• Home
  • Education
  • News and Resources
  • Advocacy
  • Associate Members
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

Key Issues

Credit Union Legislation AB 478/SB 451 (Opposed)

AB 478 contains provisions expanding authorized activities and powers of credit unions. If enacted, this legislation would provide credit unions with even more tools to grow, much to the detriment of Wisconsin’s banks.

We have four primary objections to the bill because it allows:

  • Non-member participation in loans or extension of credit
  • Allows credit unions to issue or offer supplemental forms of capital
  • Allows automatic adoption of federally-chartered credit union activities or powers for state-chartered credit unions with only weak government oversight
  • Broadens credit unions’ ability purchase, hold, or dispose of property.

Banking Regulatory Modernization (AB 596, SB___) (In favor)

Modern banking requires modernized regulation. WBA is working to remove these regulatory relics from decades past, and bring them to 2021 standards.

  • Elimination of ATM/ITM notice requirement.
    • Under current law, banks must provide advanced, written notice when they want to move an ATM. This requirement dates back to the late 1970’s and in practice is no longer relevant or enforced
  • Closing an expensive loophole on payable-on-death (POD) account payouts to beneficiaries
    • Banks need the ability to collect outstanding unsecured debt obligations before paying the net amount to a POD beneficiary.
  • Realizing regulatory synergies by aligning certain state regulations with those from the federal level
    • Adopt Rule 902 from the Federal Rules of Evidence to reduce time and court costs associated with authenticating certain pieces of electronic data.
  • Exempting banks from certain new regulations promulgated at the local level.
    • Allow banks to opt out of ordinances requiring installation of “Knox Boxes”, which create a single point of security failure.
  • Reducing government competition within the municipal lending market by the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands (BCPL).
    • Banks may currently only make loans to municipalities with a maximum of 10-year terms. Allow loans with 20-year terms, to match the capabilities of the BCPL’s lending.

Interchange/Credit Card Swipe Fees AB 587/SB 572 (Opposed)

A proposal has been drafted calling for the prohibition of interchange fees on the tax portion of a transaction.

  • Efforts are being spearheaded by Kwik Trip, and other retailers. WBA and WCUL oppose this effort.
  • Implementation of this proposal is currently impossible; electronic payment processors only recognize the full total of the transaction and cannot differentiate between the gross receipt and tax.
  • Globally, interchange fees are a cost of doing business – it is expensive to maintain the interchange network, keep customers’ data secure, and repel threats.
  • Price controls and intervention are not the role of government in this space and doing so would harm small businesses.

Elder Financial Exploitation Prevention AB 45, AB 46, SB 19, SB 20 (In favor)

In 2017, the National Association of Attorneys General called on its members to focus on elder abuse. Former Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel responded by forming a task force comprised of representatives from the state DOJ, the state Departments of Health Services and Financial Institutions, and the Wisconsin Bankers Association, among other organizations. This work continues under current Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul. WBA members helped craft legislation first introduced in 2019 giving tools to banks to better protect their customers from fraud and abuse. Identical bills, SB 19/AB 46 and SB 20/AB 45 have been reintroduced this session.

  • Instances of elder fraud are under-reported, but estimates peg the costs of elder financial fraud and theft to seniors in the range of $2.9 billion to $36.5 billion annually.
  • This problem continues to grow, especially in light of the pandemic. Individuals have never been more isolated, and fraudsters see PPP and economic impact payments not as relief, but as opportunities.
  • This legislation would allow banks to pause a transaction they feel might fall under elder abuse and work with the customer, an individual on a trusted relationship list, and/or law enforcement to see if this transaction should be completed.
  • Only the transaction itself would be frozen, not the entire account. Funds will still be available to the customer for their other transactions.

Financial institutions are encouraged to use this free video to engage front line staff and other employees on the issue of elder financial abuse:

Download the training video as a file. If the video opens in a new browser window, click the menu icon (three vertical dots) in the lower right corner of the screen.

Rural Housing and Farmers

The Enhancing Credit Opportunities in Rural America (ECORA) Act provides an opportunity to benefit our farmers through better rates and loan terms, and boost local economic activity by ensuring that the agricultural industry will receive increased access to low-cost credit from banks.

  • 2023 Appeal
  • Advocacy Officers
  • Capitol Day
  • Comment Letter Library
  • Key Issues
  • Support the banking industry — it’s easy
    • Alliance for Bankers Conduit
      • Step 2 Conduit
    • Wisbankpac
WBA logo
  • About
  • Community
  • Subsidiaries
  • Staff

questions@wisbank.com

608-441-1200

4721 S Biltmore Ln.
Madison, WI 53718

Get our Newsletter!
Subscribe

© 2023 Wisconsin Bankers Association. All rights reserved. | Website Design by Bizzy Bizzy
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

OKLearn more×

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Terms of Use
Accept settingsHide notification only

Subscribe

* indicates required








Membership