Regulatory Relief for Credit Unions and Community Banks

As Chairman of the Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee, I have made regulatory relief for Main Street a top priority. On Wednesday, the Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing to examine the impact of the Dodd-Frank Act’s 400+ new regulations on Main Street community financial institutions.

I am proud to have Texas 19’s own Mr. J David Williams, the Chairman and CEO of Centennial Bank, in Washington this week to testify before our Committee and share his perspective working as a community banker in West Texas. Data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. shows that we lost nearly 1,000 community banks nationally between 2010 and 2014. Similarly, credit unions lost close to 1,000 institutions during the same time frame.

This trend is especially troubling for our area because 70 percent of agricultural loans and over 50 percent of small business loans are made by community banks. I worry without the regulatory flexibility to serve local needs, banks and credit unions will stop offering products or consolidate. It is clear that Washington’s one-size-fits-all regulatory approach is not working. This hearing is just the beginning of our effort to provide real regulatory relief for those in our community that fuel the engines of economic growth and give our job creators the tools they need to prosper.