Regulatory relief

A bill passed by the House would raise the threshold that allows smaller banks and credit unions to avoid expanded Home Mortgage Disclosure Act requirements imposed by a 2015 rule.

Readers react to Mick Mulvaney launching a public review of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, weigh in on the Senate’s bill to ease some Dodd-Frank rules, opine on how the wave of GOP departures will affect banks and more.

Mark Calabria, chief economist to Vice President Mike Pence, said passage of the regulatory relief bill could be delayed as policymakers deal with other items such as budget deadlines and an infrastructure bill.

House Republicans are exiting Congress in droves ahead of the 2018 midterm elections and the stakes for the financial services industry could be significant.

Of the more than 30 GOP lawmakers due to retire at yearend — a historically significant level of departures for a single election — several are important to banking policy.

House Republicans are exiting Congress in droves ahead of the 2018 midterm elections and the stakes for the financial services industry could be significant.

The Senate Banking Committee is expected to consider the nominations of Jelena McWilliams to be FDIC chair and Marvin Goodfriend as a governor of the Federal Reserve Board.

The House Financial Services Committee held a hearing on five bills, three of which are included in the deal negotiated between Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and moderate Democrats.

The Senate Banking Committee will have two additional members in 2018: Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Doug Jones, D-Ala.

The banking industry braced for big changes with the election of President Trump, but the financial reform law has proven its staying power over the past year.

The announcement Tuesday by Sen. Orrin Hatch that he will retire at the end of the year could have a ripple effect throughout the Senate, including the leadership of the Banking Committee.

If acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney ultimately prevails in the lawsuit challenging his position, he is expected to continue implementing the most significant changes to the agency in its six-year history.

Over the past year, the focus of several banking policymakers has been how much the regulatory pendulum might swing back toward the industry’s liking. That theme will likely continue in 2018.

A regulatory relief package is likely to come out of the Senate in the new year, and lawmakers could follow it up with a housing finance reform push. But the midterm elections could cause some reform initiatives to grind to a halt.

Legislation advanced by the Senate banking panel has a good shot at passage, as long as lawmakers remain focused on helping community banks — not Wall Street.

Banking regulatory agencies Thursday announced that they would raise the aggregate loan commitment threshold for syndicated loans to be included in the Shared National Credit program from $20 million to $100 million.

The 2010 law does very little to constrain regulatory power, explaining why Republicans pushed for reforms during the Obama presidency and why, under President Trump, Democrats are so vigorously opposing agency management changes.

The House Financial Services Committee passed 13 bills (and scrapped a vote on one) Wednesday, including one that would stop Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from being released by the government and another hailed as helping the underbanked in rural areas.

House and Senate bills contain a provision that would let financial firms in all states use digital scans of photo IDs to verify identities of prospective customers. That could ease the account-opening process for consumers in areas where branches are few and far between.

House and Senate bills contain a provision that would let financial firms in all states use digital scans of photo IDs to verify identities of prospective customers. That could ease the account-opening process for consumers in areas where branches are few and far between.