The Clearing House Association, L.L.C. is a New York-headquartered trade group and the nation’s first and oldest banking association representing 24 of the world's largest commercial banks, which collectively employ over 2 million people and hold more than half of all U.S. deposits. It is a nonpartisan organization that advocates on regulatory, legislative, and legal public policy issues on behalf of its Owner Banks before policymakers, courts of law, and standards setters in the U.S. and abroad.
Contents
The Clearing House seeks a level playing field among similarly situated market participants, in which a legal and regulatory framework promotes systemic stability, economic growth, and a safe and sound banking system. Unique among trades for its sole focus on large-scale commercial banking and payments issues, the Association and its Owner Banks form strong consensus positions on issues vital to the banking industry that are technically detailed and research- and data-driven.
History
The Clearing House was established in New York in 1853 for the purpose of processing transactions among banks. Decades before the formation of the Federal Reserve, The Clearing House functioned as a quasi-central bank: setting monetary policy, issuing a form of currency, and even storing vaults of gold to back settlements. Today, The Clearing House comprises two organizations: The Clearing House Payments Company and The Clearing House Association. The Clearing House has offices in New York, North Carolina and Washington, D.C.
Publications
The Association publishes a quarterly journal entitled Banking Perspective, which is a forum for thought leadership on key themes in the bank regulatory landscape and innovation trends in bank payments. Banking Perspective features leading banking industry executives, regulators, academics, policy experts, industry observers, and others.
The Annual Conference
The Association holds a yearly conference which seeks to provide a forum for industry leaders to examine the bank regulatory and payments landscape in the post-Dodd-Frank era. The conference generally features two days of keynote speakers, in-depth expert panels on pressing issues facing commercial banks, and provides professional networking opportunities. Workshops and panels generally run across two thematic tracks – the changing financial regulatory landscape and the dynamic world of evolving payments technology. Past keynote speakers have included Rob Cordray, Thomas Curry, Martin Gruenberg, William Dudley, Daniel Tarullo, Rodgin H. Cohen, Peggy Noonan, Nate Silver, Ian Bremmer, Anshu Jain, Richard Davis, Michael Corbat, William Demchak, Kelly King, Barney Frank and others.
Leadership
James D. Aramanda is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Clearing House Association and Payments Company.
Membership
Members of The Clearing House include JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Deutsche Bank AG, UBS AG, U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo & Co. The Clearing House Payments Company, an organization owned by the same banks, was established in New York in 1853 for the purpose of processing transactions among banks. It has offices in New York, North Carolina and Washington, D.C.
Lawsuits
In September 2009, the Clearing House joined a lawsuit in support of the Federal Reserve after a federal court in New York ruled against the Fed. Filed by Bloomberg News under the Freedom of Information Act, the lawsuit, Bloomberg L.P. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, sought records showing where the Fed had lent $2 trillion of taxpayer funds during the bank bailout of the financial crisis of 2008. The Clearing House has filed an appeal before the United States Supreme Court on October 26, 2010. The case was appealed but ultimately rejected on March 21, 2011. The Federal Reserve was required to release the data within five days to Bloomberg L.P.
The Clearing House was also sued by the State of New York in Andrew Cuomo v. Clearing House Association, LLC to determine whether the U.S. Treasury's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) had the authority to preempt a state's right to enforce its own fair lending laws against national banks. A 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court overturned previous lower court decisions that had ruled in favor of the Clearing House and the OCC.