Thompson Reiterates Need for Climate-Risk Reduction
Acting FHFA Director Thompson today reiterated her near-term climate-risk agenda initially noted when FSOC put out its report (see Client Report GREEN11).
Comment Date Set for FHFA SCB Proposal
The Federal Register today includes FHFA’s proposed capital plan and stress capital buffer (SCB) for Fannie and Freddie, with comment now due February 25.
Flood Gates Open on CFPB Bigtech Policy
The Federal Register today includes the CFPB’s notice regarding its bigtech orders, with comment now due December 6. The short comment deadline reflects the speed with which the Bureau is pursuing bigtech data; the October 21 orders require companies to submit data by December 15.
Markey, Merkley Bill Seeks End to Big Bank Brown Finance
Sens. Markey (D-MA) and Merkley (D-OR) have introduced legislation to force the FRB to mandate that banks with greater than $50 billion in assets and all nonbank SIFIs submit plans describing how they will cut their financing for fossil fuel emissions by fifty percent by 2030 and then do so completely by 2050.
Fed Acknowledge Climate Threat, Avoids Near-Term Commitments
The Federal Reserve today supported the most recent NGFS statement on global central-bank climate initiatives, emphasizing that the global statement allows each central bank to tailor its climate-risk efforts to its mandate and that the Fed’s mandate circumscribes efforts it recognizes to be of great importance.
Omarova Nomination Clears Formal Hurdle
Late yesterday, the White House officially nominated Saule Omarova as the next Comptroller of the Currency. As previously noted, we view this appointment to be part of a larger political negotiation over Jay Powell’s second term and the broader slate of Fed nominees.
Comment Date Set for FHFA Capital-Disclosure Proposal
The Federal Register today includes FHFA’s proposed capital-disclosure regime for Fannie and Freddie, with comment now due January 3. As previously noted, the proposed disclosures would better align the GSEs’ releases with those mandated for large banks, requiring transparency regarding standardized approach, operational, market, and leverage capital requirements.
OCC Climate Guidance Imminent
In his statement today supporting the NGFS Glasgow Declaration (see our earlier alert), Acting Comptroller Hsu expands on his comments about FSOC’s climate-risk report (see Client Report GREEN11).
Powell: Fed No Longer Contemplating SLR Rewrite
While FRB Chair Powell’s press conference today largely focused on the economy and monetary policy, he was also asked if the Fed still plans to seek comment on ways the SLR could be adjusted to increase Treasury-market liquidity.
FRB-NY Climate Stress Test Reveals Large Capital Shortfalls
A new Federal Reserve Bank of New York paper proposes a climate stress-test methodology which, when deployed, finds significant systemic risk due to large bank capital shortfalls during periods of sharp transition risk.
Timeline Set for GSE Capital Rewrite
The Federal Register today includes FHFA’s proposed changes to the GSEs capital framework. As detailed in our in-depth report, the rule would actively promote CRT and rewrite the leverage ratio, making risk-based capital the GSEs’ binding constraint.
Gensler Ramps Predictive-Analytics Threat Up to Systemic Risk
Following his Senate Banking appearance earlier this month (see Client Report INVESTOR18), SEC Chairman Gensler today reiterated his focus on digital engagement practices (DEPs), warning that predictive data analytics could increase systemic risk due to increased data- source concentration, herding, and interconnectedness.
McHenry Attacks Treasury for “Social Agenda,” Warns of Chinese Threat
Ahead of Treasury Secretary Yellen’s appearance before HFSC this Thursday, Ranking Member McHenry (R-PA) blasted Biden administration financial policy on grounds that it advantages China at cost to U.S. national interest.
Path Paved for Interagency CRA Rule
The Federal Register today includes the OCC’s proposal to replace its controversial Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rule (see Client Report CRA28) with the 1995 interagency CRA standard until pending inter-agency work on a new regime is complete.
Is the SEC Planning a Push-Out Pull Back?
As we noted, SEC Chairman Gensler’s written Senate Banking testimony included a short – but very significant – statement prioritizing Commission review of key fixed-income market sectors.