Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) said empowering community banks to succeed is essential to driving economic growth in America.
Details: In a new Wall Street Journal op-ed (subscription required), Bessent and Hagerty said:
Despite holding only 15% of industry assets and deposits, community banks account for 40% of small-business loans and 70% of agricultural loans.
Sen. Hagerty’s recently introduced Main Street Depositor Protection Act (S.2999) would fortify community banks against existential headwinds by raising the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. limit.
To expand opportunity for all Americans, the banks that serve Main Street must have the same chance to succeed as the banks that serve Wall Street.
Deposit Insurance Reform in the Spotlight:
During his nomination hearing to become FDIC chairman, Travis Hill last week said deposit insurance reform could strengthen depositor confidence.
With lawmakers deliberating deposit insurance reform proposals, ICBA recently released recommended principles to inform the debate.
In a Main Street Matters blog post, ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said the large bank failures of 2023 demonstrated the clear need to reform the nation’s deposit insurance system, and recently introduced bipartisan legislation has provided a good starting point for these discussions.
ICBA expressed support for S. 2999, introduced by Hagerty and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), saying the bill is a great step to promote balanced deposit insurance coverage across the banking industry, strengthen the deposit insurance system, and support small businesses that use transaction accounts for payroll and other recurring expenses.
ICBA last month called on Congress to consider deposit insurance reforms in a statement for the record for the Senate Banking Committee hearing on deposit insurance reform.