Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce

The Charleston Chamber of Commerce has proudly served our community for over 250 years. With a membership of more than 1,600 organizations representing over 160,000 professionals, we are committed to fostering, advocating for, and empowering a thriving business environment across our region. We write in support of the new capital requirements proposal. It is no secret that small businesses make up the backbone of our state’s economy. Through this new rule put out by the Federal Reserve, FDIC, and OCC, we now have a meaningful opportunity to further strengthen their economic standing and that of our state. The new proposal take a commonsense approach at simplifying what has long been an overly complicated capital requirements framework. It aims to expand bank lending by removing unnecessary barriers and appropriately recalibrating risk measures. This will provide enormous benefits to businesses across South Carolina. More than 530,000 small businesses employ over 863,000 South Carolinians, making their success instrumental to the greater state economy. By freeing up more capital for lending, this proposal will give small businesses greater access to credit than they have seen in years. This will enable them to not only bring on new workers or purchase new equipment, but also gives them the confidence of knowing that reliable financing will be there when economic uncertainty strikes. The proposal can also help make South Carolina and American businesses more competitive at the international level. With U.S. capital requirements finally being recalibrated after years of operating at some of the world’s highest levels, American borrowers will benefit from lower credit costs and a regulatory framework more consistent with those of our peer nations. Even so, we believe that this proposal can go further. Federal regulators should consider taking a look at taking action on other capital requirements, like reducing GSIB surcharges, to bring greater economic relief to South Carolina businesses. We appreciate the work that has been done so far in support of our state’s business community. We now urge you all to take the next step in supporting businesses by further simplifying the capital requirements framework and ensuring GSIB surcharges are grounded in and compatible with the fundamental data.