte said the Massachusetts division was one of the first in the country to grow suspicious of the kinds of unsustainable loans that have proven so devastating to the economy. Because it was early in cracking down on bad actors, damage was more contained – helping the state and prudent institutions alike weather the storm. Antonakes deserves credit for that, he said.
Confidence In Cotney
Rob Kimmett, spokesman for the Massachusetts Credit Union League, said the commissioner and his predecessors showed they understand credit unions, which is a comfort to the league. The credit union industry is often concerned that regulators have a stronger banking background and need to be educated on credit union needs, Kimmett said, but that hasn’t been the case locally. The league is pleased that Antonakes will take that expertise to the CFPB, he said.
Brian Koss, president of Danvers-based Mortgage Network, said the division has been aggressive in the past few years, but not draconian in its application of the rules. If there has to be such a thing as the CFPB – and Koss is certainly no fan of the idea – the feeling is that at least Antonakes will maintain a level head on the inside.
Koss and other industry leaders also had good things to say about acting commissioner Cotney, a well-known face at the division.
Forte and others noted that while Cotney would currently only be acting commissioner for a short time, they would support his permanent appointment to the position.
Even those unfamiliar with Cotney – including Richard Holbrook, CEO of Boston-based Eastern Bank – expressed confidence that a commissioner appointed from within Antonakes’ ranks would do well.
While some industries lobby to have regulators with mostly private-sector experience, Holbrook said the division has a reputation for grooming good talent from within. Antonakes himself, as well as his respected predecessor Thomas J. Curry, were both career regulators.
Cotney’s promotion to acting commissioner keeps that continuum intact.
“We can only handle so much change,” Koss joked. “We think well enough of Cotney that we’re not worried.”
