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PH FedACTion: Financial Regulatory Updates

Daily Financial Regulation Update -- Thursday, March 31, 2022

March 31, 2022

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Major Developments

FDIC Issues Request for Comment on Statement of Principles for Climate-Related Financial Risk Management for Large Financial Institutions

March 30, 2022

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is requesting public comment on draft principles that would provide a high-level framework for the safe and sound management of exposures to climate-related financial risks.

Congress

U.S. Senate

Senators Warren and White House seek to Impose BSA Obligations on RIAs and Hedge Funds

March 30, 2022

In a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, Senators Warren (D-MA) and Whitehouse (D-RI) seek to have the private investment industry subject to provisions to thwart money laundering and counter-terrorism financing.

Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

Senators Call on Regulators to Focus on Lending to Main Street

March 30, 2022

U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Dick Durbin (D-IL), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tina Smith (D-MN), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Brian Schatz (D-HI) sent a letter to the Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Credit Union Administration, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, urging them to work with banks and credit unions to ensure small businesses have access to safe and sound credit as Main Street recovers from COVID-19.

U.S. House of Representatives

Committee on Financial Services

Hearing: Oversight of America's Stock Exchanges: Examining Their Role in Our Economy

March 30, 2022

The U.S. House Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship and Capital Markets held a hearing entitled, "Oversight of America's Stock Exchanges: Examining Their Role in Our Economy."

Federal Agencies

U.S. Department of the Treasury

Treasury Announces $30 Billion in Emergency Rental Assistance Spent or Obligated with Over 4.7 Million Payments Made to Households Through February 2022

March 30, 2022

The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that through February 2022, state and local Emergency Rental Assistance grantees have made over 4.7 million payments to households and spent or obligated approximately $30 billion in assistance of the program's total $46 billion.

Federal Reserve Board

Paper: Anchored or Not: How Much Information Does 21st Century Data Contain on Inflation Dynamics?

March 30, 2022

The Federal Reserve Board published a paper entitled, "Anchored or Not: How Much Information Does 21st Century Data Contain on Inflation Dynamics?"

Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Blog Post: How Have the Euro Area and U.S. Labor Market Recoveries Differed?

March 30, 2022

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York published a Liberty Street Economics blog post entitled, "How Have the Euro Area and U.S. Labor Market Recoveries Differed?"

Statement Regarding Securities Lending Small Value Exercise

March 30, 2022

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York issued a statement announcing that the Open Market Trading Desk intends to conduct a small value contingency securities lending operation for the purpose of testing its contingency operation infrastructure.

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Ensuring 'safety and soundness' amid COVID-19: Pandemic forced bank exams to go remote

March 30, 2022

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston released an article entitled, "Ensuring 'safety and soundness' amid COVID-19: Pandemic forced bank exams to go remote."

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

FDIC Quarterly

March 30, 2022

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation published the FDIC Quarterly for the Fourth Quarter 2021.

Securities and Exchange Commission

SEC Proposes Rules to Enhance Disclosure and Investor Protection Relating to Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, Shell Companies, and Projections

March 30, 2022

The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new rules and amendments to enhance disclosure and investor protection in initial public offerings by special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and in business combination transactions involving shell companies, such as SPACs, and private operating companies.

Staff Bulletin: Standards of Conduct for Broker-Dealers and Investment Advisers Account Recommendations for Retail Investors

March 30, 2022

The Securities and Exchange Commission released a staff bulletin entitled "Standards of Conduct for Broker-Dealers and Investment Advisers Account Recommendations for Retail Investors."

SEC Division of Examinations Announces 2022 Examination Priorities

March 30, 2022

The Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Examinations announced its 2022 examination priorities, including several significant areas of focus and many perennial risk areas.

U.S. Small Business Administration

Biden Administration Expands SBA Pilot Program Targeting Access to Capital for Underserved Entrepreneurs

March 30, 2022

Vice President Kamala Harris and Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman announced reforms to the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Community Advantage loan program, an SBA tool for Community Development Financial Institutions, Community Development Companies, microlenders and other mission-based lending partners, that prioritizes equitable access to capital for low-income borrowers and those from underserved communities.

International

European Commission

Green Deal: New proposals to make sustainable products the norm and boost Europe's resource independence

March 30, 2022

The European Commission presented a package of European Green Deal proposals to make sustainable products the norm in the EU, boost circular business models and empower consumers for the green transition.

Bank of England

Speech: Reliable partners

March 30, 2022

Monetary Policy Committee Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent issued a speech entitled, "Reliable partners."

Administration Changes

Vacancies

Federal Reserve Board

  • Vice Chair for Supervision – Vacant
  • Governor – Lisa Cook nominated January 14, 2022
    (nomination hearing held on February 3, 2022; tied-committee vote March 16, 2022 full Senate vote to consider nomination March 29, 2022)
  • Governor – Phillip Jefferson, nominated January 14, 2022
    (nomination hearing held on February 3, 2022); committee approval March 16, 2022)

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

  • Chair – Vacant (Martin Gruenberg serves as Acting Chair)
  • Vice Chairman – Vacant

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

  • Comptroller – Vacant (Michael Hsu serves as Acting Comptroller)

Commodity Futures Commission

  • Three (3) Commissioner Vacancies

Appointments/Confirmation Hearings

U.S. Department of the Treasury - Janet Yellen (effective January 26, 2021)

Federal Reserve Board

Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - Rohit Chopra (effective October 12, 2021)

Securities and Exchange Commission - Gary Gensler (effective April 17, 2021)

Small Business Administration - Isabella Casillas Guzman (effective March 16, 2021)

Commodity Futures Trade Commission – Rostin Behnam (effective December 17, 2021)

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network

National Credit Union Administration - Todd M. Harper

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development - Marcia Fudge (effective March 10, 2021)

Federal Housing Finance Agency – Sandra L. Thompson

U.S. Department of Education - Dr. Miguel Cardona (effective March 2, 2021)

PH Client Alerts

Click here to read more from our Coronavirus series.

Legislation/Legislative Updates

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 the full text of the American Rescue Plan of 2021, Enacted March 11, 2021.

Click here to view the full text of the PPP Extension Act of 2021, Enacted March 30, 2021.

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.