Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas Hoenig discusses the viability of community banks.
Testimony of Thomas Hoenig before the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Aug. 23, 2010

Cities, States Tell Big Banks They’ll Go Elsewhere
Wall Street Journal, March 17

State lawmakers in Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota and New Mexico have introduced legislation that would funnel more money into small financial institutions, which generally have avoided the brunt of criticism over the industry’s reluctance to lend.

In a speech titled, “Are Community Banks Important?”
KC Fed President Thomas Hoenig discusses the importance of community banks to the nation’s financial system.
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, March 18

A Banking Battleground
New York Times, March 7

Despite the power of big banks, small institutions still dominate huge swaths of the country and hold nearly half of bank deposits overall.

Smaller Banks Don’t Need $30 Billion From U.S.
New York Times, Feb 1

President Obama’s speeches suggest he doesn’t dislike all banks, just the big ones. Even though he used much of his State of the Union address last week to bash Wall Street and the money business, he threw a bone to the community banking sector. He pledged to divert $30 billion of money repaid from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to smaller banks to help them make loans to small businesses.