CONNECTIONS POWERING POTENTIAL and riskier institutions. Months of aggressive advocacy from ICBA staff and community bankers paid off. The FDIC's special assessment to replenish the Deposit Insurance Fund exempted community banks with less than $5 billion in uninsured deposits, resulting in no special assessments for any community bank with less than $5 billion in assets. With many talking heads citing SVB and Signature examples of failing " small banks, " the exemption was a key element in ICBA successfully differentiating community banks from their larger counterparts. ICBA advocacy sparks membership momentum ICBA's success in achieving a community bank exemption from the FDIC's special assessment leads to expanded membership. By William Atkinson ast year's ICBA efforts to differentiate the community banking business model in the wake of the failures at larger banks led directly to the FDIC's special assessment exemption for the vast majority of community banks. With ICBA widely credited for this success in policy circles and among community bankers, the L association has experienced a boom in new memberships. Successful advocacy efforts Following the failures last year of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank of New York, ICBA was clear in its advocacy outlook: No community bank should have to pay for the mistakes of these larger 82 // ICBA Independent Banker // August 2024 In November 2023, ICBA president and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey issued the following statement on the FDIC's final rule: " The FDIC's exemption for the vast majority of community banks recognizes the importance of distinguishing large banks that pose systemic risk to the financial system from the thousands of community banks that serve consumers and small businesses. " Of course, the success also resulted in meaningful savings for ICBA members that can be put back into serving local customers and communities, and ICBA was more than ready to share the good news with its members. Sharing success with members In addition to keeping community bankers up to speed about the special assessment developments through ICBA's NewsWatch Today daily newsletter and messages from Romero Rainey, the organization sought to clearly communicate the importance of the exemption in a direct marketing campaign. " We focused our messaging on our successful efforts to protect community banks from the Deposit Insurance Fund's special assessment Photo: peterschreiber.media/Adobe Stock