Consumer bill offers little protection

It didn't take very long for the latest federal boondoggle to be universally panned by the business community.

Indeed, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act does a lot of things, national bank executive Kelly King says, but protecting consumers doesn't seem to be one of the accomplishments.

Instead, says King, chairman and CEO of Winston-Salem, N.C.-based BB&T Corp., the so-called protection phase of the bill is loaded with supposedly unintended consequences. The result, King told Wall Street analysts and reporters during a recent earnings conference call, will likely be more fees for consumers, with little return.

For example, King says BB&T, which has a large and growing presence in Florida and the Gulf Coast, could introduce a monthly charge for debit cards. Executives for a few other large national and regional banks have indicated they might make a similar move.

BB&T has $14 billion in deposits and 300 branches in Florida. Its Southwest Florida region, comprised of Charlotte, Collier, Lee, Manatee and Sarasota counties, has more than $2.1 billion in deposits.

Like many other executives, King says it could take months or years to fully assess what the bill did and didn't do. In the meantime, King says the bank will look to be a player in what he predicts will be the industry consolidation that will result from the misguided bill.