FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
Senate Banking Committee advances Clarity Act
The Senate Banking Committee voted 15-9 to advance a market structure bill for digital assets. The American Bankers Association, Independent Community Bankers of America, IBA and other groups continued to urge for further tightening of the prohibition on interest-like rewards for holding stablecoin.
House releases text of amended housing bill ahead of vote
House leadership has released the text of its amendment for a bipartisan housing bill ahead of a possible vote on the legislation next week.
Senate confirms Warsh as Fed chairman
The Senate voted 54-45 to confirm Kevin Warsh as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve. The Senate confirmed his appointment to the Fed board on Tuesday.
House passes bills to streamline community bank reg burden
The House passed several industry-advocated bills focused on streamlining community bank regulation.
By voice vote, the House this week passed:
- The Smart Act (H.R. 4437), which provides well-managed and well-capitalized financial institutions under $6 billion in assets with regulatory relief, such as alternating limited-scope examinations and a combined safety-and-soundness exam and consumer compliance exam.
- The TRUST Act (H.R. 4478), which raises the consolidated asset threshold from $3 billion to $6 billion for banks to qualify for an 18-month examination cycle.
- The Advancing the Mentor-Protégé Program for Small Financial Institutions Act (H.R. 3709), which would establish a Treasury Financial Agent program enabling partnerships between minority depository institutions, rural community banks, and other financial institutions.
House committee advances industry supported bills
Four bills on advanced technologies in fraud detection and artificial intelligence passed out of the House Financial Services Committee with bipartisan support.
During a markup, the committee voted:
- 52-0 to advance the AI PLAN Act (H.R. 2152), which would require the Treasury, Homeland Security, and Commerce departments to issue a report describing interagency policies, procedures, and resources for combating the use of artificial intelligence in the commission of financial crimes, including fraud.
- 52-0 for the GUARD Act (H.R. 2978), a bill that would permit state, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies that receive eligible federal grant funds to use such funds for investigating elder financial fraud, pig butchering, and general financial fraud.
- 52-0 on the Fostering the Use of Technology to Uphold Regulatory Effectiveness in Supervision Act (H.R. 8278), which would require the federal financial agencies to assess how their existing technologies pose challenges in conducting adequate, real-time supervisory assessments of entities over which they have supervisory authority.
- 52-1 to advance the Bank Fraud Technology Advancement Act (H.R. 8671), a bill that would require the federal banking agencies to conduct a study on the use of advanced technologies in fraud detection and prevention, with particular attention to community banks.