Regulatory relief

Senior congressional Democrats are concerned that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network — an arm of the Treasury Department — is dragging its feet on a rulemaking to require corporations to report their beneficial owners.

The state's Department of Financial and Professional Regulation will reduce assessments by 61% this year because of overpayments in 2020, helping state-chartered credit unions deal with economic fallout from the pandemic.

Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., has introduced legislation to make it easier for new community banks to open in areas that are underserved by the banking system.

As Fincen implements an anti-money-laundering law requiring businesses to add their beneficial owners to a new database, bankers worry they'll still be on the hook to provide that information on behalf of customers for some time.

The Department of Justice in the Trump administration hatched a plan to consider reforming its bank-merger review process, raising industry hopes about overhauling the outdated regime. But progressives want the agency to give more thought to the harm bank combinations cause consumers, including further branch closings.

The agency announced it was rescinding seven policy statements issued last year meant to help companies combat fallout from COVID-19 but that the bureau's current chief said came at the expense of consumers.

By purchasing additional assets and securities, the Federal Reserve provided the financial markets with enough liquidity to weather the pandemic recession. But with the economy starting to recover, it needs to reduce such funding before it creates dangerous bubbles over the long term, say two former bankers.

The Federal Reserve will determine within days whether to extend the easing of the supplementary leverage ratio for big banks past March 31, Chairman Jerome Powell says. And it's a couple of weeks away from announcing whether there will be limits on second-quarter dividends and buybacks, he says.

Regulations that merely reflect the beliefs of whoever’s in power undoubtedly get unwound by the next round of leaders. Policies will stand the test of time if they are focused on addressing inequalities in the financial system.

The industry wants regulators to extend a temporary measure making it easier to satisfy the supplementary leverage ratio. But Democrats’ control of the White House and Congress has given a bigger platform to those who say banks have had enough relief.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown urged regulators not to give in to industry requests to extend a temporary policy easing compliance with the supplementary leverage ratio.

Chair Jerome Powell told a congressional panel that the Federal Reserve is weighing whether to extend temporary relief from the “supplementary leverage ratio” — meant to help banks lend more during the pandemic — beyond March 31.

Congress acted first when it freed financial firms from having to disclose the beneficial owners of commercial clients. Now it's time for regulators to further ease anti-money-laundering reporting requirements by freeing them from filing duplicative or unnecessary suspicious activity reports.

Congress acted first when it freed financial firms from having to disclose the beneficial owners of commercial clients. Now it's time for regulators to further ease anti-money-laundering reporting requirements by freeing them from filing duplicative or unnecessary suspicious activity reports.

With the new Congress sworn in, trade associations are already pushing their legislative wish lists, including more regulatory oversight of fintechs and protecting the industry's tax exemption.

Congress's enactment of the defense spending bill opposed by the White House removes the final hurdle for a key anti-money-laundering provision.

In the waning days of the Trump administration, the agency issued a new legal theory of its power to let national banks evade state consumer protection laws. But some state attorneys general and consumer groups charge the federal regulator is attempting to sidestep restrictions imposed by Dodd-Frank.

The agency said it may exempt certain institutions from having to file suspicious activity reports if they have “innovative solutions intended to meet Bank Secrecy Act requirements more efficiently and effectively." But in those circumstances, law enforcement may still require SARs.

The agency’s second in-depth study of the community banking sector pointed to continued challenges for local institutions from the pandemic and other headwinds, but many smaller banks are reaping the benefits of M&A and holding their own against larger competitors in key lending categories.

The revamp of the brokered deposits framework offers relief to banks and their partners that saw the prior rule as outdated. Meanwhile, new standards for industrial loan company parents aim to clarify the bank chartering process for fintechs and other nontraditional firms.