Obama Tells Community Bankers to Help ‘Businesses to Start Growing Again’
President Obama today met with the CEOs of 12 community banks, much as he did last week with the heads of the nation’s largest financial institutions. His message, apparently, was similar: make loans.
Here is a rundown on the meeting from Deb White, a reporter at the Detroit News, who was at the White House:
He said he had the same conversation he had last week with heads of larger banks and that he has been having with CEOs across the country about “how do we continue to consolidate the gains we’ve made” in terms of economic recovery “but most importantly how do we move forward over the next year so that businesses are getting the capital they need and that we are starting to see people hired again and people able to finance their homes” and so forth.
Community banks are vital to this, POTUS said.
POTUS said he went around the room and listened to bankers. General themes: Businesses are out there looking for loans, and the key is to match them up with banks in a position to lend.
POTUS is looking for ways to cut red tape to help lending. Wants to get the balance right on regulation. It needs to be more streamlined and efficient.
POTUS said he emphasized to them that community banks have a responsibility to their customers.
The main message: “There remain enormous opportunities as we come out of this recession for businesses to start growing again and to start hiring again.”
