ICBA chairman: Community bankers fueled advance of key bills

ICBA Chairman Lucas White said community bankers answered the call to show up in full force at this year’s Capital Summit and are seeing the results of persistently raising the red flag on excessive regulatory burdens.

Grassroots Impact: In a new post on LinkedIn, the president of The Fountain Trust Company in Covington, Ind., said the House Financial Services Committee votes advancing numerous ICBA-advocated bills shows the importance of grassroots engagement with members of Congress.

Legislative Details: During the markup, the committee voted to advance:

  • The Promoting Access to Capital in Underbanked Communities Act of 2023 (H.R. 758), which would provide more regulatory, capital, and lending flexibility to facilitate the creation of de novo banks.

  • The CDFI Fund Transparency Act (H.R. 3161), which would require annual Treasury Department testimony on CDFI Fund operations.

  • The Bank Resilience and Regulatory Improvement Act (H.R. 8337), which would raise the asset exemption thresholds of five burdensome regulatory provisions to support tiered regulation.

  • The Bank Supervision Appeals Improvement Act (H.R. 8264) to create a workable appeals process for bank examinations.

  • The Small Bank Holding Company Relief Act of 2023 (H.R. 4346), a bill to raise the asset threshold to qualify as Small Bank Holding Companies from $3 billion to $10 billion.

  • The Rectifying UDAAP Act (H.R. 6789), which would clarify and balance the CFPB’s authority to oversee unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices.

  • The Small Lenders Exempt from New Data and Excessive Reporting Act (H.R. 1806), a bill to expand exemptions from the CFPB’s 1071 rule and extend the rule’s compliance deadline.

  • The Bank Loan Privacy Act (H.R. 1810), which would require the CFPB to conduct a rulemaking on financial institution and credit applicant data it plans to publish under the 1071 rule.

Getting Results: “Without the meaningful contributions of community banks on local communities, around-the-clock ICBA advocacy, and the countless contributions of our affiliated state community banking associations, our industry would not see this level of activity at the highest level,” White said. “So thank you, my community banking colleagues. Let’s build on the momentum.”

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