Executive Letter: Banking Modernization Bill Signed into Law
By Rose Oswald Poels
As the 2023–2024 legislative session draws to a close, I am pleased to report that WBA has successfully accomplished many of our legislative priorities. Every session presents several bills to review, but one I want to highlight today is the WBA supported banking modernization bill which was signed into law as 2023 Wisconsin Act 128 on March 21, 2024, and contains several provisions positive for the financial institutions industry. The Act comes as a bipartisan effort by the industry to modify, clarify, and simplify state statues governing financial institutions.
The Act:
- Provides parity with the Board of Commission of Public Lands (BCPL) to allow banks to offer the same 20-year term loan that BCPL may offer to municipalities.
- Increases the amount available from the State Deposit Guaranty Fund for losses resulting from the deposit of public money in a failed financial institution from $400,000 to $1,000,000.
- Repeals the requirement for financial institutions to provide advance notice to DFI before acquiring, placing, or changing the location of off-site ATMs.
- Imposes a Class H felony on a party found guilty of interfering with an ATM (e.g. smash and grab ATM crimes).
- Eliminates certain state loan disclosure requirements applicable to residential mortgage loans and variable rate loans.
- Eliminates a geographic lending restriction for savings and loan associations.
In this ongoing era of heavy regulation within the industry, WBA believes strongly in the need for updating outdated rules. This Act represents a positive change by updating several statutes in need of modernization.
WBA will continue to advocate on behalf of the industry and strive to accomplish our legislative goals to provide a sensible regulatory environment and assist Wisconsin banks in servicing the needs of their customers.
Be sure to read the upcoming April edition of the ‘WBA Compliance Journal’ for a full recap of recently enacted state laws affecting financial institutions.
