Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee are aiming for a mid-February markup of a revised version of financial regulation overhaul legislation passed by the panel last year, Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) said.
Luetkemeyer told Bloomberg BNA in an interview that committee Republicans will hold a legislative retreat Jan. 22-23 to work out changes to the Financial Choice Act and other legislative priorities.
The meeting is scheduled to take place a few days before the full Republican caucus holds its own retreat.
The legislative effort is being led by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), who expressed confidence earlier in January that changes could be made to the Dodd-Frank Act in 2017. He has also said a revised version of the Choice Act is in the works. The measure was approved by the committee in September, during the previous Congress, but never reached the House floor.
Luetkemeyer was recently named chairman of the panel's Financial Institutions Subcommittee, but subcommittee rosters haven't yet been announced.
U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) expressed concerns that a new federal charter for financial technology firms could weaken consumer protections, limit competition, and threaten financial stability.
According to the Senators, "Offering a new charter to non-bank companies seems at odds with the goals of financial stability, financial inclusion, consumer protection, and separation of banking and commerce that the OCC has upheld under your tenure."
In their letter, Brown and Merkley ask the OCC and other federal banking regulators in July to outline steps they are taking to ensure effective oversight of fintech companies and the use of blockchain technology. Brown, Merkley, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) have also asked the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration, as well as the Government Accountability Office, for more information about their oversight of fintech firms.
Trump Moves Closer To Gutting Elizabeth Warren's Consumer Watchdog
CECL is coming! CECL is coming! Will community banks be ready on time?
The short answer: Yes. But smaller banks are divided on whether or not the time-consuming transition to the new accounting standard will provide useful information for all the work needed to prepare and comply.
The new accounting standard for "current expected credit losses," or CECL, was adopted by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in June 2016. The new rules are intended to address concerns raised by a wide range of stakeholders following the 2008 financial crisis. The effective date for CECL implementation is 2020 for SEC-registered banks and 2021 for others.
Under CECL, financial institutions will be required to include reasonable and supportable forecasts in a forward-looking credit loss estimate, rather than relying on past events and current conditions. Prior to CECL, banks could only report losses when they occurred. CECL will entail cross-functional changes to the end-to-end reserving process for financial assets measured at amortized cost.
Catching CECL train
Bankers interviewed by Banking Exchange are confident they can meet the implementation deadline, but they disagree about whether or not the new standard will improve risk management or loan forecasting. Views differ among bankers and their industry associations concerning the impact CECL will have on institutions.
James Kendrick, first vice-president of accounting and capital policy at the Independent Community Bankers Association (ICBA), says CECL's impact on community banks will be minimal. "Community banks are using a forward-looking approach now because the regulators require it," he says. "The successful transition to the new standard is not an issue at this point because they can use existing processes. If they are using narratives or existing spreadsheets, they can continue doing that."
Survey Finds Over One-In-Four Consumers Contacted By Debt Collectors Feel Threatened
A Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) report found that over one-in-four consumers contacted by debt collectors felt threatened. The report was drawn from the first-ever national survey of consumer experiences with debt collectors. Over 40 percent of consumers who said they were approached about a debt in collection requested that a creditor or collector stop contacting them. Of these consumers, three-in-four report that debt collectors did not honor their request to cease contact. The CFPB is also releasing a study of potential risks in the online debt marketplace, where consumer debts and personal information are for sale for fractions of pennies on the dollar. Finally, the CFPB is unveiling an online series of consumers' stories about their debt collection experiences.
Debt collection is a multi-billion dollar industry affecting 70 million consumers who have or are contacted about a debt in collection. Banks and other original creditors may collect their own debts or hire third-party debt collectors. When they fail to collect debts on their own, they often sell these debts to debt buyers. The buyers may try to collect on these debts, or hire third-party debt collectors to do so. More than 6,000 debt collection firms are estimated to operate in the United States.
