WASHINGTON— The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) is praising the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s newly updated proposal to implement Section 1071 small-business reporting requirements, saying the revisions show progress toward easing compliance burdens that have weighed heavily on community lenders of all sizes.
“ICBA and the nation’s community bankers commend the administration for making needed improvements to the CFPB’s 1071 rule to help mitigate the negative impact of the intrusive and overly burdensome data collection and reporting requirements for small-business loans,” said ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey.
The updated CFPB proposal would exempt financial institutions that originate fewer than 1,000 covered small-business loans per year and broaden the definition of small business to include those with gross annual revenues of $1 million or less. Romero Rainey noted that both revisions reflect ICBA’s long-standing recommendations to reduce compliance pressure on smaller lenders.
Still, she said, the trade group continues to advocate for a full exemption for all community banks under $10 billion in assets, arguing that even the improved framework would still require local institutions to collect sensitive data from small-business customers and could constrain their ability to serve local entrepreneurs.
“While ICBA reviews today’s proposal, we continue our calls for Congress to advance legislation to address the underlying statute,” Romero Rainey added.
She cited several pending bills backed by ICBA: the 1071 Repeal to Protect Small Business Lending Act (H.R. 976/S. 557), introduced by House Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams (R-Texas) and Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), which would repeal Section 1071 entirely; as well as the Small LENDER Act (H.R. 941) from House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-Ark.) and the PROTECTED Act (S. 2352) from Sens. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and John Boozman (R-Ark.), both of which aim to mitigate the rule’s adverse effects.
Romero Rainey said ICBA will continue working with policymakers “to advance needed reforms to 1071 requirements to support community banks and the small businesses and local consumers they serve,” aligning the effort with the association’s broader “Repair, Reform, and Thrive” plan and its open letter to the 119th Congress.