PH FedACTion: Financial Regulatory Updates
Daily Financial Regulation Update -- Saturday, May 1, 2021
May 01, 2021
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Administration Changes
Appointments/Confirmation Hearings
Department of the Treasury – Janet Yellen (effective January 26, 2021)
- Statement by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Confirmation of Wally Adeyemo as Deputy Secretary (March 25, 2021)
- Treasury Announces Key Staff Appointments (April 20, 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 (effective April 17, 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)
- Statement by House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters on Confirmation of Gary Gensler (April 15, 2021)
- Gary Gensler Names Initial Executive Staff Members (April 19, 2021)
- Alex Oh Named SEC Director of Enforcement (April 22, 2021)
- SEC Names Keo Chea as Director of Public Engagement and Aisha Johnson as Director of Media Relations (April 26, 2021)
- Alex Oh Resigns from SEC; Melissa Hodgman Named Acting Director of Enforcement (April 28, 2021)
Small Business Administration – Isabel Guzman (effective March 16, 2021)
- SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman Announces Antwaun Griffin to Serve as SBA Chief of Staff (April 1, 2021)
- Statement by Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship Chair Ben Cardin on Nomination of Dilawar Syed as Deputy Administrator (April 21, 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)
- U.S. Department of Education Announces More Biden-Harris Appointees (April 9, 2021)
- Statement by Secretary Cardona on President Biden's Nomination of Gwen Graham (April 16, 2021)
- Statement by Secretary Cardona on President Biden’s Nomination of Roberto J. Rodríguez (April 29, 2021)
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.
Federal Agencies
Department of the Treasury
Treasury, FRBNY, Fed Board Release Report on Foreign Portfolio Holdings of U.S. Securities
April 30, 2021
A report (Report) by the United States Department of the Treasury (Treasury), the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, entitled “Foreign Portfolio Holdings of U.S. Securities as of June 30, 2020”, was released on the Treasury’s website.
Treasury Deputy Secretary Adeyemo Meets with Human Rights and Anti-Corruption NGOs
April 30, 2021
Wally Adeyemo, Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of the Treasury (Treasury), met virtually with over two dozen NGOs focused on human rights and anti-corruption as part of the Treasury-led review of U.S. economic and financial sanctions.
Federal Reserve Board
Federal Reserve Board Releases Supervision and Regulation Report
April 30, 2021
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve Board) published its Supervision and Regulation Report for April 2021. The report summarizes banking conditions and the Federal Reserve Board’s supervisory and regulatory activities, in conjunction with semiannual testimony before Congress by the Federal Reserve Board’s Vice Chair for Supervision.
Federal Reserve Board Releases Paper on Global Economic Uncertainty
April 30, 2021
The Federal Reserve Board released a paper entitled, “The Global Transmission of Real Economic Uncertainty”, as part of its International Finance Discussion Papers series. The paper’s authors, using a sample of 30 countries representing about 65% of the global GDP, found that real economic uncertainty has negative long-lasting domestic economic effects and transmits across countries.
Federal Reserve Board Releases Paper on Price Setting and Volatility
April 30, 2021
The Federal Reserve Board released a paper entitled, “Price Setting and Volatility: Evidence from Oil Price Volatility Shocks,” as part of its International Finance Discussion Papers series. The paper’s author addresses the question of how changes in aggregate volatility alter the impulse response of output to monetary policy.
Federal Reserve Board Releases Paper on Supply of Sovereign Safe Assets, Global Interest Rates
April 30, 2021
The Federal Reserve Board released a paper entitled, “Supply of Sovereign Safe Assets and Global Interest Rates” as part of its International Finance Discussion Papers series. The paper’s authors estimate that the supply of sovereign safe assets is a major driver of neutral interest rates—real rates consistent with both economic activity and inflation at their trends.
Federal Reserve Board Releases Paper on Dynamic Factor Copula Models with Estimated Cluster Assignments
April 30, 2021
The Federal Reserve Board released a paper entitled, “Dynamic Factor Copula Models with Estimated Cluster Assignments,” as part of its Finance and Economics Discussion Series. The paper’s authors propose a dynamic multi-factor copula for use in high dimensional time series applications.
Federal Reserve Board Releases Paper on Fragility of Repo Markets
April 30, 2021
The Federal Reserve Board released a paper entitled, “Are Repo Markets Fragile? Evidence from September 2019,” as part of its Finance and Economics Discussion Series. The paper’s authors show that the segmented structure of the U.S. Treasury repo market, in which some participants have limited access across the segments, leads to rate dispersion, even in this essentially riskless market.
Federal Reserve Board Releases Paper on UI Benefits’ Effects on Bank Deposits
April 30, 2021
The Federal Reserve Board released a paper entitled, “Unintended Consequences of Unemployment Insurance Benefits: The Role of Banks,” as part of its Finance and Economics Discussion Series. The paper’s authors use disaggregated U.S. data and a border discontinuity design to show that more generous unemployment insurance (UI) policies lower bank deposits.
Federal Reserve Board Releases Paper on Equity Market Participation, Business Cycles
April 30, 2021
The Federal Reserve Board released a paper entitled, “Limited Participation in Equity Markets and Business Cycles,” as part of its Finance and Economics Discussion Series. The paper’s author studies how the rise in U.S. households' participation in equity markets affects the transmission of macroeconomic shocks to the economy.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
FRBNY Addresses Concept of Central Bank Digital Currencies
April 30, 2021
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York published a Liberty Street Economics blog post entitled, “Hey, Economist! What’s the Case for Central Bank Digital Currencies?” The post’s authors question whether there is a vacuum in the landscape of digital money and payments that central banks are naturally positioned to fill, and answer questions regarding the concept of central bank digital currencies.
Securities and Exchange Commission
SEC Chair Gensler, Commissioners Lee and Peirce Deliver Remarks at Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee Meeting
April 30, 2021
Gary Gensler, Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Allison Herren Lee and Hester M. Peirce, Commissioners of the SEC, all delivered remarks at the SEC’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee Meeting.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
CFPB Releases Report on Changes in Consumer Finances Early in COVID-19
April 30, 2021
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a report entitled, “Changes in Consumer Financial Status during the Early Months of the Pandemic.” The report’s authors examine the fact that, despite volatile economic conditions, the average consumer’s financial status improved between June 2019 and June 2020.
CFPB Releases Report on Financial Well-Being of Hispanics
April 30, 2021
The CFPB released a report entitled, “Measuring the Financial Well-Being of Hispanics.” The report provides a foundational set of benchmarks of the financial well-being of Hispanics ages 18 and older in the United States in 2018, as measured by the CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale.
International
Bank of England
Bank Releases Credit Union Statistics for 2020 Fourth Quarter
April 30, 2021
The Bank of England released its 2020 fourth quarter credit union statistics, which are statistics aggregated from the quarterly returns submitted by authorized credit unions in the United Kingdom.
Bank Releases Staff Working Paper on Climate Policy, Housing Market Risk
April 30, 2021
The Bank of England released Staff Working Paper No. 918, entitled “Climate Policy and Transition Risk in the Housing Market”.
UK Financial Conduct Authority
FCA Consults on Strengthening Investor Protections in SPACs
April 30, 2021
The UK Financial Conduct Authority launched a consultation on proposed changes to its Listing Rules for certain special purpose acquisition companies.