#Fed – Federal Financial Analytics

20 03, 2023

DAILY032023

Eliza Allen2023-03-20T17:07:20-04:00March 20th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

HFSC Sets Plan For Crisis Review

In what may be an effort to buy some time as the banking crisis hopefully eases and tempers cool, HFSC Chairman McHenry (R-NC) and Ranking Member Waters (D-CA) late Friday asked GAO to conduct an immediate review of recent bank failures, insider actions, and related policy actions such as the March 12 systemic rescue and new Fed facility.

Warren Piles On To Powell With New IG Study

Sen. Warren (D-MA) in a letter Saturday applied even more pressure on the banking agencies by urging the Fed’s, FDIC’s, and Treasury’s IGs to conduct independent investigations of the bank as well as “regulatory and supervisory problems” leading to failures, renewing claims that Chair Powell is especially culpable.

McHenry, Scott Take Gloves Off For Fed, FDIC Investigation

HFSC Chairman McHenry (R-NC) and Ranking Senate Banking Member Scott (R-SC) today sent letters to Chair Powell and Chair Gruenberg, making it clear that – for all Mr. McHenry’s more conciliatory statements – Republicans are launching an investigation premised on potential missteps by the Fed and/or FDIC warranting rapid remediation.

House GOP Conservatives Oppose Liberalized FDIC-Coverage Ceiling

Countering demands for an end to FDIC insurance ceilings not only from Sen. Warren (D-MA), but also from their GOP peers, the very conservative House Freedom Caucus today released a statement demanding an end to what it calls “big government bailouts.”

Daily032023.pdf…

17 03, 2023

AI032023

William Cross2023-03-17T16:53:34-04:00March 17th, 2023|3- This Week|

What A Week That Was

As the flood of FedFin reports, alerts, and client calls makes clear, the last ten days have not only been busy – they are a threshold moment. Now, U.S. and global bank regulation will proceed to much unfinished business after 2008 along with targeted changes to address hard lessons from SVB, SBNY, Credit Suisse, and broader market stress as this seems still to be evolving. FedFin is continuing to advise clients of each twist and turn in U.S. and global financial policy, but we are also stepping back to provide forward-looking in-depth reports as the shape of things to come becomes clear.

AI032023.pdf

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17 03, 2023

DAILY031723

Eliza Allen2023-03-17T16:53:13-04:00March 17th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Biden Positions White House On Side Of SVB/SBNY Enforcement Actions

Reflecting growing political heat as SVB/SBNY revelations continue, President Biden today called on Congress to toughen enforcement penalties for senior management at failed banks. As noted on the fact sheet accompanying the formal request to Congress, the White House believes current law makes it unduly difficult for regulators to claw back executive compensation following a receivership and/or to bar individuals from further banking-industry employment.

HUD Reinstates Tough Disparate-Impact Standard

HUD today announced a final rule rescinding a 2020 rule governing Fair Housing Act disparate impact claims (see FSM Report FAIRLEND8) and restoring a 2013 discriminatory effects rule (see FSM Report FAIRLEND4). The fact sheet accompanying the announcement claimed that the complications added in 2020 rule would have made it “virtually impossible” for HUD and private plaintiffs to prove discrimination.

Waters Pledges Bill on Failed-Bank Execs, Pushes Incentive-Comp Regs

Shortly after the President called on Congress to toughen penalties for failed bank executives, HFSC Ranking Member Waters (D-CA) sent a letter today to Fed, FDIC, and SEC leadership announcing she is crafting legislation to do so. The letter also reiterated Democratic calls for the agencies to hold SVB and SBNY executives accountable and urged them to finalize longstanding compensation rules (see FSM Report COMPENSATION30), which Ms. Waters demanded include strong clawback provisions.

Daily031723.pdf…

17 03, 2023

FedFin Assessment: Future of U.S. Bank Capital, Liquidity, Structural Regulation

Eliza Allen2023-03-17T16:50:38-04:00March 17th, 2023|The Vault|

In this report, we continue our policy postmortem of SVB/SBNY and, now, so much more. Prior reports have assessed the overall political context (see Client Report RESOLVE49) and likely changes to FDIC insurance (see Client Report DEPOSITINSURANCE118), with a forthcoming Petrou op-ed in Barron’s focusing on specific ways to reform federal deposit insurance to protect only the innocent. In this report, we look at some key regulatory changes likely as the banking agencies reevaluate the regional-bank capital, liquidity, and the IDI/BHC construct. As noted in our initial assessment and thereafter, we do not expect meaningful legislative action on the Warren, et. al. bill to repeal “tailoring” requirements, but we do expect bipartisan political pressure not just for supervisory accountability (see another forthcoming report), but also regulatory revisions.

The full report is available to retainer clients. To find out how you can sign up for the service, click here and here.…

17 03, 2023

REFORM216

Eliza Allen2023-03-17T14:27:00-04:00March 17th, 2023|5- Client Report|

FedFin Assessment: Future of U.S. Bank Capital, Liquidity, Structural Regulation

In this report, we continue our policy postmortem of SVB/SBNY and, now, so much more. Prior reports have assessed the overall political context (see Client Report RESOLVE49) and likely changes to FDIC insurance (see Client Report DEPOSITINSURANCE118), with a forthcoming Petrou op-ed in Barron’s focusing on specific ways to reform federal deposit insurance to protect only the innocent. In this report, we look at some key regulatory changes likely as the banking agencies reevaluate the regional-bank capital, liquidity, and the IDI/BHC construct. As noted in our initial assessment and thereafter, we do not expect meaningful legislative action on the Warren, et. al. bill to repeal “tailoring” requirements, but we do expect bipartisan political pressure not just for supervisory accountability (see another forthcoming report), but also regulatory revisions. While Republicans strongly opposed tougher capital rules when Chairman Powell appeared before them just last week (see Client Report FEDERALRESERVE73), we expect them now only to make token statements of concern about any changes that do not adversely affect smaller banking organizations. In addition to looking at specific regulatory rewrites, this report assesses timing, noting in particular how the pending end-game rules could serve as the vehicle for changes the agencies hope to muster quickly in order to minimize demands for structural change to their own powers.

REFORM216.pdf…

16 03, 2023

DAILY031623

Eliza Allen2023-03-16T17:11:59-04:00March 16th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

FedFin Assessment: One CS Consequence – LISCC Reinstatement For All Large Foreign GSIBs

In the wake of CS’s distress, we draw client attention to a 2021 exchange sure to factor heavily in the political response.

Brown Presses For In-Depth SVB, Signature Review

As anticipated (see Client Report RESOLVE49), Senate Banking Chairman Brown (D-OH) today called on all the banking agencies and Treasury quickly to undertake a review of SVB and Signatures failures.

Warren Heaps Still More Blame On Powell

In another letter today, Sen. Warren (D-MA) once again lambasted Chair Powell for what she claimed was his direct contribution to the collapse of Signature Bank and SVB as well as a “a culture of corruption” at the Fed.

Senate GOP Blames Fed, California re SVB

Senate Banking Republicans today tweeted a series of comments citing articles going back to last year identifying SVB risk and suggesting strongly that the Fed and California state supervisors are at fault for missing clear warning signs.

Bipartisan Senators Push Better Beneficial-Ownership Data Access

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Whitehouse (D-RI) was joined by Sens. Wyden (D-OR), Warren (D-MA), Grassley (R-IA), and Rubio (R-FL) late yesterday in submitting a comment letter to FinCEN taking serious issue with its proposed implementation of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) (see FSM Report AML135).

Senate Finance Hearing Deepens SVB Divide

At a heated Senate Finance hearing with Treasury Secretary Yellen, Members were quick to deviate from the hearing’s budget-focused agenda to address who should bear the …

15 03, 2023

FedFin Assessment: Post-SVB Deposit Insurance Reform

Arezou Rafikian2023-03-15T16:58:47-04:00March 15th, 2023|The Vault|

Cementing prior denouncements of 2018 Dodd-Frank “rollbacks” into legislative action, 17 Democratic senators and 31 House Members today took direct aim at Trump-era banking policy by introducing legislation that would repeal Title IV of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. But, while this initiative is gaining considerable attention, its legislative prospects are dim – indeed, even Senate Banking Committee Chairman Brown (D-OH) suggested as much…

The full report is available to retainer clients. To find out how you can sign up for the service, click here and here.

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15 03, 2023

DEPOSITINSURANCE118

Eliza Allen2023-03-15T12:48:33-04:00March 15th, 2023|5- Client Report|

FedFin Assessment: Post-SVB Deposit Insurance Reform

As promised in our first post-SVB impact assessment (see Client Report RESOLVE49), this report begins a series of analyses of specific policy issues. We start here with possible changes to FDIC insurance based on comments from Reps. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO), and other arguing either that the $250,000 limit for FDIC coverage needs to be eliminated or sharply increased. We also analyze the prospects for shifting the burden of higher DIF premiums to large banks as recommended by the ICBA, ending the FHLB’s super-lien due to the resulting, significant increase in FDIC resolution costs in recent failures, changes to the treatment of brokered deposits, and revisions to the FDIC’s overall risk-based assessment system (see FSM Report DEPOSITINSURANCE96). Other resolution issues – e.g., the future of proposed regional-bank standards (see FSM Report RESOLVE48) and bank merger policy will be covered in future reports along with the prospects for significant changes in bank capital, liquidity, and other prudential standards.

DEPOSITINSURANCE118.pdf…

14 03, 2023

DAILY031423

Eliza Allen2023-03-14T16:55:33-04:00March 14th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

JEC Chairman Heaps SVB Blame on Trump-Era Rollbacks

Echoing Democratic statements made earlier in the day, JEC Chairman-Designate Heinrich (D-NM) released a statement late yesterday blaming the Trump Administration’s 2018 regulatory “rollbacks” for SVB’s failure, noting that the committee warned in 2018 that the rollbacks would result in SVB being subject to “nearly none” of Dodd-Frank’s enhanced regulations.

Warren Lambasts Powell on SVB Inquiry

Expanding her attack against FRB Chairman Powell, Sen. Warren (D-MA) today demanded that he recuse himself from the SVB investigation announced just yesterday. She states that Mr. Powell’s actions allowed “big banks” like SVB to “load up” on risky assets, saying that Vice Chairman Barr needs complete independence.

Treasury Official Announces Coming DeFi Risk Report

In remarks yesterday, Assistant Secretary for Treasury’s Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes Elizabeth Rosenberg announced that her team will shortly be releasing a risk assessment on DeFi. She notes interest in any legitimate DeFi use cases, also saying that DeFi may nonetheless facilitate illicit finance.

FDIC Warns Bridge-Bank Counterparties

Reflecting the unusual nature of the two bridge banks the FDIC has established for SVB and Signature, the agency was compelled today to issue a warning that financial institutions are required to comply with their obligations to these FDIC-owned institutions to the extent previously required of the failed banks.

Daily031423.pdf…

13 03, 2023

DAILY031323

Eliza Allen2023-03-13T17:25:04-04:00March 13th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Biden Promises Regulatory Revamp

In an effort to restore confidence in the banking system, President Biden announced that he will ask Congress and the banking regulators to strengthen regulations that were rolled back by the Trump administration.

Political Battle Lines Take Shape

In the wake of yesterday’s decision to protect all SVB depositors, Members of Congress are now positioning themselves for future action.

Biden Presses Stability in Wake of SVB, Signature Rescues

Reflecting ongoing uncertainties and political fallout, President Biden later this morning reiterated comments from earlier today noted in our prior alert.

Comment Deadline Set for GSE Capital Proposal

The Federal Register today includes the FHFA’s proposal to refine Fannie and Freddie’s capital construct.

Fed Tries to Get Ahead of SVB Storm

Even as Sen. Hagerty (R-TN) led calls to review Fed supervision, the Fed today announced that Vice Chair Barr will lead a review of SVB’s supervision and regulation.

Daily031323.pdf…