PH FedACTion: Financial Regulatory Updates
Daily Financial Regulation Update - Friday, June 19, 2020
June 19, 2020
FedACTion Task Force
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Congress
Click here to view the full text of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), Enacted March 27, 2020.
Click here to view the full text of the Paycheck Protection Program Increase Act of 2020, Enacted April 24, 2020.
Click here to view the full text of the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020, Enacted June 5, 2020.
Click here to view a running list of proposed legislation from the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, House Committee on Financial Services, and House Committee on Small Business.
U.S. Senate
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Senators Cardin, Coons, Shaheen Introduce Legislation to Assist Small Businesses
June 18, 2020
U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), Ranking Member of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship (Committee), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Chris Coons (D-DE), senior members of the Committee, introduced the Prioritized Paycheck Protection Program Act (P4 Act). In the U.S. House of Representatives, a companion to the P4 Act was introduced by Congresswoman Angie Craig (D-MN) and Congressman Antonio Delgado (D-NY).
The P4 Act authorizes new lending under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to small businesses with 100 employees or fewer, including sole proprietorships and self-employed individuals. Eligible businesses must have already expended, or be on pace to expend, an initial PPP loan, and must demonstrate a revenue loss of 50% or more due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The P4 Act would extend the application deadline for initial PPP loans from June 30, 2020 to December 30, 2020, or longer, at the discretion of the Small Business Administration (SBA), and would use existing PPP funding to make P4 loans.
Federal Agencies
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
New York Fed Announces Second Economic Inequality Policy Series Event
June 18, 2020
On June 25, 2020, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (New York Fed), together with the Urban Institute and NYU Furman Center, will convene a virtual forum on COVID-19’s effects on housing. The event will be the New York Fed’s second installment of its policy series on economic inequality.
Titled “An Update from the Experts on COVID-19’s Impact on Housing,” the event will bring together researchers and policy-influencers to highlight current trends in the housing market and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on homeowners and renters. The forum will also discuss the effects of COVID-19 on housing security, wealth building and models for an equitable recovery.
Department of Labor
Department of Labor Issues News Release on Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims
June 18, 2020
The U.S. Department of Labor (Department of Labor) issued its News Release on unemployment insurance weekly claims, which showed that, for the week ending June 13, 2020, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 1,508,000, a decrease of 58,000 from the previous week's revised level; the previous week's level was revised up by 24,000 from 1,542,000 to 1,566,000; the four-week moving average was 1,773,500, a decrease of 234,500 from the previous week's revised average; and, the previous week's average was revised up by 6,000 from 2,002,000 to 2,008,000.
State Agencies
New York State Department of Financial Services
DFS Reaches Agreement with Credit Reporting Agencies
June 17, 2020
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced an agreement (Agreement) between the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) and New York’s credit reporting industry. Under the Agreement, to ensure consumers’ credit reports are not wrongly impacted due to issues related to the pandemic, credit reporting agencies will provide one free credit report each month through November, 2020; inform financial institutions of procedures that allow institutions to report missed or delinquent payments in ways that minimize the impact on consumers’ credit histories and credit scores; apprise financial institutions of their credit reporting obligations under the CARES Act, which provides relief for consumers; and, communicate with financial institutions about credit reporting that may not comply with the requirements of the CARES Act.
International
European Banking Authority
EBA Extends Guidelines on Payment Moratoria
June 18, 2020
The European Banking Authority (EBA) extended to September 30, 2020 the application of its Guidelines on legislative and non-legislative moratoria on loan repayments. The EBA initially published the Guidelines on April 2, 2020, in order to ensure that banks, while maintaining comparable metrics, would be able to grant payment holidays to customers, under either legislative or non-legislative moratoria.
Bank of England’s MPC Votes to Maintain Bank Rate at 0.1%
June 18, 2020
The Bank of England’s (Bank) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to maintain the Bank’s Bank Rate at 0.1%, and to continue with the existing program of £200 billion of United Kingdom (UK) government bond and sterling non-financial investment-grade corporate bond purchases, financed by the issuance of central bank reserves. The MPC voted by a majority of eight-to-one to increase the target stock of purchased UK government bonds, financed by the issuance of central bank reserves by an additional £100 billion, to take the total stock of asset purchases to £745 billion.
Bank of England Prudential Regulation Authority
PRA Releases Annual Report
June 18, 2020
The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) released its Annual Report for the period March 1, 2019 to February 29, 2020.