PH FedACTion: Financial Regulatory Updates
Daily Financial Regulation Update -- Thursday, December 3, 2020
December 03, 2020
FedACTion Task Force
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Click here to read more from our Coronavirus series.
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. House of Representatives
Committee on Financial Services
House Financial Services Committee Holds Hearing on Pandemic Response by the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve
December 2, 2020
The U.S. House Committee on Financial Services held a hybrid hearing entitled “Oversight of the Treasury Department’s and Federal Reserve’s Pandemic Response.” Steven T. Mnuchin, Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and Jerome H. Powell, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, provided testimony at the hearing.
Federal Agencies
Federal Reserve Board
Federal Reserve Updates Beige Book
December 2, 2020
The Federal Reserve System released its November 2020 Beige Book, which summarizes commentary on current economic conditions by Federal Reserve District (District). According to the report, most Districts have characterized economic expansion as modest or moderate since the prior Beige Book period; however, four Districts described little or no growth, and five narratives noted that activity remained below pre-pandemic levels for at least some sectors.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
FRBNY Publishes Blog Post on COVID-19’s Effect on Regional Economy
December 2, 2020
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York published a Liberty Street Economics blog post (Post) entitled “The Regional Economy during the Pandemic.” In the Post, the authors explore the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the New York-Northern New Jersey regional economy; how those effects have been distributed among the region’s various sectors and workers; and, the presence of various downside risks to the near-term outlook.
Federal Housing Finance Agency
FHFA Extends Foreclosure and REO Eviction Moratoriums
December 2, 2020
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) will extend the moratoriums on single-family foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) evictions until at least January 31, 2021. The foreclosure moratorium applies to Enterprise-backed, single-family mortgages only. The REO eviction moratorium applies to properties that have been acquired by an Enterprise through foreclosure or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure transactions. The current moratoriums were set to expire on December 31, 2020.
International
European Banking Authority
EBA Reactivates its Guidelines on Legislative and Non-Legislative Moratoria
December 2, 2020
The European Banking Authority (EBA) reactivated its Guidelines on legislative and non-legislative loan repayments moratoria. The EBA originally published the Guidelines, which are designed to allow banks to grant payment holidays to customers, on April 2, 2020. The EBA subsequently extended the Guidelines’ expiration date from June 30 to September 30, 2020; and, on September 21, 2020, announced the Guidelines’ phase-out. The revised Guidelines will apply until March 31, 2021, and include additional safeguards against the risk of undue increase in unrecognized losses on banks’ balance sheets.