Community Banks Face a Regulatory Cliff

[Geee]

American Spectator:

As if the "fiscal cliff" and the prospect of looming tax hikes were not enough, banks of all sizes -- and in turn consumers and businesses who rely on their credit -- also face the "Basel cliff."

The term doesn't refer to a mountain in Switzerland, the beautiful country which surrounds the city of Basel. Rather, it refers to meetings in Basel and elsewhere by international banking bureaucrats to develop the Basel III agreement for harmonizing international capital requirements. If implemented as planned, it will dramatically increase the cost of mortgages and small business loans while, according to many experts, actually making the banking system less stable.

The Basel Cliff is part of what Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and others have called the "regulatory cliff." In the year leading up to the election, the Obama administration put hundreds of regulations on hold.