PH FedACTion: Financial Regulatory Updates
Daily Financial Regulation Update --Friday, March 19, 2021
March 19, 2021
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Administration Changes
Appointments/Confirmation Hearings
Department of the Treasury – Janet Yellen (effective January 26, 2021)
- Treasury Announces Key Staff Appointment (March 2, 2021)
- Statement from Secretary Yellen on President Biden’s Intention to Nominate Key Roles for Treasury (March 11, 2021)
- Treasury Announces Key Staff Appointments (March 16, 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 (Nominee)
- Acting Chair: Allison Herren Lee (January 21, 2021)
- Confirmation hearing held on March 2, 2021
- Committee approval March 10, 2021
Small Business Administration – Isabel Guzman (effective March 16, 2021)
- Senate Confirms Nomination of Isabel Guzman to be SBA Administrator (March 16, 2021)
- Statement of House Committee on Small Business Chair Nydia M. Velazquez (March 16, 2021)
Commodity Futures Trade Commission
National Credit Union Administration – Todd M. Harper
Department of Housing and Urban Development – Marcia Fudge (effective March 10, 2021)
- Marcia Fudge Sworn in As Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (March 10, 2021)
- Statement by Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Chair Sherrod Brown (March 10, 2021)
- Statement by Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Ranking Member Pat Toomey (March 10, 2021)
- Statement by House Committee on Financial Services Chair Maxine Waters (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 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
Hearing on Risks to Financial System Associated with Climate Change
March 18, 2021
U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and Pat Toomey, Ranking Member (R-PA), delivered opening statements at a hearing titled “21st Century Economy: Protecting the Financial System from Risks Associated with Climate Change.”
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Small Business Committee Hearing to Extend PPP Deadline
March 17, 2021
U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship Chair Ben Cardin (D-MD) convened a hearing to examine the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Two of the witnesses who provided testimony during the hearing, Opportunity Finance Network President and CEO Lisa Mensah and The Y in Central Maryland President and CEO John K. Hoey, urged Congress to pass legislation to extend the current March 31, 2021 deadline for PPP loans.
U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Financial Services
Congresswoman Waters at Subcommittee Hearing on Diversity Data: We Are Continuing to Hold the Financial Services Industry Accountable
March 18, 2021
The Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion held a virtual hearing titled, “By the Numbers: How Diversity Data Can Measure Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.”
Congresswomen Waters and Beatty Request Diversity Data From the Nation’s Largest Investment Firms
March 18, 2021
Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, and Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (D-OH), Chair of the Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion, sent requests to the nation’s 31 largest investment firms, those with $400 billion or more of assets under management, for data on their diversity and inclusion.
Committee on Small Business
Statement: The Role of Community Navigators in Reaching Underserved Businesses
March 18, 2021
The Honorable Jared Golden gave a statement on the role of community navigators in reaching underserved businesses.
Federal Agencies
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Remarks by Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen to the Treasury Tribal Advisory Committee
March 17, 2021
U.S. Department of the Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen gave remarks at a meeting of the Treasury Tribal Advisory Committee.
Federal Reserve Board
Closing Remarks by Chair Powell at a Conference Hosted by the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures
March 18, 2021
Jerome H. Powell, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, gave closing remarks at a conference hosted by the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures titled “Pushing the Frontiers of Payments: Towards Faster, Cheaper, More Transparent and More Inclusive Cross Border Payments.”
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Encourages Financial Institutions and Debt Collectors to Allow Stimulus Payments to Reach Consumers
March 17, 2021
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Acting Director Dave Uejio issued a statement regarding consumers’ access to Economic Impact Payment funds distributed through the American Rescue Plan. Mr. Uejio encouraged financial institutions and debt collectors to allow stimulus payments to reach consumers.
FINRA
FINRA Reminds Member Firms of Their Obligations Regarding Customer Order Handling, Margin Requirements and Effective Liquidity Management Practices during Extreme Market Conditions
March 18, 2021
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issued a notice to remind member firms of their obligations during extreme market conditions with respect to handling customer orders, maintaining appropriate margin requirements and effectively managing their liquidity.
National Credit Union Administration
NCUA Third Open Meeting of 2021
March 18, 2021
The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Board held its third open meeting of 2021 and unanimously approved (i) a temporary interim final rule permitting federally insured credit unions to use asset data as of March 31, 2020, to determine the applicability of certain regulatory asset thresholds during calendar years 2021 and 2022, and (ii) an interim final rule making conforming changes to the NCUA’s regulations on the Central Liquidity Facility because of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.
- Interim Final Rule on Credit Union Use of Data
- Interim Final Rule Extending Central Liquidity Facility
- News Release
Department of Housing and Urban Development/Federal Housing Administration
HUD Releases 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report Part 1
March 18, 2021
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released its 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report Part 1 to Congress. The report found that 580,466 people experienced homelessness in the United States on a single night in 2020, an increase of 12,751 people, or 2.2 percent, from 2019. Such numbers preceded COVID-19, which likely increased homelessness.
U.S. Department of Labor
DOL Releases Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report Update
March 18, 2021
The U.S. Department of Labor released an Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report update. In the week ending March 13, 2021, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 770,000, an increase of 45,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 13,000 from 712,000 to 725,000. The four-week moving average was 746,250, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 3,250 from 759,000 to 762,250.
International
European Banking Authority
EBA Consults on its Revised Guidelines on Recovery Plan Indicators
March 18, 2021
The European Banking Authority published a consultation paper on its revised Guidelines on recovery plan indicators. While maintaining overall stability to the current recovery plan indicators framework, the revised Guidelines provide additional guidance on indicators’ calibration, monitoring and breaches notifications. The amendments aim at strengthening the quality of recovery indicators framework and contributing to effective crisis preparedness of institutions.
Bank of England
Bank Rate Maintained at 0.1% - March 2021
March 18, 2021
At its meeting ending on March 17, 2021, the Bank of England’s (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) judged that the existing stance of monetary policy remains appropriate. The MPC voted unanimously to maintain Bank Rate at 0.1%.
Latest results from the Decision Maker Panel Survey – 2021 Q1
March 18, 2021
The Bank of England released the latest results from its Decision Maker Panel Survey for the first quarter of 2021. According to survey results, UK businesses continued to report a significant impact from COVID-19. Respondents expected sales in the first quarter of 2021 to be around 22% lower than they would have been in the absence of COVID (on an employment-weighted basis). Employment was expected to be 10% lower and investment 22% lower. The estimated sales impact for first quarter of 2021 was 5 percentage points lower than for the fourth quarter of 2020.
UK Financial Conduct Authority
Speech: From Regulator to Firm to Consumer: a Virtuous Chain of Events
March 18, 2021
Georgina Philippou, Senior Adviser to the Financial Conduct Authority on the Public Sector Equality Duty, delivered a speech at the Building Ethnic Diversity and Inclusion in Investment Management - Report Launch titled “From Regulatory to Firm to Consumer: A Virtuous Chain of Events.”