Too big to fail? Some banks are too small to survive

Washington

IF SOME American banks are too big to fail, others have begun to feel they're too small to succeed.

Just ask Joey Root, the president of First Liberty Bank in Oklahoma City with US$310 million in assets. Mr Root says small banks like his are being squeezed hard these days, even as the likes of JPMorgan Chase & Co prosper. Small borrowers are losing out to big ones, too.

Community lenders like Mr Root didn't have much to do with the build-up of risks that triggered the 2008 crisis. And when the rules were tightened in response, as they had to be, there's a case to be made that they took a disproportionate hit.

That argument makes a convenient stalking horse for the largest banks, now that the fight over regulation is back on. So it's viewed with great suspicion by Democrats. President Donald Trump announced his intention to do a "big number" on the Dodd-Frank Act, the most sweeping financial refo…