Cape
Savings Bank
From: Kathryn M. Steiger [mailto:steiger@capesb.com]
Sent: Friday, September 17, 2004 11:58 AM
To: Comments
Subject: Community Reinvestment: RIN number 3064-AC50
Kathryn M. Steiger
VP/Residential Lending/CRA Officer
Cape Savings Bank
225 N Main Street
Cape May Court House, NJ 08210
September 17, 2004
Robert E. Feldman
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
550 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20429
Dear Robert Feldman:
As a community banker, I am pleased to comment in support of the
proposal
issued by the FDIC that would amend the definition of a small institution
to be a bank that is under $1 billion in assets. I believe that this
change will provide much needed regulatory burden relief for me and
other
community bankers. It seems that every week there is a new or additional
regulation with which we must comply. This is one example of regulatory
burden relief that will really make a difference. I would much rather
use
the limited resources available to my bank to serve my community
than to
collect and maintain data and documents to prove to examiners that
I am
meeting the needs of my community.
Cape Savings Bank is a very strong community mutual savings bank
with
assets, as of 8/31/04, of $523,013,635. Cape Savings Bank serves
the
communities located in the Cape May and Atlantic counties in the
State of
New Jersey. Over the past several years, Cape Savings Bank has been
providing monetary support to those communities by dedicating a percentage
of income towards community donations. Our commitment is further
reinforced, via our full time employee base of approximately 130,
who have
contributed over 1,112 hours in volunteer hours in 2003 and, year-to-date,
approximately 630 volunteer hours for 2004.
Compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act is something we take
very
seriously at our bank. We don’t just believe it is the right
thing to do;
we believe it is the right business thing to do.
No community bank can survive and compete without meeting the needs
of its
customers and communities. We believe in our community and in our
customers and want to work with them to provide products and services
that
best meet their credit needs. We do not need a complicated examination
process to show that we are complying with the law.
It is absurd to think that a bank thousands of times larger than
my own
community bank should be examined using the same procedures. I strongly
urge you to amend the definition of a small bank for CRA purposes
to be an
institution with less than $1 billion in assets, regardless of whether
the
bank is part of a holding company. This is a good proposal and is
the
right thing to do.
Thank you for considering my views.
Sincerely,
Kathryn M. Steiger
609-465-5600 x 311
VP/Residential Lending/CRA Officer
Cape Savings Bank
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