Obama Meets With Community Bankers to Urge Lending

Submitted by Melissa Hoffmann on Wed, 12/23/2009 - 11:59

Community bankers got their first exclusive meeting last night with President Barack Obama, in which he reiterated his push for bankers to do more lending to small businesses.

Among the attendees was the NYSSCPA's own Paul P. Mello, a member of the Society's Syracuse Chapter.

Why make the request of community banks, and not financial behemoths? It may be because, as House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D., Mass.) said recently to the Wall Street Journal: "It's not the big banks that have the clout. It's the community banks and the credit unions."

Small and de novo banks have weathered the financial crisis far better than their conglomorate counterparts overall, a point noted by the CEO of Herald National Bank at the recent Banking Conference.

There are reportedly 165 banks that failed since January 2008. So far, 49 of the nation’s 7,408 community banks have reportedly stepped forward to take advantage of two capital-injection programs started by the Obama administration.

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