- Top Lines
The Treasury announced it released a report prepared in consultation with members of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission (FLEC), entitled “The Impact of Climate Change on American Household Finances.” Specifically, the report explores the impacts of climate hazards, i.e., climate-related events and conditions that cause harm or damage to people, property, resources, and the environment. It also identifies certain populations and places that may face heightened financial strain due to their vulnerability and exposure to climate hazards.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a blog highlighting the milestone of four million consumer complaints submitted to the agency and the importance of complaints in the CFPB’s work.
- End of Week Wrap Up
President Biden delivered remarks before a meeting with the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. President Biden discussed artificial intelligence (AI) and how to harness its power for good while protecting people from the “profound risk” it presents. President Biden stated that he will take executive action this fall and work with a bipartisan group of legislators to ensure that America leads the way toward responsible AI innovation.
The White House published a press release raising concerns that a government shutdown would force the Small Business Administration (SBA) to stop processing new business loans for small businesses, accusing House Republicans of potentially denying more than $100 million in critical financing to American small businesses each day.
FinCEN is proposing to amend the beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting rule (Reporting Rule) to extend the filing deadline for certain BOI reports. Under the Reporting Rule, entities created or registered on or after the rule’s effective date of January 1, 2024, must file initial BOI reports with FinCEN within 30 days of notice of their creation or registration. This proposed amendment would extend that filing deadline from 30 days to 90 days for entities created or registered on or after January 1, 2024, and before January 1, 2025, to give those entities additional time to understand the new reporting obligation and collect the necessary information to complete the filing. Entities created or registered on or after January 1, 2025, would have 30 days to file their BOI reports with FinCEN, as required under the Reporting Rule.
FRB Governor Lisa Cook delivered closing remarks at the Minorities in Banking Forum at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Governor Cook discussed how the forum can help the Fed nurture bankers’ professional development and help ensure that banks’ leaders are representative of the communities they serve.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chairman Martin Gruenberg delivered remarks at the International Association of Deposit Insurers 2023 Annual Conference on “Successfully Managing Systemic Risk: Deposit Insurance in a Turbulent World” and at the 22nd Annual Bank Research Conference Sponsored by the FDIC’s Center for Financial Research. Both remarks focused on the events earlier this year involving Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank and the report that the FDIC commissioned on options for deposit insurance reform.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released its bank supervision operating plan for fiscal year (FY) 2024. The operating plan calls attention to distributed ledger technology, bank-fintech partnerships, banking-as-a-service, and cybersecurity among other things.
The OCC announced Shinu Shilesh as the Executive Director for the agency’s Office of Minority and Women Inclusion. In this role, Ms. Shilesh provides executive direction, sets policies, and oversees all agency matters relating to equal employment opportunity, diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in management, employment, and business activities. She reports directly to the Comptroller of the Currency. She will assume this position in October 2023.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced it filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Mosaic Exchange Limited, a Pennsylvania limited liability company, and its owner and Chief Executive Officer Sean Michael, for running a fraudulent digital asset commodity scheme. The complaint alleges the defendants fraudulently solicited and induced at least 17 people in the U.S. and other countries to give them hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of bitcoin or other funds for the defendants to trade bitcoin and other digital asset commodities on the customers’ behalves, and misappropriated customer funds
CFTC Commissioner Kristin Johnson published a statement related to the action entitled, “Increase Investor Protection by Stopping Bitcoin Investment Fund Fraud.”
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) released a new staff Spotlight publication, “2022 Conversations With Audit Committee Chairs.”
The National Community Reinvestment Coalition and financial technology firms in NCRC’s Innovation Council issued a statement in support of regulatory stability at the CFPB in the context of the Supreme Court’s upcoming consideration of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Petitioners v. Community Financial Services Association of America, Limited.
Representatives Mike Flood (R-NE), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), French Hill (R-AR), and Wiley Nickel (D-NC) introduced the Uniform Treatment of Custodial Assets Act. The bill would prohibit certain federal agencies from requiring certain institutions to include assets held in custody as a liability, and for other purposes. The press release specifically cites the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, which would require banks providing custodial services for digital assets to treat them as liabilities on their balance sheets.
Representative Don Beyer (D-VA) introduced the Off-Chain Digital Commodity Transaction Reporting Act, legislation that would protect participants in the digital asset market by requiring trading platforms to report all transactions, including off-chain transactions, to a repository registered with the CFTC within 24 hours.
Representatives Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Al Green (D-TX), Bill Foster (D-IL), Joyce Beatty (D-OH), Juan Vargas (D-CA), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Sean Casten (D-IL), Sylvia Garcia (D-TX), Wiley Nickel, and Brittany Petterson (D-CO) sent a letter to CFPB director Chopra urging the Bureau to include payroll data in the Dodd-Frank Section 1033 open banking rulemaking.
- ICYMI
The Senate Committee on Banking voted 14-9 to advance the Secure And Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act, which would ensure that all businesses—including State-sanctioned cannabis businesses—have access to deposit accounts, insurance and other financial services, among other things. Next, the bill will head to the Senate floor where it is expected to pass.
Notably, two amendments to the legislation were rejected:
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) offered an amendment that would sunset the SAFER Banking Act after five years unless the Department of Treasury, in consultation with other agencies, submits a report to Congress certifying that the measure has decreased the racial wealth gap and ameliorated other negative economic impacts of the War on Drugs.
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) offered an amendment to remove and replace Section 10 of the bill with language that stipulates federal regulators cannot pressure financial entities to “refuse to provide services to a lawful entity” unless that business is engaged in “unsafe and unsound practices.” Read our summary here.
Need to catch up on what happened last week? Check out our Midweek Update here.