As mayors from across the country wrap up their winter meeting of the US Conference of Mayors, it's hard to ignore the bipartisan concerns over the harm Basel III Endgame will cause local communities. A few examples:

• Stifling community investment and economic growth: "Municipalities in the municipal bond market issue bonds to provide funding for infrastructure, school systems, public safety, hospitals, the climate transformation, and the basic needs of every community in America… Institutions subject to Basel III will therefore be disincentivized from trading or holding these bonds. This will drive up borrowing costs for municipalities ultimately raising costs or shrinking project scope for communities all over the country."(American Securities Association)
• Making homeownership more inaccessible: "Low- and moderate-income families face immense challenges in finding safe and affordable places to live. Any increase in capital requirements for banks, especially one as significant as the one being considered, would inevitably lead to a reduction in the availability of mortgage loans." (City of Brooklyn Park, MN, Mayor Hollies Winston)
• Restricting rural communities access credit: "Montana farmers and ranchers will pay higher costs for credit. Access to affordable credit is vital for farmers and ranchers. Many use loans to buy seed, cover operational expenses, purchase equipment, and acquire land…Beyond higher credit costs, there's another issue with the Federal Reserve's proposal. This issue gets deep into the weeds of how some agriculture producers hedge their risks by trading futures in the commodities markets. The practice can help a wheat farmer or cattle rancher create some certainty in an industry where nothing else is certain." (City of Helena, MT, Former Mayor Jim Smith)
• Slowing small business lending: "The small businesses that drive the U.S. economy and local economies throughout our nation are being hung out to dry as regulators ignore the underlying causes of recent bank failures. Lawmakers cannot stand by and allow these harmful policies to get rammed through to completion. The costs and pain will burden millions of Americans, whereas only the few banks and executives who failed their depositors and investors should be paying the price." (President and CEO of Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, Karen Kerrigan)
• Slow investments in minority depository institutions and community development financial institutions: "A proposal as broad as Basel III could have a myriad of sweeping, unintended consequences, potentially discouraging large banks’ investments in minority depository institutions (MDIs) and community development financial institutions (CDFIs). Given the vast effects of the proposal, we believe it is important that prudential regulations remain consistent with our goals of expanding the reach of MDIs and thereby better serve underserved communities." (The National Bankers Association)

Stakeholders from across the country have spoken: regulators must go back to the drawing board on Basel III Endgame.