A proposal by the Obama Administration is aiming to recoup money from the Federal bailout of banks by levying fees on financial institutions. David Greving, Vice President of Marion County Bank in Pella, says the proposal appears to be a political move to ease public anger at Wall Street bank executives that will again be receiving large bonuses soon.

“It does seem to be a little bit of a political move to vilify the bankers,” says Greving. “I know that there’s people – and rightfully so – that are upset about some of the bonuses that are being taken on the Wall Street level, and they’re wanting to maybe get at that because that just doesn’t seem right. The fact is, of the TARP [Troubled Asset Relief Program] money, nearly all of it is going to be – or has been – repaid.”

Stu Job, President of Iowa State Savings Bank in Knoxville, says even if the proposal were to go through, he thinks it’s unlikely the impact would be felt locally.

“All the material I’ve read seems to indicate that it’s going to be only the largest banks – ones that make up the twenty or thirty largest banks in the country,” says Job. “So as far as the impact in the community – or even the state in general – it’ll probably limited to nothing or a very small affect.”

Both Greving and Job add if additional fees were to be placed on Wall Street banks, that it would mean a reduction in profits, which is typically recovered by charging bank customers for services and transactions.

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