Federal banking agencies would be required to publish a rationale and comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of the differences between their proposed regulation and the “corresponding international prudential standard” under legislation approved by a House panel Wednesday.
The bill was one of several reported out by the House Financial Services Committee and sent to the floor for consideration.
The “Transparency and Accountability for Business Standards Act” (H.R. 3179, introduced by Rep. Trey Hollingsworth, R-Ind.) would call for public notice and comment for regulations issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) “whenever issuing certain prudential regulations which are substantively more stringent than corresponding international standards.”
Under the bill (which was approved on a vote of 34-26), the cost-benefit analysis must include any impact:
- on pricing and availability of credit, in the aggregate and for specific types of borrowers;
- on liquidity in markets, in the aggregate and for specific instruments;
- of the effect of the rules on affected institutions; and
- on employment, economic growth and monetary policy execution.
Also apporved by the committee for floor consideration:
- H.R. 4545, the Financial Institutions Examination Fairness Reform Act (approved 50-10 and introduced by Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Colo.)), which establishes deadlines for federal financial institution regulatory agency issuance of final exam reports and establishes the right to appeal a material supervisory determination to an Office of Independent Exam Review within the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC). This bill also establishes an appeals process that agencies can use to challenge any determinations made by Office of Independent Exam Review if the agency deems such rulings pose an “imminent threat to safety and soundness”., it was approved 50-10.
- H.R. 1457, the Making Online Banking Initiation Legal and Easy (MOBILE) Act of 2017 (approved 60-0 and also introduced by Rep. Tipton) authorizes a financial institution, upon an individual’s request, to record personal information from a scan, copy, or image of such individual’s driver’s license or personal identification card and store the information electronically for the purpose of verifying the identity of a customer and preventing fraud or criminal activity, and requires the financial institution to delete the image after using it for the permitted purpose.
- H.R. 4464, the Common Sense Credit Union Capital Relief Act of 2017 (introduced by Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.)) was approved by the committee, 33-25. The bill would erase a 2015 rule that would sets net worth and risk-based capital standards for “complex credit unions.” The rule is scheduled to take effect in 2019.
- H.R. 435, the Credit Access and Inclusion Act of 2017 (approved 60-0, and introduced by Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the bill amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to authorize the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to furnish consumer credit reports to include an individual’s payment history from: (1) housing rental payments including on HUD subsidized properties and (2) payment history for utility and telecommunications contracts.
- H.R. 2219, End Banking for Human Traffickers Act (approved 59-0, and introduced by Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif)., the bill is intended to help law enforcement and financial institutions identify and report suspected human traffickers so they can be prosecuted. The bill adds the Treasury Secretary to the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking, requires the task force to submit recommendations to Congress for the revision of anti-money laundering (AML)programs to specifically target money laundering related to human trafficking, requires the FFIEC to review and enhance procedures to improve AML programs to target human trafficking operations, and requirea the State Department to report on efforts to eliminate money laundering related to human trafficking and the number of investigations, arrests, indictments, and convictions in money laundering cases related to human trafficking.
- H.R. 2948, amends the S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 (introduced by Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio) to provide a temporary license for loan originators moving from a financial institution to a state-licensed non-bank originator, or moving interstate to a state-licensed loan originator in another state.