Independent Banker - December 2017 - 26

Grassroots
Senate, ICBA-advocated legislation
to enhance community bank access
to capital is gaining momentum. The
Community Bank Access to Capital
Act of 2017 (S. 1962), introduced by
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) with Sen.
Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) as an original
cosponsor, exempts more community
banks from Basel III and SarbanesOxley
requirements, raises the
consolidated asset threshold under
the Federal Reserve's Small Bank
Holding Company Policy Statement
from $1 billion to $5 billion, and
revises the Securities and Exchange
Commission's definitions of " accredited "
and " non-accredited " investors
to attract new investors.
Senators from both sides of the
aisle have expressed a willingness
to break from the partisanship
afflicting Washington to advance
community bank relief. In addition
to support from the congressional
majority, a group of Senate Banking
Committee Democrats in October
called on Crapo and ranking member
Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) to bring
before the panel a regulatory relief
package for community lenders.
The letter from Sens. Joe Donnelly
(D-Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.),
Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Mark
Warner (D-Va.) cited common ground
and urged bipartisan action.
Alongside this bipartisan pledge,
there has been no shortage of
prompting from ICBA and others
for fundamental reform. In addition
to countless meetings with and
messages to lawmakers and staff
on Capitol Hill, ICBA community
bankers testifying before congressional
committees never missed an
opportunity to advocate Plan for
Senators from both
sides of the aisle
have expressed a
willingness to break
from the partisanship
afflicting Washington
to advance community
bank relief.
Prosperity policies. More than 10,000
community bank employees and
advocates urged action when ICBA
submitted its Plan for Prosperity petition
to the Senate Banking Committee
in September.
Separately, the Treasury
Department has released reports
with legislative and regulatory
recommendations to roll back community
bank regulatory burdens.
The first, released in June, focused
on the financial system and drew
significantly from both the Plan for
Prosperity and ICBA's " Roadmap to
Economic Growth and Prosperity "
white paper, including provisions on
mortgage and commercial lending.
A second report focused on the US
capital markets with proposals to ease
SEC reporting mandates for community
banks.
With community bank regulatory
relief advancing on multiple fronts,
ICBA is focused on using all available
avenues to get these measures to the
president's desk.
Housing helper-Federal Housing Finance Agency director Melvin Watt, left, talks to Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation chairman Martin Gruenberg at the Treasury Department before an open session Financial Stability Oversight
Council meeting.
26 ICBA Independent Banker December 2017
Housing-finance reform
While regulatory relief is positioned
for success, housing-finance reform
remains very much a work in progress.
ICBA has pressed relentlessly to
ensure the herculean task preserves
equal and direct access to the secondary
market for community banks,
including in recent testimony before
the House Financial Services Committee's
Subcommittee on Housing
and Insurance (see page 11). Yet Congress
has little more than committee
hearings to show for its years of
debate over reforming the housingfinance
system.
Nevertheless, policymakers are
facing increasing pressure as Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac's capital
buffers are scheduled to drop to
zero by Jan. 1 without a change to
their agreement with Treasury. In
response, ICBA has repeatedly called
on the Federal Housing Finance
Agency to allow the governmentsponsored
enterprises (GSEs) to
rebuild their capital buffers, including
in a comprehensive white paper
released in April. A capital buffer
would maintain investor confidence,
preserve market liquidity, avoid
another draw of taxpayer support
and ensure the GSEs-which have
paid the Treasury nearly $270 billion,
or $80 billion more than the
$187 billion capital infusion they
received-can provide stability in the
PHOTO: ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES

Independent Banker - December 2017

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