Today’s event brings together representatives from banks and other private lenders, community development financial institutions, bank supervisors, other federal and local government agencies, and small business trade groups. Each of you brings an important perspective to this issue, and I would like to thank all of the participants for their willingness to share their ideas.
Over the past two years, a concerted effort by the Federal Reserve and other policymakers has helped to stabilize our financial system and our economy. Following a sharp contraction in late 2008 and early 2009, we are now in the fourth quarter of economic expansion, with jobs once more being created rather than destroyed. Nonetheless, important concerns remain.