Bipartisan Agreement Aims To Ease Regulations, Encourage Growth Of Small Banks
A new bipartisan agreement could ease regulations placed on some banks and lenders after the 2008 financial crisis.
The Senate Banking Committee reached an agreement last week to update and amend portions of the Dodd-Frank Act, which has been blamed for stunting economic growth, with the aim of ensuring community banks and regional banks are provided with the best opportunity to grow, Politico reports.
Under the agreement, smaller banks with less than $10B in assets would receive regulatory relief. Reporting requirements would also be simplified.
Banks with $3B in assets that are well-managed and well-capitalized would receive even more relief and would be subject to fewer examinations.
One of the most important changes is to the threshold for Systematically Important Financial Institutions. This would increase from $50B to $250B, which means approximately 20 banks would no longer be held to enhanced prudential standards that aim to protect liquidity and capital and manage risk, Trepp reports.
Banks with between $50B and $250B will still be subject to the Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review exercise, which ensures banks have enough capital to continue operations even in times of economic stress.
