HomeTown Highlights

Summer was my favorite time of year while growing up on the Gulf Coast of Texas. School was out and we actually had three full months of vacation. Organized baseball was always a major focus but being barefoot and playing with friends until Mom called me home was as good as it gets. My summers take on a different meaning now that I am an adult with married children and three grandsons. Family is a major focus and baseball is viewed from the bleachers or my TV set. My barefoot days are over but I compensate by dressing a little more casually at work. My mind wants to drift back to those relaxing days of my youth, but this year’s major news events are stealing my fun.

The oil spill in the Gulf is at the top of the newsreel, followed by the congressional action on financial reform. I can’t do much about the oil spill that is taking place off the coast of Louisiana and wreaking havoc in the Gulf waters, but as Chairman of the Independent Bankers Association of Texas, I have been actively engaged in the actions of Congress as they debate the new regulations that will shape the future of community banking. There was never a doubt that the financial regulatory landscape would see major changes after the meltdown in September of 2008, but the question was how would community banks be treated? Would we be thrown under the bus with the big banks that caused the problems, or would we be treated as the good guys who kept loaning money to credit worthy borrowers?

As of this writing our community banking industry representatives have made tremendous progress. Based on a new FDIC assessment formula we should get back a large part of the excess premium we paid in 2009. Our state and national industry leaders have also managed to get through amendments that will exempt us from new regulations that are intended to reign in the risky activities of the big boys.

The community banking industry has not endorsed the current bill because there are three or four provisions that leave us under the bus. We continue to fight for fair treatment in areas such as the regulation of interchange fees on debit cards, the authority of the new consumer protection agency, and the classification of trust preferred stock held by many of our community bank brethren. In baseball terms we have hit a single and a double, but we need a triple and home run to hit for the cycle.

All of this is important to you because as a HomeTown Bank customer you enjoy the advantages of a healthy community bank: A personal relationship with local bankers and decision-makers with a stake in the future of the community we serve. I certainly do not mean to diminish the importance of the tragic oil spill and the terrible environmental damage it has caused. Hopefully the leak can be plugged, those directly affected can be compensated, and the oil will not reach the Texas Gulf Coast. I also hope that when the financial regulatory bill is signed by the President, we will be driving the bus, not under it. But until then, oh I how long for those lazy days of summer!

Jimmy Rasmussen,
President and CEO