Dear Community Banker,
As Washington continues to respond to the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, ICBA continues speaking out directly to policymakers and in the news media on the need to distinguish community banks from larger and riskier financial institutions.
Policy Pushback: In a new appearance on Fox News, I reiterated what ICBA has been saying since federal regulators last week announced a “systemic risk exception” guaranteeing all depositors of these failed institutions: community banks shouldn’t have to pay any special assessment to the Deposit Insurance Fund to cover these systemically risky institutions’ uninsured depositors. Further, our denunciation of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s statement that uninsured deposits will be protected only at systemically risky depository institutions has been covered in Politico Morning Money and elsewhere, reinforcing ICBA and community bank clout.
Community Bank Differentiation: Meanwhile, we have continued to differentiate the relationship-based community bank business model on Bloomberg TV, NTD Television, and other outlets. Those appearances followed ICBA’s national news release clarifying that community banks operate under an entirely different business model than the nation’s largest banks. ICBA will continue sharing its media coverage on its social channels, including Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Key Policy View: The bottom line is this: Treasury and the federal regulators should not be rewriting our deposit insurance system on the fly to pick winners and losers in the banking system. If policymakers decide to provide unlimited deposit insurance to some institutions, they cannot leave others out—certainly not the community banks that have, as always, operated on a safe and sound basis.
Ongoing Efforts: ICBA will continue fighting for you and only you, community bankers, to oppose any efforts to rope community banks into the policy response to recent bank closures, including by providing updated talking points and grassroots resources as developments continue to unfold. And we will continue spreading ICBA’s message to consumers that community banks are safe, sound, and secure institutions that do right by their customers, support local communities, and should be treated as such by policymakers in Washington.
