AMOA leadership and their legislative counsel DGA Group met with 14 different Congressional offices on Thursday, Feb. 12, in Washington, D.C., with a focus on meeting with Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services representatives.
Three AMOA presidents – Tim Zahn (past president), Brian Brotsch (current president) and Tommy Hendley (upcoming president) – and the association’s Executive Vice President Lori Schneider led the charge.
They reported that AMOA’s “active and ongoing advocacy efforts have helped the association build some legislative champions in D.C.”
As a result of an executive order last August, “debanking” has garnered much attention from Congress, although mainly around cryptocurrency. Still, they said that more than 25% of AMOA members in the last 10 years have been debanked, and “reputational risk” was cited as the reason. The “Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans” executive order directed federal regulators to eliminate such guidelines and instead rely on objective, risk-based analysis.
Discussions on this most recent D.C. trip included legislation currently being drafted and considered as well as potential updates to regulatory guidance. In addition to debanking, AMOA expressed “strong concerns on the rising cost of health care to small business.” They say, “double-digit increases annually to employers is not sustainable.”
AMOA also encourages members to continue contacting them about bank account closures, especially by regional and community banks or credit unions.