A BACKGROUND ON 2023-2024 MIBA President MARK LAUNE Mark Laune, President and CEO of People Saving Bank, recently started a year-long term as the 2023‑2024 MIBA President. In his own words, he has “big shoes” to fill as he follows in the footsteps of those who have held this position before him. He is ready to jump in and fight the good fight to ensure that the future of community banking is secure. There are a number of challenges that the community banking industry is facing right now. Mark feels the biggest challenge is the credit union tax exemption. “Credit unions continue to buy up local community banks and expand their taxpayer-subsidized area. This has a detrimental effect on our local communities.” Mark continued, “When they stop paying taxes, who will pay the taxes? It’s a loss in revenue, and it will negatively impact the communities they are located in.” Another issue that he is concerned with is Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires financial institutions to collect, maintain and submit certain data for small businesses on an annual basis. “The rule coverage is too broad and will have an impact on most community banks. The rule needs to be adjusted to exclude the smaller community banks or exclude community banks in general. It places too much burden on them,” he said. When asked what bankers can do to deal with these challenges, Mark stated, “We, as bankers, need to get involved — to talk to our Congress, our Representatives, our Senators. We have to fight the battles together, and the more bankers that get involved, the better the chances of getting pushback on some of these proposals.” Specifically, from a credit union side, he said, “They have a lot of lobbyists on their side of the table, so we’ve got to push back from our side of the table as well.” 16 | The Show-Me Banker Magazine
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