Pub. 14 2019-2020 Issue 5

WWW.NEBANKERS.ORG 14 COUNSELOR’S CORNER T ODAY’S BANKERS HAVE many opportunities, not the least of which is the opportunity to innovate. Bank regulators have similar opportunities to innovate in the exercise of their regula- tory responsibilities in the constantly changing world of modern financial services. This probably does not mean that a banker wants a regulator at his or her door saying, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” And while there may be much to be desired in freedom from regulation, can there be too much of a good thing? One recent development offers a good opportunity to examine this question. On Dec. 3, 2019, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Admin- istration and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued an Interagency State- ment on the Use of Alternative Data in Credit Underwriting (the Interagency Statement or the Statement). The GAO Study The Interagency Statement had its start in a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study released in Decem- ber 2018 entitled Financial Technology: Agencies Should Provide Clarification on Lenders’ Use of Alterna- tive Data (the Study). In the Study, the GAO reviewed Use of Alternative Data in Credit Underwriting Bryan Handlos , Kutak Rock LLP