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PH FedACTion: Financial Regulatory Updates

Daily Financial Regulation Update -- Thursday, February 4, 2020

February 04, 2021

FedACTion Task Force

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Administration Changes

Appointments/Confirmation Hearings

Department of the Treasury – Janet Yellen (effective January 26, 2021)

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – Rohit Chopra (Nominee)

Securities and Exchange Commission – Gary Gensler (Nominee)

Small Business Administration – Isabel Guzman (Nominee)

Commodity Futures Trade Commission

National Credit Union Administration – Todd M. Harper

Department of Housing and Urban Development – Marcia Fudge (Nominee)

Department of Education – Miguel Cardona (Nominee)

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.