Community banks want the White House to tread carefully as it seeks to reform the federal bank regulatory apparatus.
Rebeca Romero Rainey, president and CEO of the Independent Community Bankers of America, is urging the Trump administration to resist "Wall Street calls for consolidating" the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
In a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, Romero Rainey said the
"Any changes to our nation's trusted system of banking regulation must involve careful study and input from all stakeholders, including the community banks that stand to be most impacted by these proposals," Romero Rainey said. "While community banks are strong advocates for streamlining federal banking regulations and building efficiencies, structural reforms are better focused on protecting agency accountability by enacting board oversight at the federal banking agencies with meaningful community bank representation and ensuring regulatory oversight is tiered and risk weighted."
President Donald Trump and his advisors have
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Large banks and their representatives in Washington have largely remained silent about the Trump administration's efforts to reshape the bank oversight landscape, but the ICBA has now twice expressed concern about the scope and pace of changes. Earlier this month, Romero Rainey issued a statement arguing that the administration's shuttering of the CFPB effectively left large banks without federal consumer compliance oversight, while smaller banks continue to face supervision on the matter from their primary regulators.
"While we share concerns about the structure and operations of the CFPB, any changes to consumer financial oversight must ensure that responsible financial institutions — particularly community banks — are not unduly burdened by regulations primarily intended to ensure megabanks and nonbank actors don't push the system toward another crisis," she said.
Similarly, in her latest statement, Romero Rainey said ICBA shares the administration's goal of better, more streamlined bank oversight. But, she noted, it does not need to come at the expense of long-running norms.
"We look forward to working closely with the 119th Congress and Trump administration to support reforms that protect our nation's dual banking system and are consistent with ICBA's 'Repair, Reform, and Thrive' plan," she said. "Preserving the independence of U.S. banking regulators is fundamental to ensuring community banks can continue meeting the banking needs of local communities."
