Montana News

Montana joins 9 other states to challenge federal banking law

Posted: Feb 14, 2013 7:36 PM by Jen Fenter - MTN News

Officials in Montana and seven other states have filed a motion in federal court to be added to a complaint made by Michigan, South Carolina, and Oklahoma challenging the federal Dodd-Frank Act.

The bank reform bill was passed by Congress in 2010 following the recession, and Montana Attorney General Tim Fox says it puts Montana at a disadvantage: "There were some problems in the financial world, particularly in Wall Street. And unfortunately, I think big government and big companies have kind of married in an unholy union here in a way that saves the big companies, the big banks, but leaves the small community banks out of the picture."

Fox says that despite not causing the crisis, Montana and its banks are paying the price.

Some Montana financial institutions are fighting to keep up with the changing regulations due to limited manpower.

Steve King, the president and CEO of Montana Federal Credit Union, says keeping up with compliance laws imposed by the Dodd-Frank act makes the job more difficult for smaller banks: "It just keeps stacking on top of each other. So even when you get one done, sometimes they'll say, 'We've changed our mind, so we're going to change the rules so you have to go back and regroup' sometimes."