Banking Law

ICBA CEO Camden Fine has finally admitted what many of us have suspected for some time: he's out of his mind.

Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Given that definition, to many observers ICBA?s constant calls for more reasonable and balanced field examinations for community banks might appear insane. After numerous and repeated private meetings and public testimony in Washington on this crucial issue over the past three years, community bankers continue to face an overly stringent regulatory environment even as policymakers plead with community banks to boost lending to consumers and businesses.

So what does Camden propose to do now?

You guessed it: keep calling on the regulators to listen up and lighten up.

Einstein also said that the only things that are infinite are the universe and human stupidity, and he wasn?t so sure about the universe. We need a smarter approach to bank exams if we want to keep the fragile economic recovery from reversing course. It doesn?t take an Einstein to figure that out. In a fair exam environment, community banks can give small businesses the loans they need and help America get back to work.

I don't know, Cam. Based upon my own conversations with federal bank regulators, I think that you have as much chance of them heeding your call for "fair exams" as I have of successfully driving the lane on LeBron James.

Then, again, perhaps sanity is grossly overrated.