Independent Banker - May 2019 - 34

PORTFOLIO
IndependentBanker.org
Our full library of
FREE, expert-led
webinars helps
community bank
leaders stay ahead
of the curve!
Visit the Independent
Banker website to
access relevant,
insightful and FREE
webinars for community
bankers! Gain valuable
knowledge on industry
developments, trending
technology and
innovative products
& services that you
can use to take your
community bank to
the next level.
REGISTER TODAY!
To register and view our full
library of free on-demand
webinars, visit the Independent
Banker Webinar Center at
Independentbanker.org
help realize their customers' goals in
communities throughout America. To
help community banks meet the needs
of communities left behind by the
largest institutions, ICBA's Community
Focus 2020 supports reforms that
policymakers on both sides of the aisle
can advance to ensure a robust, fair
and competitive financial system that
best serves consumers.
Community banks operate with a
commitment to ensuring economic
prosperity spreads through every local
community-one loan, one consumer
at a time-and ICBA's policy positions
are no different. ICBA and community
bankers developed Community
Focus 2020 to advance a more efficient
system of regulation, unbiased laws
governing the financial sector, a safer
and more secure business environment,
and more effective agriculture policies
to extend the nation's economic growth
to every corner of the country.
This multipronged agenda, which
will be the focal point of ICBA policy
outreach during the 116th Congress,
includes a variety of policy proposals
to help community banks put deposits
to work in their communities.
For instance, the agenda supports
relief from the overregulation that
continues to hamper the ability of
community banks to spread economic
recovery to regions that have not
yet experienced strong growth. This
includes maximizing the benefits of
provisions of the S.2155 regulatory
relief law simplifying capital standards
for community banks and instituting a
truly short-form call report during the
first and third quarters of the year.
Community Focus 2020 also supports
new congressional regulatory
relief efforts, such as a bipartisan initiative
to modernize the Bank Secrecy
Act. The platform encourages lawmakers
to develop a system in which
business ownership records are
gathered when legal entities are
formed-rather than by their bank-to
improve uniformity, consistency and
efficiency in the system.
Equity for all
The community bank commitment to
equity extends to the financial services
marketplace and beyond. Community
banks support a competitive landscape
free from distortions caused by too-bigto-fail
financial firms and the undue
competitive advantages enjoyed by
credit unions and Farm Credit System
lenders, whose unfair tax exemptions
limit their contributions to government
coffers. At the federal level alone,
the Joint Committee on Taxation
last year tallied the federal cost of the
credit union industry's tax exemption
at roughly $10 billion through 2022-
an annual cost to taxpayers of nearly
$2 billion and rising.
Further, advancing data breach
legislation that requires all participants
in the payments system to have
bank-like data security standards
and that establishes a national data
breach notification standard would
enhance security in every community.
Meanwhile, the agenda supports
housing-finance reforms that ensure
a reliable source of funding for mortgage
lending, as well as provisions to
spur agricultural and rural lending
to promote economic prosperity in
rural areas.
In short, Community Focus 2020
offers a comprehensive plan to help
every American in every community-whether
urban, suburban or
rural-join in the nation's economic
prosperity. As policymakers begin to
tackle these and other issues, community
bankers will continue working
with them to provide every American
an equitable opportunity to take
part in our nation's economic and job
growth. Together, we can ensure full
and nationwide opportunity and prosperity,
one community at a time.
http://www.IndependentBanker.org http://www.Independentbanker.org
Independent Banker - May 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Independent Banker - May 2019
