#Warnock – Federal Financial Analytics

31 01, 2024

DAILY013124

Eliza Allen2024-01-31T16:57:15-05:00January 31st, 2024|2- Daily Briefing|

Senate Banking Turns to AI’s Impact on Housing Finance

Today’s lightly-attended Senate Banking Subcommittee hearing on AI and Housing focused principally on AI governance issues including accountability, model explainability, transparency, and bias. Sen. Warnock (D-GA) called for action on S. 3692, legislation to prohibit use of algorithmic systems to coordinate – and it is believed thus inflate – rental prices or reduce supply. Although Subcommittee Chairwoman Smith (D-MN) lauded AI for its potential to boost the housing supply, she and other Democrats raised serious concerns that AI reinforces biases in lending decisions.

Democrats Remain Dubious About the Capital Proposal

Today’s Financial Institutions Subcommittee hearing on the capital rules made it still more clear that more than a few Democrats share at least some GOP concerns. Chair Barr (R-KY) reiterated points he has frequently made about the poor analytics behind the proposal; Full Committee Ranking Member Waters (D-CA) and Rep. Green (D-TX) were unequivocal in their support. Other Democrats raised concerns many had previously expressed in comment letters, with Rep. Sherman (D-CA) pointing to problems with the proposal’s impact on capital markets and its lack of credit for private mortgage insurance and Rep. Beatty (D-OH) highlighting concerns with small business credit availability.

Daily013124.pdf…

26 07, 2023

DAILY072623

Eliza Allen2023-07-26T16:37:20-04:00July 26th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Senate Democrats Stand Firm On “Junk Fee” Campaign

Today’s lightly-attended Senate Banking Financial Institutions Subcommittee hearing on banking and consumer fees showcased broad Democratic alignment with the Administration’s “junk fees” campaign and persistent Republican aversion to this effort as well as to the CFPB.

CFPB Flags UDAAP, Other Problematic Practices for Enforcement

The CFPB’s latest supervisory report not only details recent actions and priorities, but also expressly stipulates that certain activities identified in the course of supervision that have yet to be addressed by formal agency action are UDAAP.

SEC Targets AI Advice

Acting as anticipated following Gary Gensler’s fiery talk last week about AI risk, the SEC today voted 3-2 to propose new rules curtailing what it believes to be broker dealer and investment-adviser conflicts of interest due to predictive analytics.

Crypto-Jurisdiction Bill to Advance; Stablecoin Measure Likely to do so Tomorrow

Chairman McHenry (R-NC) and Ranking Member Waters (D-CA) announced at today’s HFSC markup that bipartisan negotiations on the committee’s stablecoin bill continue and despite the absence of any breakthrough.

DOJ Officials Seeks Merger Answers

In remarks today, Policy Director David Lawrence of DOJ’s Antitrust Division went beyond new, draft DOJ/FTC merger guidelines (see FSM Report MERGER12) to lay out questions on which the agencies particularly seek answers.

Powell Stresses Bank Discount Window Readiness

FRB Chairman Powell’s press conference today focused almost entirely on monetary policy, but the chair agreed that the discount window performed badly during the recent crisis and that banks need to …

25 03, 2022

Daily032522

Arezou Rafikian2023-03-27T16:04:54-04:00March 25th, 2022|2- Daily Briefing|

Fed Puts Off Finalizing New DIHC Framework
The FRB today extended the comment deadline on a longstanding proposal crafting a new regulatory framework for depository institution holding companies principally engaged in insurance services.

CFPB Wants to Hear More re Pricing Practices
Saying it has been swamped with consumer tales about “junk fees,” the CFPB today extended the comment deadline until April 11 on its request for views on this hot topic.

Bipartisan Crypto Construct Harder to Build than Describe
On a Politico webcast last night, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) announced a bipartisan alliance to craft cryptoasset standards they expect to see on the Senate floor by year-end.

Waller Still Wants Little to Do with a CBDC
At a feisty panel today, FRB Gov. Chris Waller stood by his view that a CBDC is “a solution in search of a problem.”

Senate Democrats Demand Overdraft-Fee Fix
Sen. Rev. Warnock (D-GA) and Chairman Brown (D-OH) joined other Democrats demanding lower or eliminated overdraft fees.

FDIC Starts Process of Revising Bank-Merger Policy

The FDIC today has officially released the bank-merger RFI that now-Acting Chairman Gruenberg and CFPB Director Chopra sought to release under Chair Jelena McWilliams.

Daily032522.pdf…

24 09, 2021

GSE-092421

Arezou Rafikian2023-08-03T11:07:28-04:00September 24th, 2021|4- GSE Activity Report|

Twenty Years Long and What Do You Get?

According to a group of Senate Democrats, the answer to this question for a new class of federally-backed mortgages is “out of debt.” A new bill thus creates 20-year FRMs with 30-year FRM amortization schedules for low-income, first-generation borrowers. Treasury would then make up the difference to lenders and investors.

GSE-092421.pdf…