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WASHINGTON, D.C. — America’s Community Bankers said today it opposes a proposal implementing Community Reinvestment Act sunshine requirements and urged federal banking regulators to issue a new proposal based on comments received. ACB said the proposal fails to satisfy the intent of Congress in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which requires reporting and disclosure of certain CRA-related agreements.

Even a slightly modified version of the original proposal "will be detrimental to average community bankers and their local partners who have worked diligently to foster strong working relationships to better their communities," ACB said in its comment letter. "Ultimately, it is in the best interests of insured institutions and their communities to develop a workable solution."

ACB said the proposal is "overly broad" and would impose a significant paperwork and regulatory burden on banks that would not be outweighed by any possible benefits. "Resources will be spent complying with the disclosure and reporting of CRA-related agreements and not serving the community," ACB added.

ACB said fewer creative or innovative partnerships will be formed because of competitive and privacy concerns, and business arrangements beneficial to the community may be disrupted because of an unwillingness to disclose contracts.

A copy of the comment letter is linked.