PH FedACTion: Financial Regulatory Updates
Daily Financial Regulation Update -- Thursday, February 4, 2020
February 04, 2021
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Administration Changes
Appointments/Confirmation Hearings
Department of the Treasury – Janet Yellen (effective January 26, 2021)
- Treasury Announces Confirmation of Secretary Janet Yellen (January 26, 2021)
- Statement of House Committee on Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters on Confirmation of Janet Yellen (January 26, 2021)
- Treasury Announces the Appointment of Members of Senior Staff (January 20, 2021)
- Treasury Announces Appointment of Several Members of Staff (February 3, 2021)
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – Rohit Chopra (Nominee)
- Acting Director: Dave Uejio (January 20, 2020)
- Confirmation hearing to be scheduled (additional details to follow)
- Readout of Incoming Chair Brown’s Meeting with Rohit Chopra (February 3, 2021)
Securities and Exchange Commission – Gary Gensler (Nominee)
- Acting Chair: Allison Herren Lee (January 21, 2021)
- Confirmation hearing to be scheduled (additional details to follow)
- Acting Chair Allison Herren Lee Announces Executive Staff (February 1, 2021)
Small Business Administration – Isabel Guzman (Nominee)
- Acting Administrator: Tami Perriello (January 20, 2021)
- Confirmation hearing to be scheduled (additional details to follow)
Commodity Futures Trade Commission
National Credit Union Administration – Todd M. Harper
Department of Housing and Urban Development – Marcia Fudge (Nominee)
- Acting Secretary: Matthew E. Ammon
- HUD Announces New Leadership Appointees
Department of Education – Miguel Cardona (Nominee)
- Acting Secretary: Phil Rosenfelt (January 20, 2021)
- Education Announces Senior Appointees (January 21, 2021)
- Department of Education Announces More Biden-Harris Appointees (February 3, 2021)
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 the full text of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, Enacted December 27, 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 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Senator Brown Issues Statement on Committee Democratic Membership for 117th Congress
February 3, 2021
U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), incoming Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (Committee), issued a statement on the Committee’s Democratic membership for the 117th Congress, including that Senators Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Raphael Warnock (D-GA) will join the Committee.
Federal Agencies
Department of the Treasury
Treasury Releases Quarterly Refunding Statement
February 3, 2021
The U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) issued the Quarterly Refunding Statement of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Federal Finance Brian Smith. In the statement, the Treasury announced it is offering $126 billion of Treasury securities to refund approximately $62.9 billion of privately-held Treasury notes and bonds maturing on February 15, 2021. According to the Statement, this issuance will raise new cash of approximately $63.1 billion.
SIFMA’s Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee Issues Report to Treasury Secretary
February 3, 2021
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s (SIFMA) Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee issued a report to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. According to the report, economic activity rose in the fourth quarter of 2020, with a 4.0% annualized increase in real GDP; the economy has recovered rapidly since the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, but has decelerated as the winter virus resurgence weighs on the economy; and, going forward, the course of the virus and progress on vaccination will play a large role in determining the trajectory of the economy.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
FRBNY Publishes Blog Post on Equity Volatility Term Premia
February 3, 2021
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York published a Liberty Street Economics blog post entitled “Equity Volatility Term Premia”. In the post, the authors measure the cost of volatility hedging by decomposing the prices of variance swaps and VIX futures into volatility forecasts and estimates of expected returns (equity volatility term premia) from January 1996 to June 2020.
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
OCC to Host Virtual Innovation Office Hours
February 3, 2021
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced it will hold virtual Innovation Office Hours on March 17 and March 18, 2021, to promote responsible innovation in the federal banking system.
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
FinCEN Issues Advisory on Health Insurance and Health Care Frauds Related to COVID-19
February 2, 2021
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an advisory to alert financial institutions of COVID-19-related fraud involving health care benefit programs and health insurance. The advisory contains financial red flag indicators, select case studies and information on reporting suspicious activity related to these frauds.
Department of Housing and Urban Development/Federal Housing Administration
FHA Issues Measures to Protect Health, Safety, and Homeownership Security of Borrowers Impacted by COVID-19
February 3, 2021
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) issued a series of waivers of provisions in its Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1 that would normally require in-person contact between mortgage servicers and borrowers, including seniors with FHA-insured Home Equity Conversion reverse mortgages. The waivers are intended to allow important mortgage servicing activities to continue, but in a manner that allows for safe social distancing to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
International
Bank of England
Bank Announces it Will Not Restart the 2019 Liquidity Biennial Exploratory Scenario
February 3, 2021
The Bank of England (Bank) announced it will not restart the 2019 Liquidity Biennial Exploratory Scenario, which it paused in March 2020 to alleviate burdens on core treasury staff at participating banks. The Bank uses Biennial Exploratory Scenario to explore the potential impact of risks that are not covered by the Bank’s annual solvency stress tests of large UK banks. The 2019 test focused on how banks would respond to severe liquidity stress.