U.S. Treasury Secretary puts off rulemaking on letting banks get into real estate brokerage

WASHINGTON – After months of campaigning by the National Association of Realtors and the American Banking Association that involved both sides presenting their arguments for and against allowing banks to get involved with real estate brokerage and property, U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill decided to put off for one year consideration of rules implementing the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which allows financial institutions to offer select realty services. In his letter to the Chairman of the Committee on Financial Services of the U.S. Congress, O'Neill cited 35,000 comment letters that his office received from supporters of the National Association of Realtors and the American Banking Association. The NAR said it's opposed to allowing "large banking conglomerates to enter real estate brokerage and property management under the guise of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act because it will lead to higher costs to consumers, large scale consolidation in the real estate industry, and potential conflicts of interest should banks be able to steer homebuyers to their own insurance and loan products."