ABA Banking Journal
Luanne Cundiff (seated at right) speaks with President Trump at an Oval Office event today. (C-SPAN)
A Missouri community bank CEO represented the American Bankers Association and the banking industry today at a White House event highlighting the Trump administration’s regulatory reform agenda. Luanne Cundiff — president and CEO of First State Bank of St. Charles and vice chairman of ABA’s Community Bankers Council — was one of six community business leaders and the only banker to join the meeting with President Trump and members of his cabinet.
“We have new heads of many regulatory agencies in place now, and they have been boots on the ground trying to listen to concerns from community bankers,” Cundiff told Trump during a press event in the Oval Office following the meeting. She added that “we have so much more to do. We have lots of ideas on how to modernize some existing regulations that are on the books.”
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Acting Director Mick Mulvaney was also present and added that “everyone here needs their community banks to be strong. When our banking industry is strong, everyone else here does better.” Other attendees at the event included a farmer, a trucker, a coal miner, a machinist and an Indian tribe councilor active in the energy industry.
The White House released figures yesterday highlighting the administration’s regulatory reform actions. According to the White House, Trump’s regulatory efforts saved U.S. families and business owners $23 billion in fiscal year 2018. The administration also issued 176 “deregulatory actions” in the past year, or 12 for every new one issued, according to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.