2- Daily Briefing – Federal Financial Analytics

6 12, 2023

DAILY120623

Eliza Allen2023-12-06T16:42:25-05:00December 6th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

OFR Sees Heightened Systemic Risk

Striking a considerably more somber note than the FRB (see Client Report SYSTEMIC97), OFR today concluded that systemic risk is elevated due to an upcoming economic slowdown, heightened inflation, and geopolitical risk and global conflict.

OCC Cracks Down on BNPL Finance

Reflecting continuing CFPB concerns about buy-now/pay-later finance, the OCC today sets new risk-management standards for federally-chartered entities in this arena.

HFSC Housing Subcommittee Revisits Housing Debate

Today’s HFSC Housing Subcommittee hearing largely followed the staff memo’s outlined political playbook, with Chairman Davidson (R-OH) calling for market-based solutions and Ranking Member Presley (D-MA) arguing that expanded subsidies are necessary alongside zoning reform to make housing affordable.

Fed Proposes Market-Risk Valuation Reporting

Readying disclosures for the market-risk capital rewrite (see FSM Report CAPITAL233), the Federal Reserve has proposed new reporting standards that would require covered banks to disclose valuations of their covered positions taking into account unearned credit spreads, close-out costs, early termination costs, investing and funding costs, liquidity, and model risk.

Fed Proposes New Liquidity Risk Reporting Standards

Reflecting growing fears that banks could not actually monetize HQLAs under stress as proved the case for Credit Suisse, the FRB is also proposing new reporting standards requiring covered companies to report on qualifying master netting agreement compliance with current liquidity-risk measurement standards.

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5 12, 2023

DAILY120523

Eliza Allen2023-12-05T17:00:21-05:00December 5th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Bowman Calls for Bank-Driven Inclusive Finance

Federal Reserve Gov. Bowman today encouraged banks to offer more inclusive retail-banking products in part by making better use of technology. Noting the Board’s 2020 statement on small-dollar lending, she notes that consumers are best served when products such as these come from regulated banks.

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4 12, 2023

DAILY120423

Eliza Allen2023-12-04T16:41:17-05:00December 4th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

HFSC GOP to Press Regulatory-Agency Financial Innovation

Tuesday’s HFSC Digital Assets Subcommittee hearing will focus on regulatory-agency offices focused on financial innovation, a session sure to give GOP Members an opportunity to closely question the OCC’s witnesses about her agency’s hiring offer to a person heading this activity who turned out to have a fraudulent resume.

HFSC GOP Lays Out “Market-Based” Affordable Housing Approach

The HFSC majority-staff memo for Wednesday’s Housing Subcommittee hearing emphasizes GOP goals with regard to “market-based” solutions addressing affordable housing. In this context, Fannie, Freddie, and FHA come in for criticism with regard to driving out private capital, but the memo makes no specific recommendations about how to address this or, indeed, many of the zoning, supply-chain, and other challenges it identifies.

FSB Toolkit Focuses on Critical Interdependencies

Following its initial consultation, the FSB today published its final report on enhancing third-party risk management, now laying out a flexible and nonbinding toolkit focused on incident reporting, identification of critical dependencies, interjurisdictional comparability and interoperability, and systemic risk management. In addition to a list of terms and definitions, the report provides tools to help financial institutions and supervisors identify critical third-party services and manage their risks.

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1 12, 2023

DAILY120123

Eliza Allen2023-12-01T16:39:15-05:00December 1st, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Barr Outlines Rationale for LCR, NSFR Rewrite

FRB Vice Chair Barr today reiterated his views that banks must be much better prepared to use the Fed discount-window, this time emphasizing that operational readiness entails regular testing of actual transactions at regular intervals as well as robust collateral pre-positioning.

Reed Presses Synthetic-Securitization Controls

Following his comments at recent hearings (see Client Report REFORM229), Sen. Reed (D-RI) late yesterday sent a letter to FRB Vice Chair Barr, FDIC Chair Gruenberg, and Acting Comptroller Hsu urging them to evaluate CRT transaction risk on financial stability grounds and, should they find an uptick in synthetic securitizations, request public comment on possible remedies to the risks Sen. Reed identifies.

Pending Veto, House Votes Against CFPB

As anticipated (see Client Report CONSUMER53), the House today voted 221 to 202 to authorize Congressional Review Act withdrawal of the CFPB’s small business reporting rule.

OCC Readies Research for Liquidity-Reg Rewrite

Likely readying itself for the raft of new liquidity proposals presaged in Michael Barr’s talk earlier today, the OCC today issued a call for papers on depositor behavior, bank liquidity, and run risk.

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30 11, 2023

DAILY113023

Eliza Allen2023-11-30T17:02:53-05:00November 30th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

FRB-Cleveland Head Calls for Reg Redesign

The head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Loretta Mester, yesterday argued for higher bank capital requirements, including counter-cyclical imposition of a capital buffer during low-risk periods so it can be released under stress based on credit growth under a formula ensuring that the CCyB in fact moves quickly to ease stress.

Brown, Colleagues Stand Behind GSIB Surcharge

Ahead of next week’s hearing with GSIB CEOs, Senate Banking Chairman Brown (D-OH) was joined today by Sens. Warren (D-MA), Fetterman (D-PA), and Reed (D-RI) in a letter to FRB Vice Chair Barr voicing their strong support for the Board’s GSIB surcharge proposal (see FSM Report GSIB22).

IMF: Future of AI’s Impact on Banking Unpredictable

The IMF today released an article focused on AI, concluding that banking has the potential to be the biggest beneficiaries of AI, but also may have the most to lose. The article considers the unpredictable future of AI technology through optimistic and pessimistic scenarios, concluding that AI could better protect assets and markets, but also could be put to various nefarious uses.

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29 11, 2023

DAILY112923

Eliza Allen2023-11-29T16:51:26-05:00November 29th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

FDIC’s OIG Presses for Non-Capital PCA Triggers, Additional Supervisory Reform

The FDIC’s OIG report on First Republic’s failure is at least as scathing as its SBNY post-mortem.

Treasury Launches Anti-Crypto Enforcement Campaign

In remarks today from Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo, Treasury officially launched its anti-crypto sanctions and AML campaign.

Basel Proposes Sweeping Climate-Risk Disclosure Standards

Following the FSB’s finding that most banks were failing to provide meaningful climate disclosures, the Basel Committee today issued proposed climate-risk disclosure standards.

3Q Report Highlights AOCI Risk

The FDIC’s 3Q banking-condition report includes a stunning 22.5 percent rise in the total of HTM and AFS unrealized losses, which now stand at $683.9 billion.

Senate Banking Opens Private-Credit Inquiry

Senate Banking Chair Brown (D-OH) and Sen. Reed (D-RI) today asked FRB Vice Chair Barr, Acting Comptroller Hsu, and FDIC Chair Gruenberg to look into the risks private credit poses to the banking system.

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28 11, 2023

DAILY112823

Eliza Allen2023-11-28T16:35:09-05:00November 28th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

FRB-Dallas: Reciprocal Deposits Require Policy Attention

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas today released a staff study revaluating reciprocal deposits in the wake of SVB’s failure, concluding that policy-makers should reconsider concentration limits imposed in 2018 in conjunction with brokered-deposit constraints (see FSM Report DEPOSITINSURANCE108).

FRB-NY: OEFs Create Run-Run Risk

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York today released a staff study concluding that open-end funds (OEFs) experienced acute outflows after SVB failed, bank deposits received de facto unlimited insurance, and the FRB established the TBFP.

Chopra Testimony Ducks Tough Questions Ahead of Hearings

CFPB Director Chopra’s testimony for forthcoming hearings with HFSC and Senate Banking this week largely recaps Bureau action since his last appearance before Congress in June, with Mr. Chopra focusing on consumer debt issues highlighted in the CFPB’s recent consumer credit card market report.

FSB Wants Action on Crypto Vertical Integration

The FSB today released a report concluding that, while multifunction crypto-asset intermediaries (MCIs) currently pose limited financial-stability threat, cryptoasset stress events such as those that occurred over the past year present spillover risks to banks with concentrated deposit exposures to firms reliant on cryptoassets.

Basel Presses Supervisors to Enforce GSIB Data-Aggregation Standards

The Basel Committee today released a report finding that only two of the 31 GSIBs are fully compliant with its Principles for effective risk data aggregation and risk reporting (see FSM Report RISKMANAGEMENT7).

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27 11, 2023

Daily112723

William Cross2023-11-27T16:53:58-05:00November 27th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Global Regulators Unveil 2023 GSIB List Methodology

Following publication of the FSB’s updated 2023 GSIB list, the BCBS today published additional details of the assessment including denominators of the high-level indicators used to calculate bank scores, high-level indicators for each bank in the sample, cut-off scores, and thresholds used to allocate GSIBs to buckets for calculating higher loss-absorbency requirements.

Carstens Presses for Unified Ledger, CBDC

Pointing to the speed of AI adoption in sharp contrast to financial-system innovation, BIS General Manager Agustín Carstens has reiterated his call for central bank “unified ledgers.” These would serve as a “network of networks” digital infrastructure, with Mr. Carstens indicating that the result would enable instantaneous payment and settlement of any transaction, use of smart contracts and composability, and seamless integration and automation of digital asset payments.

SEC Finalizes Massive, Controversial ABS-Conflict Standards

Thirteen years after the Dodd-Frank Act demanded it (see FSM Report ABS17), the SEC today voted 4-1 to approve controversial conflict-of-interest standards for asset-backed securities (ABS). The final rule is significantly amended from the proposal, so much so that SEC Commissioner Peirce said that a new proposal was required prior to final adoption.

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22 11, 2023

DAILY112223

Eliza Allen2023-11-22T12:23:22-05:00November 22nd, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Fed Study: CBDC Analysis Needs Work, but Public-Welfare Benefits are Likely

A new FRB staff literature survey of CBDC analyses points to the wide variety of often-opposing findings relating to critical matters such as bank disintermediation and financial stability, attributing this in part to the different CBDC models under consideration in various nations.

Agencies Extend LTD Comment Period

As implied at a recent hearing (see Client Report REFORM229), the agencies have now delayed the comment deadline on long-term debt (see FSM Report TLAC9) until January 16 from November 30.

HFSC GOP Plans Immediate FDIC-Workplace Hearings

Clearly dissatisfied even though the FDIC’s new investigation will proceed without Chair Gruenberg’s involvement, HFSC Financial Institutions Subcommittee Chair Barr (R-KY) and Oversight Subcommittee Chair Huizenga (R-MI) wrote to Mr. Gruenberg demanding that he recuse himself from overseeing any independent investigation.

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21 11, 2023

Daily112123

Arezou Rafikian2023-11-21T16:48:20-05:00November 21st, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

BIS Study: Low-Profit GSIBs are High-Risk GSIBs

A new BIS paper assesses the systemic consequences of GSIBs with low market capitalization, an issue with immediate relevance given investor concerns about the long-term earnings impact of numerous pending rules. The methodology leads the authors to focus on price-to-book ratios (PTBRs) which are found to be directly linked to investor-predicted return on equity. Although GSIB capital requirements dramatically increased over the course of the study, there is said to be no significant impact on franchise value.

CFTC Realigns Client-Fund Segregation Standards

The CFTC today proposed to make significant changes to client-fund segregation rules governing futures commission merchants and derivatives clearing organizations covering both how FCMs and DCOs handle client funds and the manner in which they may be deposited with banks. The proposal redefines permissible investments that must still be housed at a bank or similar entity, adding foreign sovereigns, limiting MMFs to government funds, and removing certain corporate bonds and similar instruments.

Basel Points to Problematic Climate-Risk Implementation

The Basel Committee today issued a “newsletter” addressing issues raised since it finalized global climate-risk management principles (see Client Report CLIMATE14), now codified for large U.S. banking organizations (see Client Report CLIMATE17).

FDIC Sets Up Special Committee to Address Widespread Concerns

In a major concession surely necessary to appease at least some in Congress and ensure continuing agency function, the FDIC board today announced formation of a special committee to be chaired by Acting Comptroller Michael Hsu and Director …