Attend/watch "online lending industry" hearing?

[brainwane]

I just saw on the New York State legislature's hearing calendar that on May 22nd there'll be a hearing about the online lending industry, streamed live and open for the public to view in person in Albany.

May 22
Joint -- Senate Standing Committee on Banks
Chair: Senator Jesse Hamilton
Assembly Standing Committee on Banks
Chair: Assembly Member Kenneth Zebrowski
Assembly Standing Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection
Chair: Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh
and Assembly Standing Committee on Small Business
Chair: Assembly Member Fred Thiele, Jr.
Public Hearing: Practices of the Online Lending Industry
Place: Hamilton Hearing Room B, Legislative Office Building, 2nd Floor, Albany, New York
Time: 10:00 A.M.
Contact: Rachel Ainspan (518) 455-2497 (Senate); Dan Gordon (518) 455-4355 (Assembly)
Media Contact: Ean Fullerton (718) 284-4700 (Senate); Assembly Press Office (518) 455-3888

Here's the meeting agenda:

Online lending is a practice which is rapidly expanding in usage. Online lenders issued over $20 billion in loans in 2015, and that number is expected to grow over the next decade. Although online loans can provide another avenue for entrepreneurs to aquire capital and grow their small businesses, there is also significant potential for unscrupulous online lenders to exploit consumers through predatory practices such as unusually high interest rates, lack of disclosure of hidden fees, and unclear loan terms.
This hearing seeks to explore the current state of online lending, the impact of online lending on consumers and small businesses in New York State, predatory online lending practices which need to be mitigated, and potential regulatory or legislative action which may be needed to address predatory online lending practices.

This seems like something you might want to know about, to the extent anyone regulates Gratipay as an online lender.

[chadwhitacre]

Thanks for thinking of us, @brainwane! Regulatorily speaking, Gratipay is a "third-party payment processor." That means we're not directly regulated by the government, though our banking partners have more stringent requirements for us than for a "normal" client. For a deep dive, see #119 (comment).

Happy to leave this open through next week in case anyone is interested. I may try to watch for a bit. :)

[chadwhitacre]

Live-stream not loading for me ... :-/

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/DNFmuw29FFs

[chadwhitacre]

Working on Firefox ...

[chadwhitacre]

Discussing federal attempt from OCC to consolidate fintech regulation with a "pre-emptive charter," pushback from DFS:

There is no federal regulator of non-depository institutions. Since the beginning of time, states have been the regulator of non-depository institutions.

[chadwhitacre]

Alright, that's about all I have time for. Good to dip into the regulatory world from time to time. A different culture from open source, to be sure, but of course one that Gratipay needs to be familiar with. Thanks for the tip, @brainwane! :-)