Federal Regulations Hurting Georgia and Local Banks

From Haisten Willis' article in The Douglas County Sentinel:

Economist John Berlau, Senior Fellow for Finance and Access to Capital at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and author of the study, echoed Hills’ sentiments.

"Without healthy banks with money to lend, it will be much harder for local entrepreneurs to find the funding they need to grow their business. Georgia’s banks were already weakened by the recent, harsh recession. New regulations coming out of Washington, like the Durbin Amendment, are making it even harder for the banks to recover and do their part to kick-start the state’s economy," he said.

The study notes that the Durbin Amendment by itself will cost banks $8 billion in reduced revenue from lower swipe fees, on top of $7 billion in direct compliance costs from the rest of the Dodd-Frank Act. "And contrary to claims of proponents of these price controls, it does not look like much of this retailer windfall has been passed on to consumers," it adds.