I hope it is not too late to give my take on the matter and discuss some options, which in my view, could ease some of the current pension funds restrictions while maintaining prudential standards to protect the workers’ savings. Let me first give the background to the current issue.
The challenge for community bankers is to review the full body of new regulations  12  See Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Office of Thrift Supervision (2008), “Interagency Statement on Meeting the Needs of Creditworthy Borrowers,” press release, November 12; and Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Credit Union Administration, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Office of Thrift Supervision, and Conference of State Bank Supervisors (2010), “Regulators Issue Statement on Lending to Creditworthy Small Businesses” press release, February 5.