The following bills were passed by the House earlier this week:

The “Making Online Banking Initiation Legal and Easy (MOBILE) Act, H.R. 1457.  Passed by a vote of 397-8, the MOBILE Act would allow a bank to scan and retain personal information from a state-issued driver’s license or personal identification card when an individual seeks to open an account online or obtain a financial product or service online.  The bill would also allow a bank to use the license or identification card to verify the individual’s identity and comply with a legal requirement to record, retain, or transmit the personal information of an individual seeking to open an account online or obtain a financial product or service online.  According to the accompanying House Report, the bill is intended to create a “new national standard” that would preempt state laws that do not permit the scanning of state-issued driver’s licenses or personal identification cards to verify a customer’s identity.  The bill contains an express preemption provision.  While the bill expands the documentation a bank can use to verify a customer’s identity in an online transaction, it does not require a bank to accept such documentation or limit a bank’s ability to decide who is eligible to open an account.

The “Federal Savings Association Charter Flexibility Act of 2017,” H.R. 1426.  Passed by a voice vote, the bill would allow a federal savings association to exercise the powers of a national bank without converting to a national bank charter.  According to the accompanying House Report, the bill is intended to allow a federal savings association to exceed the commercial and consumer loan limits to which it is subject under the Home Owners Loan Act while continuing to be treated as a federal savings association for purposes of governance, consolidation, merger, dissolution, conservatorship, and receivership.  Under the bill, a federal savings association would have to submit a notice of election to operate as a national bank and, unless the OCC otherwise notified the association, the election would be deemed approved 60 days after the OCC received notice.