While credit union advocates support credit unions leveraging their tax exemption to acquire community banks, these subsidized transactions harm local communities, ICBA Chairman Brad Bolton writes in a new op-ed.
New Op-ed: In an American Banker op-ed refuting a pro-acquisition column from a credit union lobbyist, Bolton writes that Congress should build on state actions to curb this trend by investigating at the federal level.
State-Federal Response: “Policymakers in several states have been right to respond to this disturbing trend,” writes the president and CEO of Community Spirit Bank in Red Bay, Ala. “But this is a matter of national importance, and taxpayers are entitled to know more about how the subsidy they fund is being used to underwrite financial services consolidation.”