Pub. 14 2017 Issue 1

O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S - H E L P I N G N E W M E X I C O R E A L I Z E D R E A M S Issue 1 • 2017 13 Consider loan growth. Loans are growing, but at half the pace they did years before the financial crisis. Community banks power the economy in part by providing nearly half of loans less than $1 million that go to small businesses, which in turn account for more than half of net new job creation. Is it any accident that both GDP growth and the business startup rate are running well below historical levels, especially at this point in an economic recovery? And mortgages remain tightly bound by a web of Dodd- Frank rules. According to a recent ABA survey, just 9 percent of single-family mortgage loans made in 2016 were made out- side of the “qualified mortgage” box, which means a one-size- fits-all arbitrary regulatory standard is keeping too many cred- itworthy families out of homes they can readily afford. For those who look at bank income statements and think that only cosmetic regulatory changes are needed, the bank- ers gathered in Washington this week have a simple mes- sage: Imagine what we could do without such a burden. Imagine the new businesses started, new jobs created and new homes built. Give America’s banks some reasonable room to maneuver — in a safe and sound manner — and we’ll drive the econo- my forward.  Consider loan growth. Loans are growing, but at half the pace they did years before the financial crisis. Community banks power the economy in part by providing nearly half of loans less than $1 million that go to small businesses, which in turn account for more than half of net new job creation. DANI GORDEN Advertising Sales 8 01 . 676 . 9722 dani@thenewslinkgroup.com WORDS.