Multiple rules finalized by federal regulators have been subject to criticism from financial trade advocates and, in some cases, efforts to nullify their impact via the Congressional Review Act (CRA). Financial trade advocates have voiced opposition to several of these rules.
Find out where certain trade organizations stand with respect to some of these issues in this roundup:
Trades urge Congress to overturn SEC treatment of crypto custody assets
The American Bankers Association , the Bank Policy Institute and two other trade associations wrote in support of a House bill seeking to overturn President Joe Biden’s veto of a CRA resolution nullifying a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) staff accounting bulletin implementing new expectations for how banks and other publicly traded entities when accounting for digital assets held in custody.
The resolution, H.J. Res. 109, passed the House and Senate with bipartisan support in May. Biden said the SEC’s rule was intended to allow the agency to set guardrails and address future issues related to crypto custody assets, which is why he vetoed the motion to overturn it. The trade groups argued in their letter to Congress that the rule curbs member banks’ ability to develop and bring to market at scale certain digital asset products and services. The resolution requires support from two-thirds of the House and Senate to overturn the president’s veto. Learn more here.
Banks urge FinCEN to consider revisions to SAR reporting requirements
Multiple trade associations wrote to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) urging the agency to lesson the burden of filing suspicious activity reports (SARs). The Bank Policy Institute, the Financial Technology Association, the Independent Community Bankers of America, the American Gaming Association and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association argued the process of filling out SARs takes up far more time and resources at financial institutions than indicated by government estimates.
“We believe that FinCEN’s burden estimate of 1.98 hours per SAR substantially underestimates the amount of time required to thoroughly undergo the reviews and processes required under applicable requirements to file a SAR,” the trades wrote. “An institution’s process is not just the mechanical process of generating, submitting, and storing the SAR. This process includes the time dedicated to investigating the underlying reason for filing a SAR, obtaining and reviewing supporting documentation, conducting a second review, obtaining necessary approvals, documenting the investigation and decision process, and overseeing the process of filing a SAR. These steps are integral to the filing of a SAR and cannot be completed if any step in the process is excluded.”
ACU reiterates opposition to Fed interchange proposal
America’s Credit Unions (ACU) President and CEO Jim Nussle reiterated the credit union industry’s staunch opposition to the Federal Reserve’s debit interchange proposal in letters to lawmakers in the House and Senate ahead of Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s Monetary Policy Report to Congress.
“This proposal is seriously flawed. A skewed methodology for assessing base component costs fails to give appropriate weight to the cost experience of most covered issuers, especially credit unions,” Nussle wrote. “Additionally, the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) does not consider the market impact of recent amendments which went into effect in July 2023, requiring dual routing for card-not-present transactions. The July 2023 amendments and resulting changes in merchant routing behavior will have a direct bearing on the overall monetary impact of the revised interchange fee cap for both covered and exempt issuers.”
Read Nussle’s full letter here and find out what Powell had to say about Basel III Endgame during the hearing here.
Hsu applauds ICBA Check Fraud Task Force
Speaking about the topic of fraud during a public meeting of the Treasury Department’s Financial Literacy and Education Commission, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu cited the Independent Community Bankers of America’s (ICBA) formation of a Check Fraud Task Force and a work group open to institutions across the financial sector as positive steps forward. Check fraud was a topic of discussion in an article by ICBA’s Scott Anchin about Target’s decision to stop accepting checks and a recent episode of the “Independent Banker” podcast. Learn more here.