Pub. 2 2012-2013 Issue 6

O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S - H E L P I N G C O L O R A D A N S R E A L I Z E D R E A M S May • June 2013 5 Thank You for Your Support Dear CBA Members, As my year as Chairman of the Board of the Colorado Bankers Association comes to a close, I want to, once again, highlight how important our association is to banks across Colorado and to the health of the Colorado economy in general. We have accomplishedmany things this past year. Access to Capital We have worked hard to dispel the notion that, because of the fi nancial crisis, banks were not making loans. We met with legislators at the State and Federal level to help them understand how and to whom banks make loans. We built alliances with many community development fi nancial institutions, the Federal Reserve, the SBA, and the Colorado and Denver economic development of fi ces to ensure that we all worked together to help provide capi- tal to small business. We created a website called www. smallbusinesslending.org to help this effort, and received kudos in the media for doing so. Defend Banks Against Inappropriate Regulation The crush of regulation coming out of the Dodd Frank Act and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will have a signi fi cant impact on our industry. While some regulatory changes were necessary due to the fi nancial crisis, the pendulum has swung too far. In concert with the American Bankers Association, we met with every major regulatory body, including the Federal Reserve, the FDIC and the CFPB to express our concern over the nega- tive, unintended consequences of some of these new rules. We assertively expressed how the new Basel III Capital Guidelines would only make it tougher for banks to make loans and stay viable and serve customers. After meeting with those agencies, we also visited with every member of the U.S. Congressional Delegation from Colorado to educate them about the issues. They supported our posi- tion by unanimously sending a letter to regulators (about 18 states later followed our lead) and eventually called for public hearings in both the House and Senate (which later were held) to make direct inquiry of the regulators on the Basel III issues we presented. We also launched a major letter writing campaign to the regulators expressing our concern over Basel III and CBA provided its own 15-page comment. Building Relationships We also focused this past year on continuing to build relationships with all our key constituents. As I have noted; we have good relationships with our legislators and have also worked closely with the Governor and his staff. We have met regularly with the State Bank Commissioner and other regulators. Good relationships go a long way to helping others understand and support our agenda. We also focused on our most important constituents, our member banks. We provided regular educational forums on topics critical to our industry. We increased our communication efforts regarding our legislative and regulatory efforts. We reached out to current members and potential members with a series of luncheons to dia- logue about what was most important to them. We also created a new Leadership Program to ensure that the next generation of bank leaders is well prepared to advocate for their institutions and industry. We helped banks prepare for new regulations by creating an important partnership with Compliance Alliance and many of our members are fi nding their services helpful. These are only a few of the many items on which our Association focused this past year. I am very proud of our accomplishments and what we have done to defend and promote our industry and our State. It is critical that we remain active, involved, and credible and con- tinue to lead with high ethical standards and a commit- ment to excellence. Thank you for your support. Q Bruce Alexander, CBA Chairman President & CEO, Vectra Bank Colorado