ABA yesterday urged the Farm Credit Administration to withdraw a proposed change to the governance structure of Farmer Mac that could negatively alter the relationship between Farmer Mac and its lender-shareholders.
Farm Credit System lenders are not just lending to large, investor-owned utilities – they’re bragging about it.
It takes banks of all sizes to meet the needs of America’s agricultural producers, newly appointed ABA SVP Steve Apodaca said in a front-page interview with American Banker today.
The full House yesterday passed a spending bill that includes a provision granting an exemption from derivatives clearing requirements for small bank holding companies.
CoBank, the Farm Credit System’s sole authorized lender to utility and agricultural cooperatives, has ranged further afield in lending to investor-owned utilities and energy companies, and taking on more credit risk in doing so.
The House Agriculture Committee yesterday passed a reauthorization bill for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. ABA successfully advocated for the inclusion of an amendment that would provide an exemption for derivatives clearing for small bank holding companies.
Steve Apodaca today joined ABA as SVP and head of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Banking.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) on Friday wrote to the Government Accountability Office to request an audit and study of the Farm Credit System’s impact “on taxpayers, the agriculture community and the private banking industry.”
Curt Everson explains how South Dakota’s bankers are changing the conversation on the Farm Credit System’s unfair advantages.
ReformFarmCredit.org today posted a new infographic, “Betting the Farm,” that illustrates how the Farm Credit System has lost its way, providing credit for big non-farm businesses at the expense of small farmers and American taxpayers.