#Fed – Page 2 – Federal Financial Analytics

20 03, 2024

DAILY032024

Eliza Allen2024-03-20T16:23:55-04:00March 20th, 2024|2- Daily Briefing|

Gottheimer Confirms Bipartisan Basel Worries

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) today told the ABA summit that there is bipartisan concern over the impact the Basel III endgame proposal could have on American competitiveness, calling the requirements “overly-burdensome.”

FHFA Advancing FHLB Troubled-Bank Funding Limits

Speaking today at the ABA summit, the Deputy Director of the FHFA’s Division of Banking Regulation Joshua Stallings indicated that the agency is following up on the FHLB100 report by working with the FRB to set cut-off points between acceptable FHLB funding and the discount window.

Tester Slams Fed Interchange Proposal, Durbin-Marshall Bill

Sen. Tester (D-MT) today told the ABA Summit that the Fed’s debit interchange fee proposal (see FSM Report INTERCHANGE12) is a “mistake,” creating uncertainty and adversely affecting community banks and rural America.

Powell: Retail CBDC A Long Way from Anywhere

Reiterating comments made to Sens. Cramer (R-ND) and Lummis (R-WY) in his last appearance on Capitol Hill, Chair Powell today said the Fed is a long way from making any decision about offering a retail CBDC.

Daily032024.pdf…

8 03, 2024

DAILY030824

Eliza Allen2024-03-08T16:54:53-05:00March 8th, 2024|2- Daily Briefing|

Biden Continues Junk Fee Campaign

The President continued his attack on junk fees in the State of the Union, applauding the CFPB’s new credit-card late fee rule. The President also boasted about recent monetary data, calling the American economy “the envy of the world” and called for Congress to pass Sen. Casey’s (D-PA) bill to stop shrinkflation.

FRB Finalizes FMU OpsRisk Update

The FRB today unanimously voted to finalize an update to rules governing operational risk-management for certain systemically-important financial market utilities (FMUs).

CFPB Lays Groundwork for Mortgage Closing-Cost Regulation

Continuing its campaign against junk fees, the CFPB today released a blog post focusing on mortgage closing cost fees, stating that the agency will issue rules and guidance “as necessary” to improve competition and affordability in the coming months. The post states that median total loan costs increased 22 percent on home purchase loans from 2021 to 2022, noting that many of these costs are fixed and not affected by interest rates.

Daily030824.pdf…

6 03, 2024

DAILY030624

Eliza Allen2024-03-06T16:51:12-05:00March 6th, 2024|2- Daily Briefing|

Bowman Renews Tailoring Defense

In dinner remarks last night, FRB Gov. Bowman argued that tailoring is a “grounding principle” of bank regulation ignored in the pending capital rules and final climate guidance (see FSM Report CLIMATE17), standards she also said are intended to allocate capital, not ensure effective supervision.

GAO Reviews Fed, FDIC Supervisory Practices

The GAO today issued a report examining the Fed and FDIC’s communication and escalation of supervisory concerns towards SVB and Signature prior to their collapse, finding that a lack of clarity and specificity in the Fed’s enforcement procedures contributed to delays in escalation towards SVB.

Scope 3 Removed From Final SEC Climate Disclosure Rule

The SEC today voted 3-2 to finalize its 2022 climate-risk disclosure proposal, opting to remove its controversial Scope 3 provisions.

Daily030624.pdf…

5 03, 2024

Daily030524

Eliza Allen2024-03-05T16:37:23-05:00March 5th, 2024|2- Daily Briefing|

CFPB Fires All Cylinders on Credit Card Fees

In conjunction with a new White House “price-gouging” initiative today ahead of the President’s address, the CFPB finalized its controversial credit-card late-fee proposal (see FSM Report CREDITCARD36).

Presidential Strike Force Targets Financial-Services Fees, Mergers

In conjunction with the CFPB’s new credit-card fee standard, the White House today announced a “strike force” attacking what it believes to be price-gouging across the U.S. economy.

Interchange, Small-Dollar Lending Bills Added to House Docket

Although Thursday’s HFSC Financial Institutions’ hearing will be a largely partisan review of the “politicized” nature of bank regulation, bills on the docket include a draft measure from Rep. Luetkemeyer (R-MO) requiring the FRB to conduct a quantitative study of the implications of its pending interchange rule before finalization (see FSM Report INTERCHANGE12).

McHenry Supports At Least Some Liquidity-Reg Rewrite

Redoubling his campaign against the capital proposal, HFSC Chairman McHenry (R-NC) today made it clear that he does support at least some revisions to liquidity rules.

IMF Looks Under U.S. Bank “Weak Tail”

Looking at U.S. bank failures one year later, the IMF today released a global financial stability note finding that the “weak tail” of U.S. banks continues to present a possible systemic risk despite ongoing supervisory and regulatory efforts.

Daily030524.pdf…

1 03, 2024

DAILY030124

Eliza Allen2024-03-01T17:10:56-05:00March 1st, 2024|2- Daily Briefing|

Fed Emergency Powers Back on Senate Docket

Just before the Senate passed the stopgap bill to avert a shutdown, Sen. Paul (R-KY) forced a vote on an amendment to prevent the Fed from buying debt from states and municipalities.

DOJ Goes After “Gate-Keepers”

In remarks late yesterday, Assistant AG Jonathan Kanter highlighted the impact of new DOJ/FTC guidelines (see FSM Report MERGER13) and enforcement efforts with regard to “gate-keepers” – i.e., “monopoly chokepoints” so powerful that they control entry and pricing in a key sector in which they also often compete.

Fed Seems a Bit Warier of Banking-System Stress

The Fed monetary-policy report submitted today ahead of Chair Powell’s testimony next week includes a financial-stability analysis largely derived from the FRB’s most recent financial-stability report (see Client Report SYSTEMIC97) and the update provided earlier this week by a key FRB-NY official.

White House Steps in to Comfort NYCB Worries

At close of business, NYCB shares had sunk to levels not seen since 1997 following the release of still more bad news on Thursday.

Daily030124.pdf…

1 03, 2024

Al030424

Eliza Allen2024-03-01T17:07:55-05:00March 1st, 2024|3- This Week|

A Central Bank Very Much in the Middle

As always, we will provide clients with in-depth analyses after Chair Powell comes before Congress later this week to face the usual fusillade of political inquiry along with policy questions. As before (see Client Report FEDERALRESERVE74), Mr. Powell will face hard questioning from Republicans on the pending capital rules, with many now trying to pin him down on likely changes and the extent to which Mr. Powell’s promise of consensus before a final rule still holds. A lot of questions will also come from both sides of the aisle on bank mergers, with House Democrats demanding a new merger policy, Sen. Warren (D-MA) trying to get Mr. Powell to signal disapproval of the CapOne/Discover deal – he won’t, and Republicans trying to get Mr. Powell to say that deals such as this one must get done to ensure regional-bank survival – again, he won’t. We also expect a new grilling from the GOP on Fed emergency-liquidity powers, along with continuing questions on climate risk, CBDC, and the quality of bank supervision. The fate of NYCB by the time of the hearing will also be a major preoccupation on both sides of the aisle even if bad doesn’t immediately go to worse. Democrats will try to shore up CBDC but many are also troubled by emergency-liquidity powers. All sides will of course take much of the hearing’s bandwidth by pushing Mr. Powell to go one way or …

26 02, 2024

DAILY022624

Eliza Allen2024-02-26T16:36:24-05:00February 26th, 2024|2- Daily Briefing|

BIS: More Bank Competition Leads to Increased Credit Risk

A new BIS paper looks at a question critical to the debate over bank-merger policy: the extent to which competition drives bank risk-based pricing decisions in corporate lending and, by extension, other credit markets.

OCC Proposes Changes to FOIA Procedures

The OCC today proposed several changes to its FOIA procedures, including allowing expedited processing requests and appeals of denials of these requests and those for fee waivers.

Warren, Progressives Expand Blast on CapOne/Discover Deal to Encompass OCC Merger Proposal

Following other Democratic attacks on the CapOne/Discover merger and her own, Sen. Warren (D-MA) continued her challenge in a letter also signed by twelve House Democrats.

CFPB Takes Precedent-Setting Step Bringing Nonbanks Under Supervision

The CFPB late Friday released its first contested finding that a nonbank is subject to its supervision following the establishment in 2022 of a process for bringing nonbanks under its supervisory wings (see FSM Report CONSUMER44).

Senate Republicans Introduce Anti-CBDC Bill

Sen. Cruz (R-TX) alongside Sens. Hagerty (R-TN), Scott (R-FL), Budd (R-NC) and Braun (R-IN) today introduced a bill to prohibit the Fed from directly or indirectly issuing a CBDC or even using CBDC as a monetary-policy tool.

Daily022624.pdf…

20 02, 2024

DAILY022024

Eliza Allen2024-02-20T17:06:56-05:00February 20th, 2024|2- Daily Briefing|

Waters Fails to Muster Meaningful Democratic Capital-Proposal Protest

Late Friday, HFSC Ranking Member Waters (D-CA) released another letter from Democrats protecting the pending capital proposals.

Fed Study: CBDC Impact on Dollar Dominance, Payment System Depends on Many Decisions

A new Fed staff study finds that a U.S. CBDC would have only a marginal impact on the dollar’s role as the reserve currency and within the payment system, although this conclusion depends on a raft of decisions now being made about other CBDCs and the cross-border payment system.

Sanders Targets BlackRock’s Market Power

We will shortly provide clients with an update on Congressional reaction to the C1/Discover merger earlier today, but here draw client attention to a new letter from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), sure also to be among the credit-card consolidation’s fiercest critics.

Brown Presses Powell for Enforceable Ethics Standards

Senate Banking Chair Brown today renewed his campaign against Fed conflict-of-interest policies, sending another letter to Chair Powell arguing that the Fed’s recent internal-investment and ethics standards are unenforceable.

Initial Response to C1/Discover Merger Starts M&A Debate

With Congress in recess, political response to the Capital One/Discover merger has been muted in terms of sparse comments, but fiery when it comes to Sen. Warren (D-MA).

Daily022024.pdf…

16 02, 2024

DAILY021624

Eliza Allen2024-02-16T15:55:14-05:00February 16th, 2024|2- Daily Briefing|

Barr Points to Tough New Fed Supervisory Strategy

FRB Vice Chair Barr today updated FRB efforts to enhance bank supervision since its SVB post mortem revealed severe failings (see Client Report REFORM221). Various internal efforts are under way, but the talk indicates no specific new initiatives beyond far greater focus on near-term CRE risk with an eye in particular to adequate provisioning. The System is now improving supervisory rigor, coordination, and escalation protocols, with Mr. Barr also laying out how Fed supervision has become significantly more rigorous in the last year.

CFPB Report Continues Credit Card Attack

Buttressing its controversial credit-card late-fee proposal (see FSM Report CREDITCARD36), the CFPB today issued a report finding that the 25 largest credit card issuers charged interest rates eight to ten percentage points higher than small-and-medium-sized banks and credit unions. The report states that higher rates among large issuers persist across credit scores, with large issuers also more likely to charge annual fees.

House GOP Tries to Speed Bank M&A

Following up a letter sent to the federal banking agencies in October, HFSC Financial Institutions Subcommittee Chair Barr (R-KY) and Rep. Fitzgerald (R-WI) today introduced the Bank Failure Prevention Act, a bill to require the Federal Reserve to act on bank merger applications within ninety days. The bill would also require the central bank to acknowledge the application’s completion within thirty days, with approval automatically granted for any application not serviced within the ninety-day window.

Daily021624.pdf…

16 02, 2024

GSE-021624

Shane Smith2024-02-16T11:18:38-05:00February 16th, 2024|4- GSE Activity Report|

All Stressed Out

In this report, we build on our in-depth analysis yesterday of the Fed’s new stress-test scenarios to focus on their mortgage-market impact. The binding stress tests won’t make portfolio mortgage finance any easier, but they also won’t make it much worse. However, new “exploratory” stress tests will take interest-rate risk into account with particular attention to mortgages and MBS. That won’t help.

GSE-021624.pdf…