We are all very aware of the impact of Dodd-Frank has had on the banking industry as a whole; but a paper by George Mason University’s Mercatus Center suggests that Dodd-Frank has significantly affected small banks and their customers. A large majority of the small bank respondents viewed Dodd-Frank as more burdensome than the Bank Secrecy Act, and reported a substantial increase in compliance costs associated with new regulations. These costs include hiring new compliance personnel, increased reliance on outside compliance experts, additional resources allocated to compliance, and more time spent on compliance issues by employees not typically involved in compliance. The additional regulatory burden has led small banks to reconsider the products and services they offer, including residential mortgages and overdraft protection. In addition, the authors believe small bank customers will find it difficult to locate convenient alternatives.
Published
2014/03/26