#Rosenberg – Federal Financial Analytics

13 12, 2023

DAILY121323

Eliza Allen2023-12-13T16:50:12-05:00December 13th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

HFSC Oversight Subcomm Revisits Iran Sanctions

Today’s HFSC Oversight Subcommittee hearing focused on the Biden Administration’s recent efforts to limit terrorist funding from Iran. Chairman Huizenga (R-MI) questioned the need for the November 14^th renewal of a waiver that allows Iraq to pay Iran for electricity, calling for increased pressure on Iran following Hamas’s October 7^th attack.

SEC Sets Out Treasury Central-Clearing Construct

As anticipated, the SEC this morning voted 4-1 to mandate central clearing for Treasury securities used in many repo and reverse-repo transactions, modifying the proposal in key respects still unsatisfactory to Commissioner Peirce. The rule addresses continuing concerns about Treasury-market fragility, in part by reducing the number of highly-leveraged hedge-fund transactions.

GAO Reaches Equivocal Verdict on Digital-Asset Crypto Evasion Risk

Addressing Congressional concerns such as those in the Warren-Marshall crypto-compliance bill, the GAO today issued a report finding that digital assets pose risk to U.S. sanction implementation and enforcement despite mitigating factors that may reduce certain risks.

Brown Presses Bank CEOs on Servicemember Rights

A week after the GSIB CEOs came before the Senate Banking Committee (see Client Report GSIB23), Banking Committee Chair Brown (D-OH) today sent a letter to the CEOs of the four largest consumer banks encouraging them to ensure that active-duty servicemembers obtain all the financial benefits to which they are entitled.

Daily121323.pdf…

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…

DAILY120622

Eliza Allen2022-12-06T16:40:03-05:00December 6th, 2022|2- Daily Briefing|

FSB Again Ratifies Focus on Crypto, Climate, Macro Risks

Following its meeting today, the FSB Plenary announced 2023 priorities to be finalized in January. Focus will center on heightened monitoring of financial stability risks, enhanced NBFI and CCP resilience, work on the global crypto regulatory framework, cross-border payments reform, cyber and operational resilience, and financial risks from climate change.

FinCEN Targets De-Risking Compliance

Pointing to possible enforcement actions, Treasury Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes Elizabeth Rosenberg today noted FinCEN concerns with the extent to which institutions apply a rules-based approach to de-risking rather than a risk-based one, leaving it vulnerable to fast-changing risks and without access to valuable suspicious activity information.

Warren, GOP Senators Put Silvergate On FTX Hotseat

Reflecting at least some bipartisan agreement on the need for new crypto standards, Sens. Warren (D-MA), Kennedy (R-LA), and Marshall (R-KS) late yesterday sent a letter to the CEO of Silvergate Bank demanding detailed information regarding its relationship with FTX and FTX affiliates.

GOP Threatens Woke Asset Managers With BHC Designation

The Senate Banking GOP report today on ESG asset management contains an interesting aside about the extent to which passive ownership of banking organizations could make the three largest asset managers de facto BHCs.

Brown Fires First Shot in 2023 ILC Wars

Putting down a market for the next Congress, Senate Banking Chairman Brown and two Democratic colleagues today introduced their bill end bar ILC charters for nonbank parents.

Daily120622.pdf…