Washington, D.C. (July 28, 2023) — The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) today commended the House Financial Services Committee for advancing an ICBA-advocated resolution to nullify the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Section 1071 small-business data collection and reporting requirements.
“ICBA and the nation’s community banks thank the House Financial Services Committee members who voted to pass H.J.Res.66, which rebukes intrusive and overly burdensome data collection and reporting requirements for small-business loans that would ultimately harm the women- and minority-owned small businesses the rule is designed to help,” ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said. “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s data collection requirements would significantly degrade the ability of community banks to meet the needs of small businesses while requiring financial institutions to burden their customers with invasive questions and then publicly report the data they collect to the bureau. We urge Congress to fully pass H.J.Res.66 to block this misguided rule’s harmful impact on privacy and its potential to restrict access to credit to the small businesses that drive the nation’s economy.”
The CFPB’s rule requires lenders to collect and report data on credit applicants, including the race, sex, and ethnicity of the principal owners as well as gross annual revenue. While the CFPB has the authority to exempt any class of financial institutions from the standards it develops and to limit mandatory data points to those required by the law, it has opted to apply the rule to the vast majority of community banks—which make 60 percent of the nation’s small-business loans—and to require data points far exceeding those required by law.
Introduced by Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas), H.J.Res.66 would provide for congressional disapproval of the CFPB’s 1071 small-business data collection and reporting rule and dictate that it has no force or effect. In a letter to committee members this week, ICBA said the resolution would reverse the harm of the rule and require the CFPB to craft a new rule that preserves the flow of credit to small businesses.
ICBA will continue calling on Congress to advance H.J.Res.66—and Sen. John Kennedy’s (R-La.) S.J.Res.32 in the Senate—to ensure community banks can continue meeting the needs of the nation’s small businesses.
About ICBA
The Independent Community Bankers of America® creates and promotes an environment where community banks flourish. ICBA 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.
With nearly 50,000 locations nationwide, community banks constitute roughly 99 percent of all banks, employ nearly 700,000 Americans and are the only physical banking presence in one in three U.S. counties. Holding nearly $5.9 trillion in assets, over $4.9 trillion in deposits, and more than $3.5 trillion in loans to consumers, small businesses and the agricultural community, community banks channel local deposits into the Main Streets and neighborhoods they serve, spurring job creation, fostering innovation and fueling their customers’ dreams in communities throughout America. For more information, visit ICBA’s website at www.icba.org.
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