“Dodd-Frank is a failure that is crippling small lenders under the weight of its regulations,” said Small Business Committee Chairman Steve Chabot (R-OH). “Today’s hearing was a critical step in the fight to improve access to capital for small businesses, by reducing the burden this Administration has placed on Main Street.”

“Small financial institutions – our community banks and credit unions – are traditionally the individuals who lend to small firms,” said Subcommittee Chairman Tom Rice (R-SC). “The burdens created by Dodd-Frank are causing many small financial institutions to merge with larger entities or shut their doors completely, resulting in far fewer options where already there were not many options to choose from.”

Dodd-Frank required nearly 400 new rules, and as of July 15, 2015, 247 rules have been implemented and 60 proposed. Statistically, this means that approximately 21 percent of the rules from Dodd-Frank are still outstanding.  Dodd-Frank is estimated to have created $24 billion in compliance costs and 61 million paperwork burden hours.

NOTABLE QUOTES:  

“The exponential growth of regulation in recent years is suffocating community banks’ ability to serve their small business customers. Compliance has become a major distraction for community bank managers. Any community banker will tell you that their job has fundamentally shifted from lending and serving customers to struggling to stay on top of ever-changing rules and guidance.”

-Mr. Doyle Mitchell, Jr., Industrial Bank, Washington, DC, testifying on behalf of the Independent Community Bankers of America

“Dodd-Frank shrinks credit access because of its sheer scope; it stands to increase financial regulatory restrictions by 32 percent…The current lack of new bank formation inherently hampers credit access…large-scale regulatory accumulation within the banking sector has simultaneously occurred with rapid consolidation…This regulatory accumulation is intuitively more costly for smaller institutions.”

-Mr. Marshall Lux, Cambridge, MA, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

“Lawmakers and regulators readily agree that credit unions did not participate in the reckless activities that led to the financial crisis, so they shouldn’t be caught in the crosshairs of regulations aimed at those entities that did. Unfortunately, that has not been the case thus far. Accordingly, finding ways to cut-down on burdensome and unnecessary regulatory compliance costs is a chief priority of NAFCU members.”

-Mr. Scott Eagerton, Dixies Federal Credit Union, Darlington, SC, testifying on behalf of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions

The full hearing can be viewed HERE.

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