#Bowman – Page 3 – Federal Financial Analytics

20 11, 2023

M112023

Eliza Allen2023-11-20T12:15:04-05:00November 20th, 2023|6- Client Memo|

The Fate of the End-Game Rules Does not Lie in the FDIC’s Hands

It’s a hard fact of life that nothing good comes to federal agencies caught up in scandal even when scandal is misplaced. So the real question for the FDIC is whether the bad already all too evident at the divided banking agency will grow still worse, threatening the FDIC’s ability to participate in pending rulemakings or, even worse, resolutions. It likely will be no accident if the FDIC comes unglued and the capital and other proposals fall apart. I think new rules will proceed, but the FDIC’s threat is far from out of the blue.

M112023.pdf…

20 11, 2023

Karen Petrou: The Fate of the End-Game Rules Does not Lie in the FDIC’s Hands

Eliza Allen2023-11-20T12:16:01-05:00November 20th, 2023|The Vault|

It’s a hard fact of life that nothing good comes to federal agencies caught up in scandal even when scandal is misplaced. So the real question for the FDIC is whether the bad already all too evident at the divided banking agency will grow still worse, threatening the FDIC’s ability to participate in pending rulemakings or, even worse, resolutions. It likely will be no accident if the FDIC comes unglued and the capital and other proposals fall apart. I think new rules will proceed, but the FDIC’s threat is far from out of the blue.

Is this cynical? I prefer to think of it as an observation born of experience, but this is a city about which Harry S. Truman famously said, “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.”

FedFin reports last week tracked Marty Gruenberg’s travails before Senate Banking and then again at House Financial Services, with Ranking Member Waters surprisingly aligning herself with her usual GOP enemies when it came to castigating Mr. Gruenberg over sexual-harassment problems at the agency reported by the Wall Street Journal as the week of hearings broke two days before.

And, as the hearing went on, Mr. Gruenberg found himself in even more of a pickle. In another uncoincidental moment, Chairman McHenry got wind of 2008 allegations against the chair, allegations Mr. Gruenberg belatedly recalled when prompted by yet another poke from the Journal. Now, Mr. McHenry has opened a formal investigation even as a statement from GOP members of …

9 11, 2023

DAILY110923

Eliza Allen2023-11-09T17:11:08-05:00November 9th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Bowman Outlines Capital-Comment Priorities

In remarks today, FRB Gov. Bowman reiterated many of her longstanding concerns regarding pending bank rules, going on now to lay out key points on which she believes comment are warranted on the capital standards.

OMB Now Demands Distributional Analytics

Following its order to federal agencies now to consider competitive-impact in regulatory assessments, OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) today issued new standards also demanding distributional-impact analyses. As Karen Petrou’s memo this week made clear, it is our view that these are singularly and unfortunately absent from those accompanying the recent spate of banking proposals.

HFSC Plans Sanctions Markup

As anticipated, HFSC is proceeding next Tuesday to mark up a raft of bills addressing Iran and broader sanctions questions. Among the bills is one from Reps. Vargas (D-CA) and Hill (R-AR), H.R. 6245, to require Treasury to report on financial institution’s involvement with Iranian officials.

Daily110923.pdf…

7 11, 2023

DAILY110723

Eliza Allen2023-11-07T17:01:20-05:00November 7th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Treasury Advances Financial-Inclusion Agenda

In conjunction with its read-out of yesterday’s meeting of its most recent financial-inclusion discussion group, Treasury announced that it will shortly release a request for information about how best to accomplish the national financial-inclusion strategy demanded in the Department’s FY23 appropriations.

HFSC GOP Challenges Motives, Process of Basel, NGFS Standard-Setting

As anticipated, today’s Financial Institutions Subcommittee hearing on global banking accords was acrimonious, with Republicans strongly attacking what they characterized as Democratic agency head’s participation in a range of global banking accords as well as the Network for Greening the Financial System.

CFPB Proposes to Extend its Supervisory Reach to Tech-Payment Providers

The CFPB today proposed a sweeping rule bringing tech-platform or fintech companies offering general-use digital-payment services under bank-like consumer-protection standards via more direct CFPB supervision.

Bowman Stands by Basel

Perhaps due to today’s HFSC hearing on global accords, FRB Gov. Bowman today went beyond her ongoing critiques of pending rules to defend participation in the Basel Committee and other forums.

FHFA Starts FHLB Redesign

FHFA today released its long-awaited assessment of the Federal Home Loan Banks, laying out an ambitious program of supervisory, regulatory, and statutory issues.

McHenry Slams CFPB Digital-Payment Proposal

HFSC Chairman McHenry (R-NC) today slammed the CFPB not for usual causes, but because he believes the agency’s proposed supervisory standards for nonbank general-use digital-payment providers will “entrench the status quo” – i.e., the role of banks – by eliminating consumer choice and impeding innovation.

Daily110723.pdf…

24 10, 2023

DAILY102423

Eliza Allen2023-10-24T17:18:54-04:00October 24th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

McHenry, Barr Blast Basel Adherence in End-Game Regs

Although today’s hearing challenging regulatory actions aligned with global regulators was postponed, HFSC Chairman McHenry (R-NC) and Financial Institutions Subcommittee Chairman Barr (R-KY) today kept up the pressure, releasing a letter to the GAO commissioning a study of the end-game rules.

New CRA Reg Sets Controversial, Complex Standards

Leading the way to certain inter-agency approval, the Federal Reserve today voted 6-1 to approve a final version of their 2022 controversial proposal (see FSM Report CRA32).

FDIC OIG: Supervisors Missed So Much, Acted So Slowly re SBNY

The FDIC’s OIG report today on SBNY’s failure follows much of the line the Fed’s OIG took when it came on the material-loss review of SVB’s collapse.

House Republicans Pressure Biden on $6 Billion Iran Ransom

Although HFSC continues to cancel all its hearings as the speakership battle continues, its Oversight Subcommittee today optimistically released a memo outlining goals for Thursday’s Iran-sanctions hearing.

Treasury Presses CSPs to Negotiate With Banks

Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Graham Steele today highlighted Treasury’s work with cloud service providers (CSPs) to improve transparency and security.

Divided FDIC Advances CRA Rewrite, Climate-Risk Principles

As anticipated, the FDIC on a 3-2 vote joined the Fed in approving a 1400+ page final CRA rule.

Daily102423.pdf…

20 10, 2023

Al102323

Eliza Allen2023-11-13T15:46:12-05:00October 20th, 2023|3- This Week|

Relentless Pressure and Resulting Concession

On Friday, the Federal Reserve offered an olive branch – small and partial, but still a branch – to Republican critics of pending standards and the big banks powering up all this pain. As we noted, the comment deadlines for the capital and GSIB-surcharge rules have been extended to January 16, a move also designed to thwart litigation based on procedural considerations. The Fed has also announced a new data-gathering exercise in which stakeholders can send in “data” but due to which much more input will also surely flow. This exercise also answers procedural critics and protects the bill, with the deadline here also January 16.

Al102323.pdf…

17 10, 2023

Daily101723

Arezou Rafikian2023-10-17T16:33:46-04:00October 17th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Bowman Opposes Global Unified Ledger, Cautious re Cross-Border CBDCs

FRB Gov. Bowman today sharply differed with BIS managing director Agustín Carstens on the future of central banks in wholesale payments. Mr. Carstens as recently as three weeks ago pressed again for central bank “unified ledgers,” placing central banks wholly into payment streams not only for commercial banks, but also across most other payment, settlement, and clearing assets.

Basel Proposes Extensive Crypto Disclosure Templates

As anticipated, Basel released a consultative document today providing a standardized template for crypto exposure disclosures, with a proposed implementation date of January 31, 2025. Basel proposes qualitative disclosures, including listing all crypto business activities, how they interact with the bank’s risk profile, the most significant current and emerging risks, and the bank’s approach to assessing classification conditions for group 1 cryptoassets.

Bipartisan Pressure Grows on White House for Iran, Other Sanctions

Led by Rep. Gottheimer (D-NJ), over one-hundred bipartisan lawmakers today sent a letter to President Biden calling for maximum enforcement of all U.S. Iran sanctions as well as immediate implementation of snapback sanctions on Iran at the UN Security Council.

Community-Bank Liquidity Shows Significant Stress

Providing worrisome data on small-bank resilience, a new community banking bulletin from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City finds that community banks have decreased their holdings of highly-liquid assets over the past year to fund what it calls “outsized” loan growth despite deposit run-off.

Daily101723.pdf…

11 10, 2023

DAILY101123

Eliza Allen2023-10-11T16:47:36-04:00October 11th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Bowman Targets U.S. Leverage Ratio, NBFIs

In remarks during the Morocco IMF/Bank meeting today, FRB Gov. Bowman contrasted U.S. bank resilience with the IMF’s findings yesterday on potential vulnerabilities as rates rise and macroeconomic conditions soften.

FSB Reiterates Stability Concerns

The FSB’s latest work plan reiterates all it most recently said to the G20.

CFPB Barrels Down on “Basic” Banking Fees

In conjunction with a new White-House junk-fee initiative, the CFPB today issued “guidance” – i.e., essentially a final rule – banning large banks and credit unions from collecting “unreasonable” fees for what the Bureau considers reasonable and “basic” account information.

SEC Throws Wrench into TLAC Standards

As we noted yesterday, the FSB’s assessment of the global resolution framework’s effectiveness found significant glitches it urges national regulators quickly to address via standards such as those now pending in the U.S. to bring smaller banking organizations into the resolution-planning regime (see FSM Report LIVINGWILL23).

OFR Study: Short-Selling Does Not Harm Financial Stability

OFR today released a model-based study that finds no evidence that short-selling adversely affects financial stability.

Daily101123.pdf…

10 10, 2023

DAILY101023

Eliza Allen2023-10-10T16:46:21-04:00October 10th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Barr Stands Firm on Capital Rewrite

In remarks yesterday, Vice Chair Barr made it clear that, no matter all the industry and Republican pressure, the Fed believes the pending capital rewrite has no material problematic consequences and is necessitated by recent events.

FSB Calls for Continued Improvements in Cross-Border Payments

Following its cross-border payments roadmap, the FSB today released two progress reports finding that further work is needed in ensuring payment system interoperability, establishing common data standards for payments messages, developing tools needed for APIs, and providing a vehicle for the investigation of legal, regulatory and supervisory frameworks.

FSB Presses for Better Smaller-Bank, GSIB Resolvability

Following Basel’s review late last week on the 2023 crash (see Client Report REFORM228), the FSB today released its assessment of implications for GSIB resolution. Basel’s report acknowledged challenges in this area, but largely focused on what we call Basel V.

Fed Finalizes DIHC Insurance-Capital Construct

As promised in the bank-capital proposals (see FSM Report CAPITAL230), the FRB Friday voted 6-0 to finalize long-pending standards for insurance-focused depository institution holding companies.

GOP Hikes Pressure on Iran Payment, Sanctions

Presaging likely HFSC hearings and delays in regular committee action, Ranking Member Scott (R-SC) today called for Secretary Yellen to testify in front of Senate Banking to explain why $6 billion is being released to Iran and to identify any sanctions gaps.

Bowman Pursues Barr, Array of Recent Fed Actions

Continuing her opposition to much of what Vice Chair Barr is doing, …

4 10, 2023

DAILY100423

Eliza Allen2023-10-04T16:40:00-04:00October 4th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Bowman Unbending in Demands for Better Reg Analytics, Community-Bank Mergers

In what might have been only perfunctory introductory remarks, FRB Gov. Bowman today instead continued her all-out campaign to force far more independent research before the Fed finalizes pending rules.

Brown Asks for No Wells Fargo Mercy

Senate Banking Chairman Brown (D-OH) today sent a letter to FRB Vice Chair Barr and OCC Acting Comptroller Hsu taking serious issue with what he calls unfair labor relations practices, consumer abuses, and compliance failures at Wells Fargo, urging the regulators to take stronger action to change the bank’s culture.

McKernan Counters Gruenberg on Endgame’s Nonbank Effects

Fleshing out official comments made in dissent against pending rules, FDIC Board member Jonathan McKernan today countered Chair Gruenberg’s recent comments that any migration of bank activities to nonbanks due to the capital rules should not be considered in the regulatory process.

Gruenberg Reiterates His Top Risk Worries

As with Gov. Bowman earlier today, FDIC Chair Gruenberg used his remarks later in the day to emphasize continuing concerns: in this case, uninsured deposits, maturity mismatches, and rapid growth.

Daily100423.pdf…