Regulation

Lawmakers and the credit union regulator have packed schedules this week as both groups attempt to wrap up their 2020 business before the holidays.

The defense spending bill includes language requiring businesses to report their owners to Fincen.

The agency's principals are scheduled to meet Dec. 15 to vote on a new definition for brokered deposits and on regulatory standards for industrial bank parents.

The credit union regulator's monthly meeting will cover the agency's budget proposal and subordinated debt, among other items, along with taking another shot at an overdraft proposal that was rejected earlier this year.

The consumer bureau's revamp of criteria for "qualified mortgages," a special regulatory class of loans free from liability, emphasizes pricing instead of a borrower's debt-to-income ratio.

A defense spending package includes a measure requiring new businesses to report their beneficial owners directly to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, shifting the burden away from banks.

Executives from U.S. banks continue to play down near-term expectations, but they say customers are growing more confident ahead of the rollout of coronavirus vaccines, and that key commercial lending segments could drive an economic rebound.

Brooklyn-based federal prosecutors will staff a new task force to investigate and charge corporations and individuals who use the U.S. banking system to launder money, setting up a bigger role in white-collar cases that have historically been dominated by their Manhattan counterparts.

It includes simpler Paycheck Protection Program forgiveness and a consistent approach from federal regulators to reforming the Community Reinvestment Act, says Bank of America's Christine Channels, who chairs the Consumer Bankers Association's board.

The Maryland Democrat served five terms in the U.S. Senate, a 30-year tenure in which he was chairman of the Senate Banking Committee when it responded to a rash of accounting scandals. He didn’t seek a sixth term and retired on Jan. 3, 2007.