“And David strikes Goliath in the head with a stone from his sling; the Philistine fell on his face to the ground. “
It was music to all community bankers ears this week to hear three respected economists, one a 2001 Nobel prize recipient, tell a Joint Economic committee of Congress to break up the too-big-to-fail institutions and disassemble the oligarchy they have created. I say Amen, too.
Breaking up the behemoth banks would mean recalibrating the disproportionate influence they have had on public policy. Translated for community bankers…a bifurcated banking regulatory system just might be within our reach. Community bankers are tired, and rightfully so, for paying for the sins of Wall Street in the form of higher FDIC insurance costs, and their owned tarnished credibility in the eyes of the general public and lawmakers.
There are obvious immediate benefits that will accrue to all community banks if Congress has the guts to set about a systematic plan to break up the big banks. Deposits will funnel back to local communities where they were extracted and rightfully belong into the hands of the more than 8,000 community banks to be put to work for the local folks. More money will be available for small business and consumers.
But perhaps the most significant benefit that could result from this is a reduction of the many hidden costs of regulatory burden…a burden that has most community institutions drowning in cesspool of paperwork.
Last month I heard one of the more sensible solutions to reducing the regulatory burden on community banks. It was sensible to me because it is precisely what my colleagues and I have been advocating for the past ten years. And, it came from a bank regulator no less. He advocated that two charter types should be created; one a commercial charter for those institutions that choose to venture out of traditional banking services into exotic and risky product lines, and a community bank charter for those institutions that wish to operate more on traditional banking product and service lines. Each would be subjected to different regulatory and examination specifications proportionate to risk.
We are a long way from realizing the dream that one day community bankers would be rescued from over regulation…regulation that has largely been created thanks to the greed and corruption of the mega banks. The testimony of the three economists this week however was a good start. It is nice to see that someone is hurling the stones precisely where they need to be hurled.
You never know when one just might bring the mighty behemoths down.
