ABA President and CEO Frank Keating offered perspective on a wide range of issues — from banking regulation, interest rate increases and the low labor force participation rate to the Meerkat app and presidential politics — in interviews with New York City media outlets yesterday.
He made the case for regulatory relief by noting the impact of overregulation on the smallest banks. “If a restaurant paid 5 to 20 percent of their net operating income to the New York City health department to make sure that they don’t poison people, the steaks and fish wouldn’t be very good,” Keating told The Street.com. “That’s what these small banks are paying for compliance. That’s just out of control.”
“The cost, burden and threat of being sued for disparate impact violations … is not healthy for small banks,” he added. “And if the small bank closes in the community, the community in ‘fly over country’ blows away.” Keating also appeared on WSJ Live and he co-hosted “Bloomberg Surveillance.”