King, Lankford Lead Bipartisan Group of Colleagues in Urging Senate Committee to Provide Regulatory Relief to Community Banks
Press Release
U.S. Senators Angus King (I-Maine) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) announced today that they have sent a letter to the leaders of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee urging them to hold hearings on legislation that would help provide regulatory relief to smaller financial institutions.
"We are deeply concerned that community banks and small credit unions are shouldering increasingly high compliance costs that stem from outdated, unnecessary, or overly burdensome rules," the Senators wrote. "As the Committee prepares to announce hearings for the June and July work periods, we urge you to hold a hearing on measures to provide regulatory and supervisory relief for our nation's small financial institutions. In doing so, we hope that you will identify several bipartisan, common-sense legislative measures to provide meaningful relief for these entities."
In the letter, the Senators emphasized how smaller financial institutions often have deeper ties to the communities they serve, lending to businesses, farmers, and individuals that may otherwise struggle to access credit in local markets. But they also pointed out that there is strong evidence suggesting that, after the 2008 financial crisis, many small businesses are now relying on home equity lines of credit and larger banks for their credit needs as smaller banks consolidate -- a phenomenon which leaves less small business credit available.
The Senators also suggested requesting that federal banking regulators from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CPFB), Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC), and the Federal Reserve be asked to appear before the Committee to identify new ideas.
"We owe it to our community banks, small credit unions, and to the customers they serve to recognize the key structural differences that exist between small and large financial institutions and responsibly adjust the regulatory framework to reflect those differences," they wrote.
The letter was also signed by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), and James Inhofe (R-Okla.).
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