Title I

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) recently announced that it will push back the compliance date for its current expected credit loss (CECL) standard again for most lenders.

Specifically, the delay would apply to small reporting companies (as defined by the SEC), non-SEC public companies and private companies.

Find out more details about the delay and a new interagency policy statement on CECL changes.

Saying that Congress is “long overdue” to work together on legislation to prevent money laundering and counter terrorism financing, a group of financial services trade associations wrote House leaders in support of two bills expected to get votes this week.

The bills would create a national database that banks could use to verify a business’s beneficial ownership information and modernize the existing Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)/Anti-Money Laundering (AML) framework by enhancing bank-law enforcement communications.

Read on for more details of the associations’ outreach.

The Federal Reserve recently finalized rules establishing a tailored framework for regulations applying to domestic and foreign banks.

The rules are designed to more closely match institutions’ risk profiles, reducing compliance requirements for firms with less risk while maintaining the most stringent requirements for the largest and most complex institutions.

Get more details about the implications of the newly finalized rules.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a final rule to dramatically increase the threshold for national banks and federal savings associations to be covered by the OCC’s Dodd-Frank Act stress testing.

The agency considered recommendations pertaining to the testing requirements and the frequency with which the tests are conducted.

Read on for more information about the rule, which aligns with financial reform legislation passes last year.

In a move that has major implications for mortgage lenders and appraisers, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency finalized a joint rule to increase the threshold for residential real estate transactions requiring an appraisal from $250,000 to $400,000.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s required letter weighing in on the measure closely reflected contentions put forth by financial institutions and the trade associations.

Learn more details about the final rule and stakeholder reactions.

To enact the level of regulatory relief intended by Congress, several legislators and the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) have demonstrated that they are in sync in believing federal banking regulators should finalize joint rulemaking setting the community bank leverage ratio (CBLR) at 8 percent.

Eighteen Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee wrote to federal regulators, urging them to enact the 8 percent CBLR, rather than the 9 percent ratio the agencies proposed in November 2018.

Read on for more details about their reasoning.

The Senate has voted to extend Michelle “Miki” Bowman’s tenure as the first person to hold the Federal Reserve Board’s seat designated for a person with community banking experience for a full 14-year term.

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) welcomed the news, having strongly supported Bowman’s nomination to join the Fed prior to her confirmation in November 2018 and urged the president to renominate her to a full term.

Find out more about Bowman’s renomination and her views on regulation.

Bankers’ calls for a tailored, streamlined approach to enforcing the regulatory framework implementing Section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Act provision, commonly known as the “Volcker Rule,” have been answered by a newly finalized joint agency rule revising provisions governing banks’ ability to engage in proprietary investment activities.

Regulators and banking industry advocates assert that the final rule will bring appropriate regulatory relief to the banking industry without compromising safety and soundness. However, credit union advocates and consumer groups have cast doubts on the latter notion.

Learn more details about the newly finalized rule.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) recently proposed a new methodology for calculating interest rate restrictions for entities considered not to be well-capitalized insured depository institutions.

Per the FDIC’s notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR), the national rate would be the weighted average of rates offered on a given deposit product by all reporting institutions weighted by domestic deposit share.

Find out more about the proposal and how to comment.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has announced plans to amend its rules for assessing partial refunds owed to national banks, federal thrifts and federal branches of foreign banks that leave OCC jurisdiction before the end of the six-month assessment period.

The American Bankers Association said the rule would improve fairness in the refund policy.

Find out more details about the amendments.