#Regional Bank

30 05, 2023

Daily053023

2023-05-30T17:13:13-04:00May 30th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Fed Study Validates Bank/Shadow-Bank Interconnections, Systemic Risk

A new study by staff from the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston and New York evaluates the banking-sector impact of fire sales across multiple NBFI segments, finding numerous bank vulnerabilities to nonbanks not only through direct exposures, but also through complex, indirect channels.

McHenry Protests U.S. Outbound-Investment Constraints

HFSC Chairman McHenry (R-NC) sent a letter to Secretary Yellen late Friday demanding information about a potential executive order that would enable CFIUS to prohibit or require notification of outbound investments into China, stating that the Administration’s interest in capital controls necessitates Congressional oversight.

IMF Article Calls SVB Resolution “Riskless Capitalism”

An article in the IMF’s forthcoming Finance and Development magazine issue argues that SVB’s uninsured depositors enjoyed “riskless capitalism,” concluding that high moral hazard-risks will persist without incentives for depositor due diligence.

FTC Demands Greater Debit-Card Data Access

The FTC today finalized a consent order requiring Mastercard to provide competing card networks with the customer account information necessary to process debit payments, alleging that the company illegally withheld that information to prevent merchants from using its competitors or Mastercard-branded debit cards saved in e-wallets outside of traditional networks.

Daily053023.pdf

17 05, 2023

REFORM225

2023-05-17T16:03:47-04:00May 17th, 2023|5- Client Report|

HFSC Subcommittees Plow More Ground for Supervisory Accountability, Capital Reform, Clawbacks

A joint hearing today of HFSC’s Financial Institutions and Oversight Subcommittees expanded on themes at yesterday’s full Committee session with bank regulators (see Client Report REFORM224) and Senate Banking’s session with SVB’s and SBNY’s CEOs, with First Republic’s CEO now added to the Congressional firing line.  Much in this session repeated prior themes, with Rep. Dave Scott (D-GA) going beyond prior, sharp criticism to accuse SVB’s CEO of being the worst CEO in U.S. financial history.  Democrats demanded that he give up the bonus he received the day SVB failed and he went to Hawaii, receiving little satisfaction on this score and continuing demands for clawback legislation.  Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL) continued to argue that contingent-capital instruments would ensure smooth resolutions, a position he said is shared by Chairman McHenry (R-NC) even though it supports a controversial Fed/FDIC proposal for regional-bank TLAC (see FSM Report RESOLVE48).

REFORM225.pdf

15 05, 2023

M051523

2023-05-15T11:52:42-04:00May 15th, 2023|6- Client Memo|

How An Ill-Designed Special Assessment Is Sure To Scramble The Structure Of Federal Deposit Insurance

As our forthcoming in-depth analysis will detail, the FDIC’s proposed special assessment raises a raft of policy problems not contemplated by the FDIC despite a steep price tag warranting careful thought at a time of financial instability and recessionary risk.  The FedFin analysis will detail the proposal, what the FDIC thinks, and what the proposal might do to whom, but here’s my opinion:  the FDIC’s decision to allocate blame for SVB and Signature’s failures to a select group of surviving larger banks is a politically-expedient violation of the principal of insurance and a terrible precedent for the future of federal deposit coverage.

M051523.pdf

15 05, 2023

Karen Petrou: How An Ill-Designed Special Assessment Is Sure To Scramble The Structure Of Federal Deposit Insurance

2023-05-15T11:52:36-04:00May 15th, 2023|The Vault|

As our forthcoming in-depth analysis will detail, the FDIC’s proposed special assessment raises a raft of policy problems not contemplated by the FDIC despite a steep price tag warranting careful thought at a time of financial instability and recessionary risk.  The FedFin analysis will detail the proposal, what the FDIC thinks, and what the proposal might do to whom, but here’s my opinion:  the FDIC’s decision to allocate blame for SVB and Signature’s failures to a select group of surviving larger banks is a politically-expedient violation of the principal of insurance and a terrible precedent for the future of federal deposit coverage.

First problem: the FDIC assigns blame to a large group of bigger banks even though its own analysis of the SVB and SBNY failures points to a different underlying reason for the systemic designation.  In the proposal, the FDIC targets large holdings of uninsured deposits even though both its post-mortem and the Fed’s of the two systemic failures cites bad management as the most important cause of death.  Both agencies do note the new risks posed by social-media runs that hastened the banks’ passing, but each also makes it clear that these new-age runs are an endemic challenge to bank resilience, not a risk unique to SVB and Signature or other banks with large amounts of uninsured deposits.  The FDIC proposal contains no explanation of why uninsured-depositories are the systemic rescue’s fall guys even though these deposits aren’t the cause of the two bank failures and the risks …

12 04, 2023

DAILY041223

2023-04-12T17:20:45-04:00April 12th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Hill Charts Different FDIC Course

In remarks today, newly-confirmed Republican FDIC Vice Chairman Travis Hill for the first time lays out his thinking ahead of a raft of FDIC decisions in SVB’s wake.

CFPB UDAAP Policy Now Effective

The Federal Register today includes the CFPB’s policy statement expanding the scope of the Bureau’s UDAAP framework, which is now effective upon this publication.

Scott Lays Out Housing Plan

In conjunction with advancing his Presidential campaign, Senate Banking Ranking Member Scott (R-SC) late yesterday announced his new federal housing framework via planned legislation, the Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act.

Basel Turns to Capital, LCR Revamp

The Basel Committee’s head, Pablo Hernández de Cos, today spoke out strongly against regulatory liberalization, implicitly criticizing the U.S. tailoring rules and urging jurisdictions to adhere tightly to Basel’s “multi-metric” standards given their proven value in the recent crisis.

Daily041223.pdf

16 03, 2023

DAILY031623

2023-03-16T17:11:59-04:00March 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

2023-03-15T16:58:47-04:00March 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

2023-03-15T12:48:33-04:00March 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

4 10, 2022

American Banker, Wednesday, October 4, 2022

2022-10-05T11:40:58-04:00October 4th, 2022|Press Clips|

Fed, FDIC plan for living wills sparks debate about best approach

By Kyle Campbell

New guidelines are coming for how large regional banks should prepare themselves for bankruptcies, but some policy experts are already questioning if they will go far enough. The Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued a joint statement Friday that they will provide guidance on resolution planning for banks that have at least $250 billion in assets but do not qualify as too-big-to-fail….Karen Petrou, co-founder of Federal Financial Analytics, said it is difficult to read too much into what the Fed and FDIC have in mind about specific changes to their resolution plan policies. She said it is likely that Category II and Category III banks will face more scrutiny than they currently do, albeit not as much as the G-SIBs, but little is clear beyond that. Overall, Petrou said she supports a resolution planning framework that is conducted in an orderly fashion for all relevant institutions, which the agencies seem to be calling for, rather than the current regime, which places greater scrutiny on merging firms. “That is an appropriate approach, it’s good governance,” Petrou said. “If you were doing it on a deal-by-deal basis, based on a policy issue that cuts across regional banks, it’s really unfair to target one or another bank. This needs to be done across the sector.”

https://www.americanbanker.com/news/fed-fdic-plan-for-living-wills-sparks-debate-about-best-approach

 

 

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22 08, 2022

FedFin on: FRB Crypto-Activity Constraints

2023-01-04T10:52:55-05:00August 22nd, 2022|The Vault|

Reflecting the concerns voiced in a recent executive order from President Biden and a subsequent request for views from Treasury, the Federal Reserve has joined the OCC in demanding prior notice from banking organizations that wish to undertake cryptoasset activities.  The OCC also warned national banks already engaged in these activities to ensure that they are safe and sound, but the Fed has gone farther.  It also demands that state member banks and BHCs already engaged in this sector notify their lead supervisor and ensure that…

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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