Bankers face protests in Chicago

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A top banking industry group on Monday defended the practices of traditional banks while facing protesters who railed against Wall Street abuses.

The American Bankers Association, which has gathered for its annual convention, said the protests were misplaced because it is largely community bankers that are attending.

"You did not make any abusive subprime loans; you did not take big bonuses for products that later blew up," ABA President Edward Yingling said during his opening remarks.

The Service Employees International Union, a major labor group, estimates that up to 5,000 people from different organizations will join the protests over the next couple of days outside the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers.

Protesters shook larger-than-life cutouts of JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon and retiring Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis, while others dressed as grim reapers and held a sign saying "Greed Kills."

Andrea Frye, communications director with the Chicago nonprofit group National People's Coalition, said the ABA was an appropriate target for the protesters' anger because the group lobbies against regulatory reforms that would help consumers but hurt the big banks' profits.

"They're standing in the way by spending billions of dollars to fight meaningful rules," she said.

The ABA held security tight at its conference, checking badges with an ultraviolet light to ensure that the meetings proceeded uninterrupted.

Yingling, addressing the attendees, said the protest was "misdirected" and said it was frustrating to have traditional banks lumped together with Wall Street firms that engage in risky trading practices and have taken billions of dollars in taxpayers funds.

"I know it makes you angry, as it should," he told the convention attendees.

Smaller banks have also received bailout funds from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, although the amount of assistance has been much less.

The White House has said recently that banks can do more to help extend credit. President Barack Obama urged banks on Saturday to make more loans to small businesses.

"It's time for those banks to fulfill their responsibility to help ensure a wider recovery, a more secure system, and more broadly shared prosperity," he said.

(Reporting by Karey Wutkowski)