PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE ABA WASHINGTON SUMMIT UPDATE KYLE BEASLEY President, New Mexico Bankers Association that our industry is better appreciated and more poised for congressional support for regulatory relief than we have seen in quite some time. Some of the highlights and quotes from the featured speakers are shown below: • U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: “Our nation’s financial health is like a 350-pound two-pack-a-day smoker, and we’re not going to have him running a marathon tomorrow. It’s going to take some time and perhaps some pain.” • Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-SC): Top committee priorities are affordable housing, stablecoin legislation, overdraft fees and reform of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. • House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-AK): “Asset thresholds in statutes like the Dodd-Frank Act are ‘artificial barriers’ distorting strategic decision-making by banks. Artificially low thresholds drive banks to make consolidation decisions that they might not otherwise find necessary.” Hill said, “I’m a strong supporter of regulatory tailoring.” With one key point being the $10 billion threshold for CFPB supervision, Hill wants to have all the options on the table for the CFPB, including using budget reconciliation to limit the scope and spending of the CFPB and using a legislative approach to bring the CFPB under congressional spending instead of its current funding model, which involves drawing directly from the Federal Reserve. • Acting FDIC Chairman Travis Hill: “Key policy priorities for the FDIC in coming months will include revising guidelines issued last year for resolution plan submissions for banks with more than $250 billion in assets and taking steps to boost de novo bank formation, particularly in areas of the county without a local community bank.” Elizabeth Arevalo, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Rep. Teresa Legar Fernandez, with John Anderson, Max Myers, Kyle Beasley, Ken Clayton and Jay Jenkins A great contingent of New Mexico bankers recently attended the ABA Annual Washington, D.C., Legislative Summit. I was joined by Max Myers (Century Bank), Jay Jenkins (CNB Bank, Carlsbad), Ken Clayton (Western Bank, Artesia) and John Anderson (NMBA). The agenda was first class with a great lineup of featured speakers. Our timing was very interesting given everything going on in Washington, namely DOGE and tariffs. Broadly, I sensed On Capitol Hill, we met with staff members of several of our New Mexico Congressional delegates, and special thanks to Sen. Ben Ray Luján, who set aside time to meet with us personally. New Mexico bankers are very fortunate to have Western Bank Artesia CEO Ken Clayton serving as the chairman of the ABA Government Relations Committee. He did an excellent job in leading the discussions with our Congressional delegation regarding the NMBA and ABA legislative priorities. It’s great to have friends in high places! Our congressional discussions were centered around the NMBA and ABA legislative priorities highlighted below (my perspectives are included in parentheses): • Our support for access to credit for our Rural Economy Act (ACRE), which would lower interest rates for farmers, ranchers and rural homeowners on loans secured by farm real estate and aquaculture facilities. (I sensed a lot of support for this.) • Cannabis banking legislation that would enable banks to serve state-licensed cannabis businesses, their employees and service providers in states where cannabis
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