Wowza: The Independent Community Bankers of America released a long statement opposing the consolidation of federal bank regulators, with a jab at "Wall Street executives" to boot

FDIC rescinds 2024 policy statement on bank mergers:

“When a bank is owned by a commercial company, it is incentivized to lend to customers of its commercial parent to drive sales, and this inevitably leads to riskier loans getting made, which puts the institution at risk of failure,” said ICBA's Mickey Marshall via The Washington Post

Acting Comptroller Rodney E. Hood is committed to reducing regulatory burden to strengthen community banks so they can continue to thrive.

Good story in Vermont today about ending the credit union tax exemption -- these are small steps, but I think lawmakers are starting to wake up to the unfairness of exempting the largest and most growth obsessed CUs: timesargus.com/news/local/ver…

First addition to my community bank memorabilia collection in a while. It’s not every day you see a promotional potholders holder. I particularly like the vintage patchwork pattern on the reverse.

cool story 51.12% of the money distributed by Troy Bank & Trust Co. goes to financing a health clinic for people who can’t afford healthcare. Great talking, sir. John R Ramage

The Committee welcomes Acting Comptroller of the OCC Rodney Hood’s decision to rescind the Biden-era bank merger rule. The rule introduced regulatory uncertainty and inefficiency, creating hurdles for even well-structured mergers. Chair Hill and members of the Committee

Reopening the Section 1033 rule presents an opportunity to fix some of the rule’s shortcomings like the limited oversight of third-parties and the fee prohibition. However, it is vital for community banks that the exemption for banks below $850m remains intact.

Maintaining the separation between banking and commerce is a crucial safeguard for our nation’s financial system, economy and society, write Art Wilmarth, of @GWLaw and Mickey Marshall of Independent Community Bankers of America, in American Banker BankThink.bit.ly/3ZdPFov

Be sure to tune into the testimony of Keith Costello and Mary Usategui, two great de novo community bankers, before the House Financial Services Committee at 2PM today.

The House is debating H.R. 2808, the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act, by Congressman John Rose.

The importance of keeping the money multiplier in motion in small communities cannot be overstated. America is powerful in large part because we have the best real estate in the world. To take advantage of that, however, requires the allocation of capital across rural America.