Banker goes to D.C. -and goes off

Insignia Bank Chairman and CEO Charlie Brown considers himself a mild-mannered banker.

But threats to the free market apparently bring out Brown's scowl.

That's where Brown found himself one day earlier this month, when he spoke on a panel studying potential mortgage origination rules governed by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Brown, who has testified in other financial and banking-related hearings in Washington, D.C., was one of about 20 small business owners and executives nationwide invited to speak.

Brown says he shuddered when he heard members of the CFBP, which came out of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill, talk about price controls and price mandates. “I closed the day by letting them know that if they are looking to set up the next bureau of red tape, then they are achieving their task,” Brown tells Coffee Talk. “I certainly got some pushback. I got some odd looks.”

Brown, whose $148 million asset bank is based in Sarasota, adds that even if one-fifth of what he heard turns into rules, it will be catastrophic, and cause more problems than solutions. He says it's a positive step that the bureau appears open-minded, and the industry is certainly ripe for change. But Brown worries the remedy isn't going to cure the disease — not the first time that would happen when regulators get together to regulate some more.

The CFPB will likely release a report on its rules, and the potential impact, by August. “I'm concerned they are working on the right engine,” says Brown, “but twisting the wrong bolts.”