My dad, who began his career in banking in the mid-70s, has claimed credit numerous times for ruining community banking. According to him, before he started as a banker, banking was easy. He always liked to say that banking during his first couple of years was “as easy as one, two, three:”(1) pay 1% on your deposits, (2) earn 2% on your loans, and (3) make your tee time by 3:00 in the afternoon. When you think about it, he may have a point. The Truth in Lending and the Fair Housing acts (i.e., fair lending), both of which were passed in 1968, were the beginning salvo in a series of consumer protection and monetary regulations over the next decade that dramatically increased compliance burdens on community banks. Continue reading >