Last week, French Hill, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, introduced the Main Street Capital Access Act (H.R 6955), a comprehensive legislative package developed alongside Financial Institutions Subcommittee Chairman Andy Barr, to address regulatory burden and improve access to capital for community banks.
The package reflects months of discussion around restoring risk-based regulatory tailoring and re-centering supervision on material safety-and-soundness issues. Key provisions would prohibit the use of reputational risk in examinations, narrow subjective “management” ratings, standardize stress testing, index regulatory thresholds to economic growth and improve the Community Bank Leverage Ratio framework. The legislation also includes provisions to encourage new bank formation, responsible mergers and greater use of reciprocal and custodial deposits to support local lending.
IBAT President and CEO Christopher Williston welcomed the introduction of the package, noting its alignment with long-standing community bank priorities:
“On behalf of IBAT’s membership, we express our support for the Main Street Capital Access Act, introduced by that Chairman Hill and Representative Barr. The House Financial Services Committee’s commitment to fostering an environment for community banks to thrive in Texas and across the nation is greatly appreciated and will undoubtedly benefit the communities we serve.”
While deposit insurance reform is not a central feature of the legislation, IBAT continues to engage with congressional leaders as those discussions evolve. Williston emphasized the importance of a measured, comprehensive approach should deposit insurance proposals advance later this Congress:
“As policymakers consider next steps on deposit insurance reform, we encourage the Committee to consider IBAT’s policy recommendations. IBAT supports a common-sense approach that will best serve community banks, their customers and the local economies that depend on them.”
IBAT will continue working closely with Texas delegation members, Committee leadership and regulators as the legislative process moves forward and remains available to discuss questions or concerns related to the package.
