Time to let banks get back to business
Tennessee’s banks help our communities flourish. Small business owners count on banks to provide the loans they need to succeed. Consumers depend on these financial institutions when they need access to credit to purchase a new home or finance their entrepreneurial goals.
Due to regulatory restrictions and cluttered red tape from our nation’s capital, obtaining these loans have become harder and harder.
But thanks to the power of grassroots advocacy and the support of pro-community banking elected officials, including U.S. Rep. David Kustoff, Washington has approved much-needed financial reforms.
The landmark Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155) provides regulatory relief to our nation’s community banks, so they can continue financing the dreams of Americans in local communities.
S. 2155, one of the only bipartisan pieces of legislation we’ve seen in a long time, is right-sizing regulations and fixing the unintended consequences created by Washington bureaucracy.
Far too long banks have been hampered by the ever-increasing federal regulations that raised compliance costs, reduced local credit availability, and played an important role in the decline of new bank formation and consolidation within our industry, increasing systemic risk while reducing consumer choice.
Now S. 2155 will help rejuvenate communities. It offers targeted, commonsense fixes to ill-fitting financial rules that have limited the ability of banks to serve their customers and help strengthen their communities. This new law will go a long way toward allowing banks to get back to the basics of lending including benefits such as:
❚ Improving consumer access to mortgage credit with products designed to meet an individual’s unique borrowing needs.
❚ Reducing unnecessary bank paperwork and reporting for strong bank so that community bankers can dedicate more time and resources to support economic growth.
❚ Making opening new accounts and engaging in online transactions easier.
❚ Providing free placement and removal of security freezes on consumer credit reports.
❚ Extending the additional foreclosure protections put into place for active military personal to continue after they leave service.
❚ Protecting seniors by providing safeguards to people who report senior abuse and exploitation to law enforcement.
❚ Tackling better ways to fight cybercrime.
By igniting the economic power of community banks, lawmakers such as Kustoff are signaling a sea change that encourages greater access to financial services that puts customers first while contributing to our nation’s financial recovery.
While there’s still more we must do to right-size financial regulation, this new law is a step in the right direction. Finally, it will be easier for banks to get back to relationship banking and focus on the needs of our customers rather than the mounds of regulatory paperwork.
Colin Barrett is the president/CEO of the Tennessee Bankers Association.