Municipal Deposit Legislation

This week, CBA’s priority bill, SB 157, was passed by the House by a unanimous vote of 168-0!  CBA has secured unanimous support vote for the bill throughout the entire legislative process—Senate Banking & Financial Institutions Committee, the full Senate, House Banks & Banking Committee and the full House.  All of Georgia’s legislators showed their understanding of the importance of providing an option for community banks to fairly compete with large, mostly out of state bank deposit gathering stores for local municipal deposits.  Now, the bill will go to Governor Kemp for signature.  We greatly appreciate Sen. John Kennedy (R), Macon and Rep. Dale Washburn (R), Macon, guiding the bill through this legislative process.      We are thankful for our partnerships with National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA), and the Association of County Commissioners (ACCG) in making this bill a possibility. 

Currently, Georgia’s community banks have nearly $4 billion of municipal deposits on their balance sheets.  By eliminating the pledging requirements by using a deposit placement service, the impact on liquidity will be substantial.  Moreover, community banks now have a level playing field to compete with large, out-of-state deposit gathering institutions for all municipal deposits.  CBA estimates that the total municipal deposit marketplace is $22 billion.  With an average loan to deposit ratio of 75%, Georgia’s community banks will be able to dramatically increase lending in their local markets thereby helping small businesses start and grow, funding homeownership as well as a variety of agriculture and consumer loans.  SB 157 will change people’s lives and all of us at CBA are proud, honored and humbled to have had the opportunity to impact the Georgia’s community banking industry in this most positive manner!

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