Household International announced May 22 the appointment of James B. Kauffman, former Secretary of Banking of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as vice president-director of compliance for consumer lending. In this position, Kauffman will oversee operational compliance at Household's HFC and Beneficial consumer lending subsidiaries and will report to Gary Gilmer, vice chairman of Household and president of the company's consumer lending division.
Kauffman most recently was responsible for overseeing the regulation, examination and supervision of all state-chartered depository institutions and non-depository financial institutions that are licensed to do business in Pennsylvania. As secretary of banking, Kauffman served as chairman of the board of directors of that Pennsylvania housing finance agency and sat on several other state economic development boards. Prior to his position with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, he served as chief credit policy officer for Keystone Financial, Inc. and as chairman and chief executive officer for Keystone Bank, formerly Frankford Trust Company.
"We take compliance very seriously at Household," said Gary Gilmer. "We have made important steps to fortify our compliance functions, such as increasing our infrastructure, doubling the size of the centralized compliance and field audit team, and reengineering our exam reviews. The addition of James Kauffman is a meaningful next step. His impeccable credentials, financial services industry experience and first-hand knowledge of compliance requirements will be an invaluable resource as Household continues its focus on compliance excellence."
"I am looking forward to working with a company with such a strong track record of securing consumers' access to the credit they need and deserve," said Kauffman. "My role will be to uphold Household's commitment to meeting -- and indeed surpassing -- regulatory and legislative requirements and to assure absolute compliance into the future. No doubt my goal is to ensure that Household's compliance standards are second to none."
Earlier this year, Household announced a set of voluntary "best practice initiatives" in its HFC/Beneficial retail operations which, among other things, included a one-page disclosure on all new branch originated loans, caps on points and fees on new real estate loans, the option for new real estate customers to choose a loan with or without a prepayment fee, and reduced rates for responsible real estate borrowers. The best practices initiatives were an extension of others announced last year, which included reduced prepayment fee periods on new real estate loans and increased flexibility and disclosures for credit insurance products.
Household said it also has dedicated $3 million over the course of the next three years to community grants promoting consumer financial education. In addition, the company is collaborating with a number of community groups, including the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, to bring financial education courses to local communities.
About Household
Household's businesses are providers of consumer loan, credit card, auto finance and credit insurance products in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. In the United States, Household's largest business, founded in 1878, operates under HFC and Beneficial. Household claims it is also one of the nation's largest issuers of private-label and general-purpose credit cards, including The GM Card and the AFL-CIO's Union Plus card. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.household.com.
