Bill Posey: “As an elected Representative from one of the states hardest hit by the financial crisis, I strongly support H.R. 2056…”

“As an elected Representative from one of the states hardest hit by the financial crisis, I strongly support H.R. 2056, introduced by my colleague, Representative Lynn Westmoreland, which takes a closer look at how our Nation's small community banks are failing at the hands of overzealous regulators. H.R. 2056 directs the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Government Accountability Office to study whether certain practices and procedures employed by federal regulators while examining financial institutions has played a role in a record number of community banks failing in recent years. Among these are important issues relating to loss-sharing agreements and examiners' policies relating to appraisals. Among other things, the FDIC must determine whether financial institutions are being placed into receivership or conservatorship due to significant losses arising from loans for which all payments were made on time and the contractual terms of the loans have been met. With Congressman Westmoreland, I believe that a performing loan is exactly that--one that is performing according to the terms of the contract. A regulator should not be able to step in and interject an opinion on why the loan may not perform at some point in the future, and thus penalize a community bank. The introduction and passage of this bill indicates that there is a real world problem here, one that deserves swift diagnosis and treatment.…”