28 Hoosier Banker August 2015 FEATURE Let freedom ring. Let economic liberty and opportunity flourish. Let credit flow on Main Street. On the heels of celebrating our nation’s birth to secure personal freedom and economic opportunity, the July Independent Banker highlighted recently successful lending by community banks. The magazine’s coverage represents snapshots of our industry, because there are far too many worthy community bank lenders to highlight in any single issue. So the coverage is part recognition of and tribute to the pivotal role community banks play in deploying local deposits to support people and local economies. Available, affordable credit is the indispensable lubricant in our nation’s mighty economic engine. In immeasurably diverse ways, credit empowers progress and helps fulfill individual ideas and dreams ‒ the foundation of American opportunity, freedom and prosperity. Knowledgeable, responsive lending ‒ along with processing secure payments and safeguarding savings ‒ is fundamental to the relationshipbased model all community banks follow. Every community bank wants ‒ and in fact counts on ‒ its customers succeeding financially as much or more tomorrow as they do today. Inherently, that involves responsibly providing credit to as many people as possible who need it. Often when other financial institutions fail to meet consumers’ needs, it is community banks that step up to provide the credit that helps Main Street succeed. However an underlying storyline amid last month’s Independent Banker coverage is how hard community banks must work to continue to provide responsible, needed credit on Main Street. At almost every turn, from counterproductive compliance requirements to misfit prudential mandates, one-size-fitsall overregulation is imposing costly burdens that are distracting ‒ if not downright hindering ‒ community banks from their primary role of providing useful, job-creating credit. Fortunately the Independent Community Bankers of America and community bankers have secured several important and unprecedented exceptions for community banks from some, but not enough of, the newest Dodd-Frank Act provisions and mandates. But those sensible policy victories only stemmed a tide of excessive regulation already weighing down community banks. The truth is that many misdirected regulations designed for Wall Street megabanks and nonbanks continue to shackle Main Street credit, as indicated by numerous independent studies and a mountain of testimony from Main Street community bankers. The evidence is clear and overwhelming, and today few policymakers in Washington deny it. With constant input and encouragement from ICBA, Congress continues to work on legislation to provide meaningful regulatory relief for community banks. Many measures derive directly from ICBA’s Plan for Prosperity policy proposals. All of which would free community banks from regulation truly aimed at megabanks, and many of the proposals would directly help community banks focus their limited time and resources on Main Street lending. America’s consumers, families and small businesses ‒ and anyone with a personal stake in our economy ‒ will benefit from the measures. That’s our primary message to Congress as we ‒ with help from you and everyone at your community bank ‒ push to secure meaningful regulatory relief this year. For so many important reasons, for so many people, let credit flow on Main Street. Let freedom ring! t Freedom and Lending 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, Missouri, 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.
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