WASHINGTON – Cape Cod Five President and CEO Dorothy Savarese was among representatives of small community banks who met with President Donald Trump Thursday morning.
Savarese is also the chair of the American Banking Association.
The meeting included the bankers, Trump, members of the president’s National Economic Council and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
“He wanted to understand how to help tailor the regulatory framework so that it did not have a disproportionate impact on smaller institutions like Cape Cod Five,” said Savarese.
Trump highlighted his executive order of last month scaling back some banking regulations.
He said it will help enable the small banks to make loans to small businesses and “be able to provide the jobs that we want.”
Savarese said they all had a “good exhange” of ideas during the White House meeting.
“There are some regulations that are very well-intentioned and good for larger institutions, but the way they’re written doesn’t allow the kind of flexibility smaller institutions need,” Savarese said.
She said Trump appeared to be open to the concept of “tailored regulations.”
The unique, seasonal economy of Cape Cod can create extra challenges for community banks when trying to lend money to small businesses, according to Savarese.
“With small business owners, we have to use a lot of judgement about our lending, and those regulations are very hard to fit to help us support making a loan for a small business owner to buy a home.”
Savarese said Trump instructed his staff to look further into the issue and work on creating some common sense modifications.
She called Trump personable and focused on the importance of community banks, and addressed everyone in the room personally.
The American Banking Association, which Savarese leads, is the voice of the nation’s $16 trillion banking industry, which is composed of small, regional and large banks that employ more than two million people and extend more than $8 trillion in loans.
Savarese was elected chair of the group last October.
She planned on conducting additional media interviews in Washington before heading back to Cape Cod later this week.