U.S. Senator Ask Feds To Assist Community Banks

U.S. Senator Mark Warner, D-Va., and 52 Senators submitted a letter to the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke et al., requesting that federal banking officials consider community banks' ability to lend money when they consider proposed standards that could require banks to hold more capital. According to the Senators, the complex new rules in an international agreement on bank capital standard (i.e. Basel III) would add little value to community banks since community banks have little access to capital markets, and the proposed rules are so complex and expensive they could diminish lending in their communities and threaten economic recovery. The Senators supported efforts under Basel III to require large financial institutions to hold higher percentages of basic capital, based on the riskiness of assets they hold.

View letter in full here (links externally to PDF).