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Community bankers seek ‘softening’ of rules
Community bankers continue to express concern with what they call “the flood of new rules” contained in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill.
Columbus, Nebraska banker Clark Lehr—the new chairman-elect of the Nebraska Bankers Association (NBA)–says the Dodd-Frank Act contains some 250 new regulations. He says the bankers are trying to trying to work with Congress to address some of their concerns .
“We’re hoping that, through discussions and work with our Senators and Representatives, that maybe we can soften the impact,” Lehr says, “because we have 50 to 100 banks in Nebraska that are under 100 million dollars—it’s pretty tough to figure out how you’re going to incorporate all those new rules and regs, and still try to run a profitable business.”
Lehr is the president of First Nebraska Bank. He says he’s fortunate to have a compliance officer to help deal with the regulatory burden.
“We’re a 185 million dollar bank—people that are 50 million or 30 million, how do they dedicate those kind of resources?” he says. “So the NBA’s trying to see if we can figure out a way to try to help them. Maybe provide some additional services that might help streamline their process and help them do what they need to do.”
“Oppressive” is the word used by the American Bankers Association to describe the new regulatory burdens being imposed on community banks. ABA says the cumulative burden of complying with the new regulations could lead to massive industry consolidation.
The Obama administration, meanwhile, recently launched a spirited defense of the Dodd-Frank Act, arguing that the regulatory overhaul actually strengthens the role of community banks in the financial system.
Deputy Treasury secretary Neal Wolin says Dodd-Frank will allow community banks to be on “more equal footing with their competitors.”
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