ICBA, ABA: One Is Not Enough

The Independent Community Bankers of America and the American Bankers Association teamed up Tuesday to oppose the consolidation of bank regulatory agencies.

In a joint letter to Senate and House banking committee leaders, Camden Fine, president and chief executive of ICBA, and Edward Yingling, the president and CEO of the ABA, said a single bank regulator "would inevitably undermine the dual banking system" and that the current system "provides a healthy check against any one regulator neglecting its duties."

The Senate Banking Committee appears to be coalescing around the idea of creating a single bank regulator but House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank opposes the move.

The trade groups also argued that if lawmakers are motivated to consolidate regulators out of concern about institutions' flipping charter types to skirt tougher regulations, then Congress should prohibit that action directly.

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