Regulatory reform

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.

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.

House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters urged the incoming administration to overhaul policies on payday lending and the Community Reinvestment Act and make personnel changes at two agencies.

Banking trade organizations are usually cautious about making endorsements. But with Democrats winning the White House and control of Congress on the line in the two races, some groups are pouring in cash for the GOP candidates.

The Bank Policy Institute submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency requesting the agency's analysis used in crafting the plan.

The reduction marks the third time in three years the agency has cut annual fees for national banks.

Community banks that were pushed past key asset limits by the Paycheck Protection Program say they will be unable to shrink their balance sheets back to normal size by the 2022 deadline, especially if there is a new round of rescue aid.

The plan still lacks concrete details about standards banks must meet to earn high ratings, but the agency said the new methodology would end grade inflation and could penalize banks that underperform.

Participation in the Paycheck Protection Program and other emergency lending during the pandemic has swelled many small banks’ balance sheets. Federal regulators are giving them a temporary pass on supervisory requirements tied to their size.

Banks are responsible for reporting their business customers' beneficial owners, but a bill that would shift that anti-money-laundering duty to businesses themselves has been added to a must-pass defense spending package.