IBANYS Attends ICBA Capital Summit

This week, IBANYS President & CEO John Witkowski and Director of Government Relations/Communications Steve Rice accompanied a group of New York community bank executives from across the state to Washington, D.C. to meet with New York congressional delegation offices and attend the ICBA Capital Summit.

We met in the offices of those on the House Financial Services, Small Business, Ways & Means, Agriculture, Homeland Security, Budget, Appropriations and other key Committees that address issues & policies impacting community banks. and, Senators Schumer’s and Gillibrand’s offices. Read a detailed description of the priorities we discussed: https://www.icba.org/documents/d/asset-library-45247/capital-summit-lobby-card-1

It was a day of constructive discussions, and the response seemed positive and genuinely receptive of our positions, ideas and thoughts – hopefully, we will see some favorable action on our priorities, and that we planted seeds going forward. 

Our congressional meetings covered:

• Ensuring A Meaningful Prohibition in the Clarity Act On Payment of Interest, Yield and Rewards on Payment Stablecoins for Affiliates, Exchanges & other Digital Asset Market Participants - To ensure regulatory frameworks preserve community bank lending and avoid a flight of FDIC-insured domestic deposits to entities lacking our level of oversight and commitment to local communities.

• Supporting Tiered Regulation & Community Bank Regulatory Relief – Including the provisions contained in the House Housing package, but not the Senate’s, and ongoing efforts to reconcile the bills;

• Supporting the Main Street Capital Access Act – A package of pro-community bank bills by House Financial Services Chair Hill to tailor regulations to the lower risk profile of community banks, support formation of new community banks, ease excessive capital requirements, ensure fair reviews of exams, offer capital relief at the holding company level, promote bank-fintech partnerships and more;

• Calling for a congressional review of the credit union tax exemption and weak Regulatory Oversight, including their exemption from any CRA mandates, in the new environment where credit unions have outgrown their original mission and purpose established in 1937 and are acquiring community banks while competing with them and enjoying the benefits of a very a very uneven playing field. There has been no congressional review of this situation in more than 20 years. We have also joined with ICBA and called for taxing credit unions with assets of $1 billion or more.

• Supporting Agricultural Lending and Rural America/New York & A Robust Farm Bill – We also opposed the Farm Credit System’s aggressive expansion into non-farm financing including public and private businesses already financed by tax-paying community banks -- while enjoying its tax-advantaged GSE status.

• Building On ACRE’s Success – By strengthening it by broadening the law to provide more interest rate relief for borrowers and additional targeted tax relief to promote community bank lending. Community banks make between 80% - 85% of rural farm loans in New York State.

• Repealing or Revising Small Business Loan Data Collection/Reporting Mandate – so fewer community banks and small businesses are harmed by these intrusive, burdensome requirements.

• Opposing Credit Card Routing Mandates & Rate Caps – Which would create new credit card routing mandates, force a costly overhaul of the payments landscape, end credit card rewards programs,, reduce access to credit for consumers (to benefit the largest merchants), and impose a 10% rate cap on credit cards or other government price controls (leading to reduced credit access, particularly for lower- and middle-class borrowers.

ICBA also provided a new interactive map showing community banking’s footprint in local communities across the country. Here’s a look at New York’s. https://www.icba.org/map#datatype=footprint&region=NY&viewby=state

We also heard from congressional leadership and senior federal banking regulators.



• House Financial Services Chairman French Hill said he is working to advance community bank regulatory relief via the Main Street Capital Access Act (H.R. 6955) and the community banking provisions of the House-passed 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644).

• House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Dan Meuser called community banks the champions of fighting fraud. He cited the Safeguarding Consumers from Advertising Misconduct (SCAM) Act (H.R. 7548) he is co-sponsoring (supported by ICBA and IBANYS) to combat predatory online scam advertisements.

• FDIC Chairman Travis Hill termed supervision reform a top priority, and said and “rightsizing” the regulatory approach will ensure community banks thrive.

• Treasury Department Undersecretary for Domestic Finance Jonathan McKernan said his department is focused on properly calibrating regulations, eliminating “regulation by reflex,” and fully supporting community development financial institutions (CDFIs).