Here. Excerpt from the Issue Brief:
Although opponents of financial reform often claim that it has harmed community banks, a closer and more comprehensive review of the economic evidence shows that community banks remain healthy. Critics typically point to declining numbers of community banks as evidence that new regulatory requirements are too restrictive. In reality, due to bank branching patterns, the number of institutions does not provide a comprehensive picture of the health of community banks, and other indicators like lending growth and geographic reach show that community banks remain quite strong. Many community banks—particularly those with assets between $100M and $10B—have continued to grow steadily, as evident by their substantial lending growth, increasing market share in agricultural and mortgage lending, and expansion into new counties. With these trends, access to community banks and the important services that they provide has remained robust across many communities. At the same time, longer-term trends in the banking industry over the past several decades—including bank branching deregulation, merger activity, and other factors—often have created long-term challenges for community banks, particularly for the smallest ones. Macroeconomic conditions in recent years have also contributed to the lower rate of new entry by small banks.
UPDATE: The American Bankers Association disagrees.
