6 HќќѠіђџȱ юћјђџ юѦ 2014 servicer” exemption to include servicers with 20,000 or fewer loans. Another bill deals with increasing the qualifying asset level for recognition as a Small Bank Holding Company Policy Statement from $500 million to $1 billion and allows small savings and loan holding companies to be covered by these provisions. The result is that it will be easier to raise both debt and equity at the holding company level and to downstream the proceeds to subsidiary banks or thrifts. Still another bill would allow banks to petition the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to reassess having a rural status of a county designated. Our own Sen. Dan Coats authored a bill that would require the CFPB to look to the prudential regulators for data before asking banks to provide it. If the prudential regulator does not have the requested data, the CFPB would have to get permission from the prudential regulator to ask banks to provide the requested data. Thank you, Senator! While this list does not include all of the legislative efforts under way, it should provide some hope that direction has changed. I recognize that individually none of these provisions can begin to make up for the damage that has been ravaged upon banks. It displays a realization by many in Congress that regulatory overkill needs to be turned back … something that I hear over and over when I visit with congressmen, both Democrats and Republicans. It’s a refreshing new perspective, ushering in a season for which I will Turn! Turn! Turn! In 1965 the American folk rock band, The Byrds, recorded a song titled, “Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season).” It landed as the No. 1 hit song in the United States for three consecutive weeks. The history of the song goes far, far back, because nearly every lyric is lifted verbatim from chapter 3 of the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible. A few years prior to The Byrds’ recording, folk singer Pete Seeger had taken this poetic Bible verse; inserted the refrain of “Turn! Turn! Turn!”; then concluded with the line, “A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late.” To quote the biblical inspiration: To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven; A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. When Seeger put music to these words, and The Byrds played the music in a way that no one else had, a hit was born. Turn! Turn! Turn! has always been one of my favorite songs. It encapsulates much of life, both the good and the bad. If you agree that there is a season for everything, then you would have to agree that it is time for the season to unshackle banks and bankers from the unnecessary regulatory burden that has been unjustly cast upon them. Though to date there have only been small steps, there does appear to be some movement in the right direction. Many bills have been introduced within the past few months that help. One relieves Subchapter S banks from total prohibition to pay dividends when capital issues arise. After all, C corporation banks pay taxes, then may be prohibited from paying dividends, but the tax burden for S corporations is borne by shareholders. This change would place both S and C corporations on equal footing. Others have to do with mortgages. One bill would make any mortgage loan held in portfolio by the originator a ęȱ ǯȱ ȱ ȱ¡ȱȱȱ $10 billion in assets from the new escrowing requirements from the Dodd-Frank Act. It would also increase the “small ASSOCIATION UPDATE PRESIDENT’S PONDERINGS 6 -RH 'H+DYHQ 3UHVLGHQW &KLHI ([HFXWLYH 2IÀFHU ,QGLDQD %DQNHUV $VVRFLDWLRQ The 2014 Consumer Lending School took place April 15-17 at the IBA Center for Professional Development. Shown are (left to right): Row 1-Ryan Payne, First Harrison Bank, Corydon; Kelly Matlock, First Harrison Bank, Corydon; Courtney Dillon, North Salem State Bank;Abby Early, Community State Bank,Twelve Mile; Heather Carter, Security Federal Savings Bank, Logansport; Row 2-Danielle Morris, German American Bancorp, Bloomington; Denise Bodart, German American %DQFRUS -DVSHU $VKOH\ $KUHQV 1RUWK 6DOHP 6WDWH %DQN 6DUD 5XPPHO *UHHQÀHOG Banking Company; Courtney Wigginton, Community State Bank,Avilla; Everett Metzger,The Fountain Trust Company, Lafayette; Row 3-Branden Scott, Community State Bank, Royal Center; Kevin Lange, Fowler State Bank; and instructor David Kemp, Bankers Management Inc. &RQVXPHU /HQGLQJ 6FKRRO *UDGXDWHV
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