WASHINGTON—More than 1,000 community bankers are in Washington this week for their own Hike the Hill effort to lobby Congress.
While credit unions remain a favorite target, the Independent Community Bankers of America are putting much of their energy toward a common issue with CUs, reducing the regulatory burden and helping Main Street America. In fact, the ICBA members blame much of the new regulatory load on the much larger brethren on Wall Street. Among the tweets sent by bankers at the meeting were these: “Death by Association. Main St. pays significant regulatory price 4 sins of Wall Street, “Smart reg relief 2 help Main Street,” and “Heading to the Hill today 2 fight 4 stronger communities.” Text accompanying a tweeted picture of ICBA CEO Cam Fine read, “Cam Fine leading the way to tiered and proportionate regulation for community banks.”