PH FedACTion: Financial Regulatory Updates
Daily Financial Regulation Update -- Friday, April 16, 2021
April 16, 2021
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Administration Changes
Appointments/Confirmation Hearings
Department of the Treasury – Janet Yellen (effective January 26, 2021)
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – Rohit Chopra (Nominee)
- Acting Director: Dave Uejio (January 20, 2020)
- Confirmation hearing held on March 2, 2021
- Committee approval March 10, 2021
- Toomey Opening Statement During Chopra, Gensler Nomination Hearing (March 2, 2021)
Securities and Exchange Commission – Gary Gensler (confirmed April 14, 2021)
- Statement by Acting Chair Allison Herren Lee and Commissioners on Confirmation of Gary Gensler (April 14, 2021)
- Statement by FINRA President and CEO Robert W. Cook on Confirmation of Gary Gensler (April 14, 2021)
- Statement by Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Chair Sherrod Brown on Confirmation of Gary Gensler (April 14, 2021)
Small Business Administration – Isabel Guzman (effective March 16, 2021)
Commodity Futures Trade Commission
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
- FinCEN Announces Acting Director and New Deputy Director (April 2, 2021)
- Statement from Treasury Deputy Secretary Adeyemo on Leadership Announcement (April 2, 2021)
National Credit Union Administration – Todd M. Harper
Department of Housing and Urban Development – Marcia Fudge (effective March 10, 2021)
Department of Education – Dr. Miguel Cardona (effective March 2, 2011)
Congress
Click here to view the full text of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), Enacted March 27, 2020.
Click here to view the full text of the Paycheck Protection Program Increase Act of 2020, Enacted April 24, 2020.
Click here to view the full text of the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020, Enacted June 5, 2020.
Click here to view the full text of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, Enacted December 27, 2020.
Click here to view the full text of the American Rescue Plan of 2021, Enacted March 11, 2021.
Click here to view the full text of the PPP Extension Act of 2021, Enacted March 30, 2021.
Click here to view a running list of proposed legislation from the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, House Committee on Financial Services, and House Committee on Small Business.
U.S. Senate
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Committee Holds Hearing on Public Transportation Infrastructure Investment
April 15, 2021
The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (Committee) held a hearing entitled “21st Century Communities: Public Transportation Infrastructure Investment and FAST Act Reauthorization.” U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chairman of the Committee, and U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA), Ranking Member of the Committee, both delivered statements at the hearing.
U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Financial Services
Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Financial Institution Charter Trends
April 15, 2021
The U.S. House Committee on Financial Services’ Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions held a virtual hearing entitled, “Banking Innovation or Regulation Evasion? Exploring Modern Trends in Financial Institution Charters” discussing the propriety of various innovative new charter types.
Subcommittee Holds Hearing on the End of Libor
April 15, 2021
The U.S. House Committee on Financial Services’ Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship and Capital Markets held a virtual hearing entitled “The End of LIBOR: Transitioning to an Alternative Interest Rate Calculation for Mortgages, Student Loans, Business Borrowing, and Other Financial Products.”
- Webcast
- Committee Memorandum
- Hearing Page
- Testimony by Dan Coates, Senior Associate Director, Office of Risk Analysis and Modeling, Federal Housing Finance Agency
- Testimony by John Coates, Acting Director, Division of Corporation Finance, Securities and Exchange Commission
- Testimony by Brian Smith, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Federal Finance, U.S. Department of the Treasury
- Testimony by Mark Van Der Weide, General Counsel, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
- Testimony by Kevin Walsh, Deputy Comptroller, Market Risk Policy, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
Senators Waters, Brown Announce Hearings with Major Bank CEOs
April 15, 2021
Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, announced that hearings with the CEOs of the nation’s largest banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley, will be held the week of May 24, 2021.
Federal Agencies
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Federal Reserve Banks Release Report on Firms Owned by People of Color
April 15, 2021
The 12 Federal Reserve Banks released their “2021 Report on Firms Owned by People of Color” (Report), part of a series of reports from a national survey of small businesses conducted by the banks. The Report found that Black- and Latino-owned firms that applied for non-emergency financing were less than half as likely as white-owned firms to be fully-approved; this was the case even when the Black-owned, Latino-owned, and white-owned firms were all categorized as presenting a low credit risk.
Executive Vice President Logan Delivers Speech at SIFMA Webinar
April 15, 2021
Lorie K. Logan, Executive Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, delivered via videoconference a speech entitled “Impact of Abundant Reserves on Money Markets and Policy Implementation”, at a Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association webinar.
Conference of State Bank Supervisors
State Regulators Seek Public Comment on Proposed Licensing Process for Modernized NMLS
April 15, 2021
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors is seeking input from Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS) industry users on proposed requirements that will drive a standardized approach to the licensing process in the modernized NMLS.
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
OCC Releases a new Allowances for Credit Losses Booklet
April 15, 2021
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued the new “Allowances for Credit Losses” booklet of the Comptroller’s Handbook, which is prepared for use by OCC examiners in connection with the examination and supervision of national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banking organizations (collectively, banks).
Securities and Exchange Commission
Commissioner Peirce Issues Statement on Rethinking Global ESG Metrics
April 14, 2021
Hester M. Peirce, a Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, issued a statement entitled, “Rethinking Global ESG Metrics.” In her speech, Commissioner Peirce advocated rethinking a prescriptive approach to ESG (environmental, social, and governance factors), and finding ways to encourage people to devise solutions to the climate-related and other challenges societies face.
National Credit Union Association
NCUA Announces Application Period for 2021 CDRLF Grants
April 15, 2021
The National Credit Union Administration announced low-income-designated credit unions seeking Community Development Revolving Loan Fund grants in 2021 will be able to apply between May 3 and June 26, 2021.
Department of Labor
Labor Department Issues News Release on Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims
April 15, 2021
The U.S. Department of Labor issued a News Release regarding weekly unemployment insurance claims. The News Release states that, in the week ending April 10, 2021, the advance figure for seasonally-adjusted initial claims was 576,000, a decrease of 193,000 from the previous week’s revised level (and the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020 when it was 256,000); the previous week’s level was revised up by 25,000 from 744,000 to 769,000; the four-week moving average was 683,000, a decrease of 47,250 from the previous week’s revised average (and the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020 when it was 225,500); and the previous week’s average was revised up by 6,500 from 723,750 to 730,250.
International
European Banking Authority
EBA Updates List of Other Systemically Important Institutions
April 15, 2021
The European Banking Authority (EBA) updated the list of Other Systemically Important Institutions in the EU, which, together with Global Systemically Important Institutions, are identified as systemically important by the relevant authorities according to harmonized criteria laid down in the EBA Guidelines.
Bank of England
Bank Releases 2021 Q1 Bank Liabilities Survey
April 15, 2021
The Bank of England released its Bank Liabilities Survey for the 1st quarter of 2021. The Bank uses the quarterly survey of banks and building societies to improve its understanding of the role lenders’ liabilities and capital play in driving credit and monetary conditions.
Bank Releases 2021 Q1 Credit Conditions Survey
April 15, 2021
The Bank of England released its Credit Conditions Survey for the 1st quarter of 2021. The Bank uses the quarterly survey of bank and building society lenders to aid its understanding of trends and developments in credit conditions.
Bank of England Prudential Regulation Authority
PRA Releases Policy Statement as Follow-Up to Consultation Paper on Non-Systemic UK Banks
April 15, 2021
The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) issued a Policy Statement in which it provided feedback to responses to the PRA’s Consultation Paper entitled “Non-Systemic UK Banks: The PRA’s Approach to New and Growing Banks”, which the PRA published on July 22, 2020.
- Policy Statement 8/21
- Appendix 1: Final Supervisory Statement 3/21 ‘Non-systemic UK banks The Prudential Regulation Authority’s approach to new and growing banks’
- Appendix 2: Update to Supervisory Statement 31/15 ‘The Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process (ICAAP) and the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP)’
- Appendix 3: Update to Statement of Policy ‘The PRA’s methodologies for setting Pillar 2 capital’
- News Release