Senate Finance advances H.137 with mutual bank governance changes and one-year cryptocurrency kiosk moratorium

The Senate Finance Committee on April 29 moved H.137 forward after adopting two amendments addressing mutual savings bank governance and consumer protections for cryptocurrency kiosks, and then approved the bill as amended by voice vote, 7-0.

The committee adopted an amendment from the Vermont Bankers Association to change governance rules for mutual savings banks preparing to convert to holding companies. The amendment requires a majority of corporators to be depositors and specifies that at least two-thirds of corporators be independent (not employees, officers, directors, subsidiaries or affiliates). It also adds fiduciary duties for corporators to exercise authority in the best interests of depositors and to consider depositors, borrowers and the economic well-being of the communities the institution serves.

The committee also approved a cryptocurrency amendment that extends an existing moratorium on new physical cryptocurrency kiosks in Vermont for one additional year and applies that moratorium to the two kiosks…