Getting the ‘Right People on the Bus’ Means Throwing Big Banks Off
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In his December 20, 2011, American Banker editorial, “Community Banks Should Ask for a Divorce,” Robert H. Smith summarizes the growing frustrations of community bankers today in this way:
"Unfortunately the community banks of this country are thrown under the bus by just being a bank. They have been unable to disassociate themselves from extra costs and lost credibility resulting from the scarred reputation of the bigger banks. Today the community banks are subject to the same increased regulatory burden, increasing capital and general public disdain as the larger bank. It’s time for community banks to disassociate themselves from the big banks in the eyes of the public, the legislatures and the regulatory community. They must seek regulation under a different set of expectations, consistent with their size, capabilities and ability to compete consistent with community opportunities."
Smith, a former Chairman and CEO of Security Pacific Corp., now founder and director of a community bank in Newport Beach, California, “gets it.” Having made a living in a “too big to fail” bank and now having to survive and compete with Security Pacific’s acquiring institution, Bank of America, Smith conveys the mounting uncertainty of the future of community banks in a post Dodd-Frank era... read more.