A community bank is a

depository institution Colloquially, a depository institution is a financial institution in the United States (such as a savings bank, commercial bank, savings and loan associations, or credit unions) that is legally allowed to accept monetary deposits from consumer ...

that is typically locally owned and operated. Community banks tend to focus on the needs of the businesses and families where the bank holds branches and offices.

Lending In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the debt ( ...

decisions are made by people who understand the local needs of families, businesses, and farmers. Employees often reside within the communities they serve. In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, community banks are not clearly defined. Most agencies base this term on aggregate

assets In financial accounting, an asset is any resource owned or controlled by a business or an economic entity. It is anything (tangible or intangible) that can be used to produce positive economic value. Assets represent value of ownership that can b ...

size with varying definitions such as less than $1 billion (

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is an independent bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury that was established by the National Currency Act of 1863 and serves to corporate charter, charter, bank regulation ...

) up to less than $10 billion (Federal Reserve Board and Government Accountability Office). Beyond size (as measured by assets), the

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a State-owned enterprises of the United States, United States government corporation supplying deposit insurance to depositors in American commercial banks and savings banks. The FDIC was cr ...

(FDIC) imposes a number of additional requirements on institutions classified as community banks. From 1985 to 2004 community banks comprised roughly 94% of all commercial banks in the United States, but the proportion of total national deposits held by Community Banks declined from about 25.89% of all U.S. deposits in 1985 to 13.55% of the U.S. deposits in 2003. The decline in community banking prevalence in the United States has drawn the attention of

economists An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

and policymakers, some of whom have argue that community banks play an important role in

macroeconomic Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. This includes regional, national, and global economies. Macroeconomists study topics such as output/ GDP ...

stability.

References

External links

FDIC Future of Community Banking Conference
(February 2012) Statistics and conference presentations.
ICBA (Independent Community Bankers of America - ICBA)

ICBA - Community Bank Locator

Switch to Community - Community Banking News and Locator
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012010243/http://www.switchtocommunity.com/ , date=2017-10-12 Banking in the United States

See also

References

External links