Community banks need to get engaged on the regulators’ capital framework overhaul, outgoing ABA Chair Dan Robb told ABA’s Annual Convention in Nashville this morning. “I think it’s critical that every banker in this room pay attention to this capital proposal that we’ve just heard about,” Robb said, speaking shortly after Federal Reserve Vice Chairman for Supervision Michael Barr spoke to the Convention. “Policymakers say it’s only for our largest banks—that it won’t affect community banks. Well, they said that about the CFPB, too, and look how history turned out.”
Robb, who is president and CEO of $130 million-asset Jonesburg State Bank in Jonesburg, Missouri, added that “as a rural community banker, I am very concerned. We should all have our eyes open. As bankers, we need to fight dangerous policies, no matter which cohort of our industry is being targeted.”
Robb also discussed ABA’s commitment to helping banks innovate and urged bankers to get more deeply involved in advocacy. At the conclusion of Robb’s remarks, ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols thanked him and his wife, Dianna Robb, for their service to ABA. “Over the past two years, Dan and Dianna have taken on nearly 30 speaking engagements on behalf of ABA, and everywhere they go, they make new friends, represent our organization magnificently and share a positive, optimistic message,” Nichols said.
