24 Hoosier Banker September 2014 “If you know the enemy and you know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt.” —Sun Tzu, Chinese Chou Dynasty general and attributed author of The Art of War For the Independent Community Bankers of America, it’s the moral equivalent of war. For that reason, ICBA is responding every day— with action, resources and creative mind power—to fight on all fronts the dysfunctional overregulation emanating from Washington. Our war against overly costly, counterproductive, burdensome and economically debilitating regulation is and has always been a top priority. For decades ICBA has been waging this war, a challenge made worse by the Wall Street financial crisis. This issue is central to why I vowed, during my first days at ICBA more than a decade ago, that this association would take the offensive and become militantly active for community bank interests in Washington. While our industry faces different opportunities and challenges, nothing can help your community bank serve its customers and communities more than reducing unnecessary regulation. Winning this war will require persistence and vigilance, as well as resources. But it also demands action. Today that includes further applying proportionally tiered regulation as ICBA has advocated for many years. This is what you, ICBA and many other community bankers are already doing together. ICBA’s Plan for Prosperity legislative platform, unveiled early last year and endorsed by 38 state and regional partner associations, is a case in point. As Congress returns from its summer recess, 28 bills inspired by the platform have been introduced. Drawing public hearings and more than 200 bipartisan House and Senate co-sponsors, these bills offer specific, real-world solutions. The bills would expand community bank exemptions from the most recent qualified mortgage, servicing and escrow home lending rules. They would eliminate annual privacy notice mailings. They would broaden community bank exemptions from Sarbanes-Oxley internal-control assessments. And, sensibly, one bill would require agencies to determine whether any proposed regulation would duplicate or conflict with existing rules. These are only a few examples. But the Plan for Prosperity is both a tactical and strategic campaign. In addition to offering targeted solutions, it has allowed ICBA, working with lawmakers from both parties, to help drive and sustain the discussion on regulatory burden relief on Capitol Hill, which in turn has influenced favorable decisions at the regulatory agencies, ranging from Basel III to Operation Choke Point. Whatever else happens in this election year, the momentum of Plan for Prosperity primes next year’s Congress for bipartisan action. Meanwhile new ideas also matter. As a case in point, in August ICBA launched a new line of attack by releasing the results of a survey on community banks’ growing call report burdens, including how they have ballooned 86 percent over the last decade. Making waves, the survey results ignited a petition drive behind an ICBA proposal to create a shortform call report for community banks. Thousands of you responded, boosting the profile not only of this issue, but also of tiered regulation in general. Only these kinds of persistent actions and fresh ideas will make headway against the bureaucratic inertia which underpins excessive regulation. In war, you can’t wait for opportunities, you must create them. That is how ICBA, in unison with community bankers on Main Street, will wage our war on regulatory burden. Please join us. We need every voice and new idea for this fight. t About the Author Camden R. Fine is president and chief executive officer of the Independent Community Bankers of America. He came to ICBA from Midwest Independent Bank, Jefferson City, Mo., where he chartered and organized the bankers’ bank and served as president and CEO for nearly 20 years. A long-time member of ICBA prior to becoming the association’s president and CEO, Fine served on several association standing committees and on the ICBA board of directors. The author can be reached at: cam.fine@icba.org. Our War on Regulatory Burden FEATURE
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