San Antonio (March 16, 2017)—Independent Community Bankers of America® (ICBA) President and CEO Camden R. Fine today called on community bankers to continue fighting for tiered and proportional regulations that will truly energize local economies. In a speech at the ICBA Community Banking LIVE® 2017 national convention, Fine told the nearly 3,000 community bankers in attendance that they will have to continue advocating to achieve meaningful regulatory reforms.
“Now, more than ever, is the time to act,” Fine said. “Now is the time to keep the pressure on Congress, to meet with lawmakers face to face at the upcoming ICBA Capital Summit in Washington, to ensure comprehensive regulatory relief is signed into law.”
Fine said last week’s White House meeting and opportunities to enact meaningful regulatory reform are due to years of hard work from current community bankers and their predecessors, including those who founded ICBA on May 9, 1930. On that date, 28 community bankers gathered in Minnesota to discuss what to do about two large bank holding companies intent on exploiting the Wall Street financial panic and acquiring every local bank in the Ninth Federal Reserve District. Rather than sell out, these independent bankers passed a hat for donations, used their collective strength to resist, and founded what is now ICBA.
ICBA and the nation’s community bankers continue the founders’ dedication to collective action and independent banking by their current push for tiered and proportional regulation, Fine said. ICBA’s Plan for Prosperity regulatory relief platform offers a comprehensive blueprint to reform complex rules that inhibit access to capital, strengthen accountability in bank exams, require cost-benefit analyses of new rules, and promote lending and innovation in farm country.
“We have an excellent opportunity before us, but we cannot afford to waste it,” Fine said. “We cannot afford to look back some day and wish we had only done more. We have been fighting too long and too hard to settle for anything less than our absolute best!”
About ICBA
The Independent Community Bankers of America®, the nation’s voice for more than 5,800 community banks of all sizes and charter types, is dedicated exclusively to representing the interests of the community banking industry and its membership through effective advocacy, best-in-class education and high-quality products and services. For more information, visit ICBA’s website at www.icba.org.
