A group of 13 Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee, including South Dakota's Sen. Mike Rounds, on Tuesday urged the federal banking agencies to accelerate implementation of regulatory reforms made by the S. 2155 reform law, as well as other reforms that they said would enhance economic growth. “More can still be done to support the economic expansion,” they wrote.
Among outstanding S. 2155 action items, the senators called for the agencies to use the discretion provided by Congress to finalize the community bank leverage ratio at 8%, rather than 9% as proposed; to make the short-form Call Report more streamlined; to simplify their proposal to revise the Volcker Rule; and to “significantly simplify” stress testing for banks with assets of $100-250 billion.
The senators also called for agencies to assist banks during the transition to the current expected credit loss model for loan loss accounting, tailor regulations for U.S. operations of banks headquartered abroad, index regulatory thresholds to rise automatically over time, guard the line between rules and guidance and address the challenge to the “valid when made” doctrine rejected by a federal appellate court. Read the letter.