Written By: Valerie Anderson-Boudaka, ICBA National Director, Farmers State Bank of Canton

As bankers, we are used to government overreach. I often wonder what the bankers in generations before me would have thought about the newest hot topic in banking- climate control. I think we can all agree, this is getting out of hand. The ICBA is heavily opposing “Operation Chokepoint”- an attempt to discourage banks from doing businesses with legal carbon-intensive businesses. The Security and Exchange Commission has proposed a rule that would require publicly held banks to disclose extensive climate related information in their filings. Luckily, this does not affect community banks, but we can all see where this regulation is going. Carbon-intensive businesses are not just your petroleum refineries and factories, but food production well- also known as farming.

The ICBA is in front of Operation Chokepoint for us. They understand that we community bankers have decades of experience in managing concentration risks and natural disasters. The ICBA will oppose any climate risk regulation that adversely impacts community banks and their ability to support their communities and customers. As South Dakotans, we are lucky to have representation in Washington D.C. that is responsive to their constituents and is pro-community banking. Please, reach out to Representative Dusty Johnson, Senator John Thune, and Senator Mike Rounds to tell them how our communities and customers will suffer from any regulation that limits how we serve our customers, especially our farm customers. Agriculture is the backbone of this state. For more information on this, please visit www.icba.org/advocacy where you will find more resources to ensure we can keep banking our customers and our communities.