House Financial Services panel advances fintech, housing bills

WASHINGTON — The House Financial Services Committee approved a bill to enable coordination between state and federal regulators on examining banks' third-party vendor relationships among a series of votes by the panel Tuesday.

The committee also moved legislation that would create an independent financial technology task force. Both the vendor and fintech bills passed unanimously.

Meanwhile, the committee also passed a more partisan measure that would amend the Truth in Lending Act to clarify that the points and fees in connection with a mortgage loan do not include certain compensation amounts already taken into account in setting the interest rate on a loan.

Rep. Ted Budd
Representative Ted Budd, a Republican from North Carolina, sits while chairing a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017. The hearing was titled Examining the Equifax Data Breach. Equifax Inc., already reeling from American probes into the loss of data on 145.5 million customers in a computer hack, will face an investigation in the U.K., where 694,000 consumers had information stolen.  Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

State regulators lauded the passage of the Bank Service Company Examination Coordination Act, saying it would eliminate duplication in exams of third-party technology service providers.

The bill “will make both state and federal oversight more efficient and effective and reduce regulatory burden,” said John Ryan, CEO of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, in a statement following the markup.

The Financial Technology Protection Act, introduced by Rep. Ted Budd, R-N.C., would establish a task force to improve coordination between the private and public sectors to research and develop legislative and regulatory proposals to decrease terrorist and illicit use of new financial technologies, including digital currencies.

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Fintech regulations House Financial Services Committee CSBS
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