Community Bank Group Chief Camden Fine to Retire in 2018

Independent Community Bankers of America President and Chief Executive Camden Fine announced Tuesday that he plans to retire in May 2018.

Fine, who has long rallied Capitol Hill for small bank regulatory relief, has worked for the community bank trade association since 2003. Rebeca Romero Rainey, ICBA’s former chairwoman, will succeed him, the group’s current chairman Scott Heitkamp announced Tuesday.

The announcement of Fine’s upcoming departure came on a significant day for small banks clamoring for overhauls of Dodd-Frank regulations. It coincided with a rallying cry for such changes from House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) at ICBA’s Capital Summit conference in Washington. Hensarling is set to lead a markup Tuesday of his revised Dodd-Frank replacement legislation, the Financial CHOICE Act.

In remarks at Tuesday’s ICBA summit, Hensarling pitched his bill as a vehicle for community banking regulatory relief, echoing to President Donald Trump’s call to “do a big number” on Dodd-Frank. “House Republicans stand ready to do just that,” Hensarling said at the event. “We are going to throw you a deregulatory life preserver to save our community banks.”

The Consumer Bankers Association, another prominent banking trade group, offered praise for Fine on Tuesday.

“For nearly 15 years, Cam provided ICBA with strong, effective and passionate leadership,” the group’s president and chief executive, Richard Hunt, said in a statement Tuesday, adding that he has “developed a deep respect for Cam on both a professional and personal level.”