Editor:

Banks provide capital for community development initiatives, work with nonprofits on financial literacy efforts and donate millions of dollars to charities. In fact, a recent survey of 43 Virginia banks showed that $13.7 million was donated to different charities in 2016 by just those banks. Additionally, $627,678 was provided by those banks to provide scholarships to students in 2016.

Since the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010 and the thousands of pages of ensuing regulations, community banks’ ability to contribute to their local communities has been hindered. Providing financial services that individuals and small businesses need to succeed has become harder and harder each year, as these new laws and regulations continue to make it more difficult for community banks like mine to do business. In turn, this affects our abilities to be able to give back to the communities it is our mission to serve. The one-size-fits-all regulation we have encountered has negative economic consequences and is burdensome, unsuitable and inefficient not only for banks but for our customers.

We appreciate the fact that Virginia Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine seem ready to work together in a bipartisan manner to address this issue, signing on as co-sponsors of S.2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act. This bill is a bipartisan piece of legislation that includes commonsense improvements in the nation’s financial rules, which will allow banks to better serve their communities and foster greater economic and job growth. It will make it easier for the banking industry to expand mortgage offerings for consumers and expand the availability of capital and other resources for increased lending.

We continue to ask Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine for their support of S.2155 by voting yes when the bill is soon considered on the Senate floor. This bill is an important first step in right-sizing the rules for America’s banks. This is an opportunity for legislators to put in place a more effective and efficient set of policies that will allow banks to do what they do best — serve their customers and help America’s economy grow.

J. Peter Clements

Chairman, president and CEO

Bank of Southside Virginia

Carson