#FTX – Federal Financial Analytics

17 08, 2023

DAILY081723

Eliza Allen2023-08-17T16:29:37-04:00August 17th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Fed Finally Deploys Source-of-Strength Authority

In its first action imposing source-of-strength requirements in recent high-risk situations, the Federal Reserve today issued an enforcement action against FTX-connected Farmington State Bank and its holdco, FBH Corp. The action cites improper changes to the bank’s business plan without notifying or receiving prior supervisory approval and prohibits capital distributions as well as engaging in share repurchases, dissipating cash assets, or acquiring additional brokered deposits without prior supervisory approval. It also stipulates that Farmington and FBH preserve records and submit compliance progress reports.

Daily081723.pdf…

2 03, 2023

DAILY030223

Eliza Allen2023-03-03T17:11:19-05:00March 2nd, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Senate GOP Reiterates Anti-Woke Demands

At the same time as the Senate passed a resolution overturning the Labor Department’s rule authorizing pension ESG investments, Sens. Rubio (R-FL), Cruz (R-TX), Cramer (R-ND), Cotton (R-AR), Blackburn (TN), and Scott (R-FL) reintroduced legislation (S. 583) to permit the FDIC to terminate the insured status of depository institutions refusing to provide services to Federal contractors.

HFSC GOP Reams CFPB Late-Fee Proposal

Seventeen HFSC Republicans sent a letter late yesterday to CFPB Director Chopra strongly protesting the Bureau’s recent NPR targeting credit card late fees (see FSM Report CREDITCARD36).

Gensler Boosts SEC Custody Rewrite

SEC Chairman Gensler today reiterated and emphasized his strong support for the agency’s proposal to rewrite the rules governing custody services (see FSM Report CUSTODY5), arguing that they would strengthen safeguards and provide a much-needed expansion to the protections qualified custodians provide.

Bipartisan Senators Target Another Crypto Culprit

Following Sen. Warren’s (D-MA) pledge to introduce bipartisan legislation extending AML protections to crypto firms (see Client Report CRYPTO39), Sens. Warren, Van Hollen (D-MD), and Marshall (R-KS) sent letters yesterday to the leadership of the crypto platform Binance, alleging that the company built an intentionally opaque corporate structure to circumvent securities and AML laws and facilitate money laundering and sanctions evasion.

Brown Demands Branch-Closure Hearings, Merger Policy

In the midst of what may well be negotiations over the nomination of Michael Hsu as Comptroller and continuing controversies over big-bank mergers, Senate Banking Chairman Brown (D-OH) today wrote …

10 02, 2023

DAILY021023

Eliza Allen2023-02-10T17:02:31-05:00February 10th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Waller Reiterates Fed’s Wary Cryptoasset Policy

In remarks today, FRB Governor Waller reiterated the Fed’s wary approach to cryptoassets, repeating the Fed’s requirements (see FSM Report CRYPTO31) for banks that wish to engage with crypto customers or activities. Following the collapse of FTX and its ripple effect on banks such as Silvergate (see Client Report CRYPTO38), Mr. Waller stressed that banks engaging with crypto customers must have a thorough understanding of their client’s business models, risk management systems and corporate governance.

Hsu Reprises, Expands Bank Merger Reform

In remarks today, the OCC Chief Counsel on behalf of Acting Comptroller Hsu stressed the need to update competition metrics, financial stability considerations, and community assessments in bank merger reviews, but gave no indication of when new merger policy may be finalized. Mr. Hsu argued that while HHI is an objective and transparent metric, it is no longer suitable for measuring competition because its deposit share-based approach fails to capture the competitive effect of nonbanks and online banking.

FHFA Outlines Substantive FHLB Reform Agenda

As anticipated earlier this week, FHFA Director Thompson today called the status quo of the FHLB system unacceptable and said that FHFA will make “meaningful” recommendations to improve the sector. This will take shape in a report following completion of FHFA’s roundtable series concluding in March. FHFA’s report will make statutory recommendations to Congress and lay out its own regulatory objectives, perhaps starting with an ANPR and/or regulatory guidance or supervisory actions.

Daily021023.pdf…

24 01, 2023

DAILY012423

Eliza Allen2023-01-24T16:47:35-05:00January 24th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

FSB Chair Presses Need to Finalize Global Crypto Standards

In remarks today, FSB Chair Klaas Knot reiterated FSB’s 2023 priorities regarding NBFI, crypto, and climate change risks, also emphasizing that the FSB seeks to improve financial resilience rather than predicting the cause of the next financial crisis.

McHenry, Hill Suggest Crypto Action Plan

In a new tweet, HFSC Chairman McHenry (R-NC) emphasized the crypto plan he discussed earlier in a media interview.

Brown, Van Hollen Press Tough TLAC, Regional-Bank Resolvability Rule

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Brown (D-OH) and Sen. Van Hollen (D-MD) sent a letter to FDIC Chairman Gruenberg and FRB Vice Chair Barr late yesterday praising the agencies’ recent ANPR on large bank resolution standards (see FSM Report RESOLVE48), calling for TLAC that prevents taxpayer bailouts in the event of failure.

CFPB Kicks Off Credit Card Regulatory Rewrite

Following its credit card late-fee notice of proposed rulemaking (see FSM Report CREDITCARD35), the CFPB today sought comment on the credit card sector as a whole for its biennial review of the industry.

Daily012423.pdf…

13 01, 2023

AL011623

Eliza Allen2023-01-13T16:42:19-05:00January 13th, 2023|3- This Week|

Tumult in the House

As is patently clear from all the discourse following Kevin McCarthy’s fifteenth ballot win for the House gavel, the “lower body” has taken a few shots across its institutional knee-cap. However, we think experienced House Members with ambitions for higher office along with affinity for strongly-conservative policies will find a way to move legislation on the GOP side of the aisle. Less clear is what Democrats will do given the Speaker’s pledge to bring every bill to the floor on an open rule – a procedure allowing them considerable scope both for substantive legislative change and political theater. If the Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) thinks his party’s bread is buttered on the side of showing it can govern, some bills will move forward without toxic Democratic change; if not, not. All is, thus, a muddle in which there may well be a middle.

Al011623.pdf…

10 01, 2023

American Banker, Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Arezou Rafikian2023-01-11T11:01:42-05:00January 10th, 2023|Press Clips|

Silvergate Bank loaded up on $4.3 billion in FHLB advances

By Kate Berry

When depositors began pulling money out of Silvergate Capital Corp. following the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, the California bank shored up its liquidity by tapping a quasi-government agency not typically known as a lender of last resort. Silvergate received $4.3 billion from the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco late last year, company filings show….”What the $4.3 billion to Silvergate went to in terms of mission is a very intriguing question,” said Karen Petrou, managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics. “The housing mission of the Home Loan banks is apparently long gone, since this has nothing to do with housing. It has to do with supplementing wholesale funding sources for banks that can’t happen any other way or at greater cost.”

https://www.americanbanker.com/news/silvergate-bank-loaded-up-on-4-3-billion-in-fhlb-advances

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16 12, 2022

Al121922

Eliza Allen2022-12-16T17:21:25-05:00December 16th, 2022|3- This Week|

Crypto Gets Lumps of Coal From Congress

As we detailed last week, the House Financial Services Committee and Senate Banking tackled not just FTX’s meteoric plunge, but also policies to respond to it and broad problems across the cryptosphere (see Client Report CRYPTO36). Although nothing substantive will happen regarding new digital-finance law in what’s left of this Congress, these hearings lay a strong platform on which new debate on digital-finance reform will proceed early in 2023. Whether there will be new law remains an open question – as we noted, Senate Banking Chairman Brown (D-OH) one day said he wants to craft some and then the next returned to calling on Secretary Yellen to write a raft of new regulations. Still, we think that there will be new law – and not just to ensure AML compliance along the lines included in the Warren-Marshall bill – because we expect HFSC under incoming Chairman McHenry (R-NC) to advance one that, at least for now, might well pass the bitterly-divided House. To be sure, Democrats will balk at anything that hamstrings the SEC, but there is growing agreement on how best to redefine digital finance so it is the innovation Republicans espouse without posing the risks Democrats decry.

Al121922.pdf…

16 12, 2022

DAILY121622

Eliza Allen2022-12-16T17:19:37-05:00December 16th, 2022|2- Daily Briefing|

GHOS Presses Speedy Bank-Crypto Capital Standards

Basel’s governing body, the Governors and Heads of Supervision, today endorsed the Committee’s planned work schedule.

Fed Finally Finalizes LIBOR Transition Regs

Narrowly ahead of its year-end statutory deadline, the Federal Reserve today issued a final version of its detailed proposal (see FSM Report LIBOR8) to implement the LIBOR Act’s provisions on replacement rates for existing contracts without fallback language (see FSM Report LIBOR7).

Regulators Highlight P2P, Crypto, NBFI Risks at FSOC Meeting

Although most of the FSOC’s discussion today of the LIBOR transition and climate risks was perfunctory, comments on the now-released 2022 Treasury annual report were not.

McHenry, Davidson Point to Forex-Clearing Systemic Risk

Picking up a recent BIS report finding at least $65 trillion at risk in off-balance sheet foreign-exchange clearing, incoming HFSC Chairman McHenry (R-NC) and the top Republican on the panel’s fintech task force, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH), called on Fed Chairman Powell and Secretary Yellen to investigate what they consider a looming risk to U.S. financial stability.

Chopra Presses Cloud-Service Provider, Stablecoin Systemic Designation

CFPB Chairman Chopra’s written statement for the FSOC meeting is considerably different than the oral one described in our earlier client alert.

Daily121622.pdf…

13 12, 2022

DAILY121322

Eliza Allen2022-12-13T17:08:34-05:00December 13th, 2022|2- Daily Briefing|

Glimmers of 2023 Policy Emerge in HFSC FTX Autopsy

As anticipated, today’s HFSC session fixated on the intricacies of FTX’s bankruptcy and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s arrest. Incoming Chairman McHenry (R-NC) supported the need for extensive regulation and new law but stressed separating the promise of crypto innovation from fraud committed by bad actors and again slammed the SEC’s strategy of “regulation by enforcement.”

FDIC Again Targets False Advertising, Logo Usage

Moving beyond its last effort at ending misrepresentation of deposit-insurance status (see FSM Report DEPOSITINSURANCE112), the FDIC Board today voted unanimously to issue for public comment a proposed modernization of how the FDIC logo is to be displayed and expand on prior efforts to block crypto firms from implying that they are insured. We will soon provide clients with an in-depth analysis of the NPR, which also follows a CFPB circular (see FSM Report DEPOSITINSURANCE113) on FDIC insurance status misrepresentations in May.

Gruenberg, FDIC Nominees Set for Confirmation

As anticipated, Senate Banking today confirmed the Administration’s slate of FDIC directors, positioning them for approval before adjournment and thus giving the agency a full board for the first time in years. Acting Chairman Gruenberg was approved 13-11, with Sen. Toomey (R-PA) voting for him despite strong objections likely to ensure final action this year on the entire slate.

Daily121322.pdf…

12 12, 2022

DAILY121222

Eliza Allen2022-12-12T17:13:47-05:00December 12th, 2022|2- Daily Briefing|

FTX Hearings Promise to be Explosive but Preliminary

Our review of HFSC’s final staff memo for tomorrow’s FTX hearing confirms our forecast that it will be a lengthy, contentious affair at which Sam Bankman Fried will be raked over the coals after current management that has already excoriated him completes its testimony. We will monitor this hearing as well as Wednesdays before Senate Banking, but we expect that policy and political implications will come clear only after Members of Congress have finished attempting to score points specific to FTX.

HFSC Previews Chopra Hearings

In addition to high-profile crypto hearings, both HFSC and Senate Banking will also have lively sessions with CFPB Director Chopra later this week as he presents his agency’s semi-annual report.

CFPB Again Targets Repeat Offenders in Nonbank Registry Proposal

Taking another shot at repeat offenders, the CFPB today proposed requiring certain nonbank financial firms to report any agency or court orders, which would then be incorporated in a public data registry to create a comprehensive and easily accessible information equivalent to that readily to be found on banking organizations. Larger, supervised nonbanks will also be required to designate a senior executive to provide a written attestation of the firm’s compliance with covered orders.

Daily121222.pdf…