richard w fisher : “ never let your brains go to your head ” ( with reference to the sages of the ages, diana sorensen, john paul jones and “ babe ” fisher ) address by mr richard w fisher, president and chief executive officer of the federal reserve bank of dallas, for the 151st commencement, bryant university, smithfield, rhode island, 17 may 2014. * * * the views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect official positions of the federal reserve system. before i begin my formal remarks, i want the candidates for degrees to think about the fact that over 5, 000 people are here today to celebrate your success. these are your parents and grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts ; your brothers and sisters ; your friends ; your teachers and coaches and counselors. they have been by your side through joyful moments and less - joyful ones. they have encouraged you. they have believed in you. and they have occasionally badgered and hectored you and … driven you nuts. all to good effect. they are here with glad and happy hearts to celebrate your admission to the society of educated men and women. you will be applauded by them many times today. but i want you, the graduating class, to turn the table on them and give them a round of applause. so stand up, turn around, put your hands together and give them a cheer. thank them for loving you. now, please be seated. i also want to salute the outgoing chairman of the bryant university board of trustees, michael edward fisher, ’ 67. i want to thank him not only for his six years as chairman and for his total devotion to bryant, but also for doing his family proud – especially his little brother … me. blessed to be americans mike fisher and i grew up in what can most charitably be described as “ unusual circumstances ”. our father started out his life in conditions right out of charles dickens : at the age of 5 years and 2 months, he was arrested for begging for food and sentenced to seven years in australia ’ s harshest prison, a god - awful place called westbrook reformatory. 1 he was spared the destiny of most inmates there – he was released quickly and lived to see better days – but to say he grew up rough is an understatement. our mother, born in a small south african outpost where norwegians, swedes and danes carved a life out of the “ bush ”, lost her father

stated in its preamble. but of this i am certain : it has made the lives of community and regional banks vastly more complicated. like almost anything that comes out of the u. s. congress, it has primarily been a boon to lawyers and consultants and compliance officers, adding to expenses but doing little to help you grow your businesses. we at the dallas fed are acutely conscious of this. we think of dodd - frank as akin to what dr. seuss once wrote about medicine : bis central bankers ’ speeches interest margins for community and regional banks have been shrinking for some 20 years. to be sure, the low interest rates the fed has engineered to bring the economy out of the death spiral threatened by the financial panic of 2007 – 09 exacerbated pressures on margins as we awaited the strengthening economy we are now beginning to experience. but adding the pills and the bills of extra layers of compliance and legal expenses generated by dodd - frank has compounded the difficulty of passing on profitable franchises to your banking heirs. this is why, systemwide, the fed has been sensitive to the situation of banks under $ 50 billion, and especially sensitive to the situation of banks with less than $ 10 billion in footings. to be sure, we are as committed as ever to safety and soundness and the application of the law ; we always have been and always will be. but at the dallas fed, we believe we can apply the requisite discipline required to safeguard our banking system in a way that is beneficial to regional and community banks. we and our fellow federal reserve banks have worked hard to instill a constructive and interactive relationship, rather than a hostile, purely formulaic one, with the banks we supervise. you might have noted that janet yellen ’ s speech of may 1 to the independent community bankers was titled “ tailored supervision of community banks. ” the federal reserve banks take this charge seriously. this is no idle claim. just looking at the eleventh district, we are increasingly being petitioned by banks for membership in the federal reserve system. the number of state member banks in the dallas fed district increased by 8 percent in 2012, by 19 percent in 2013, and we have already increased membership an annualized 26 percent in the first three months of 2014. so i would just say this to those of you who are madder than ( bleep! ) about what congress and the regulators have wrought : the federal reserve knows what community and regional banks do for their communities. we appreciate that