Friday's News

November 16, 2018

In the aftermath of last week’s elections, lawmakers in both Albany and Washington began to organize themselves for the next legislative session. In Washington, the lame duck session of Congress has “must-pass bills” on its agenda, like the reauthorization of the flood insurance program.

More Election News

• As federal lawmakers begin to plan for the 116^th Congress next year, Senate Democrats have re-elected New York Senator Chuck Schumer as Minority Leader. Republicans also re-elected their leader, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. In the House, Republicans elected Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California as Minority Leader. The highly-anticipated election of Speaker of the House will take place on November 28.
• Absentee ballots are still being counted in New York’s 22^nd Congressional District.  As of yesterday, Democratic Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi had widened his narrow lead over Republican incumbent Claudia Tenney by 207 votes.

Federal Legislative Developments

• U.S. Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, along with Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), introduced legislation Thursday that will reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program, or NFIP, for six months. Funding for the NFIP was set to expire Nov. 30.
• Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee, including New Yorker Gregory Meeks, are urging Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting to reconsider the OCC’s approach to revamping the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Congressman Meeks joined 10 other Members of the centrist New Democrat Coalition on a letter that also expressed an objection to the OCC releasing its proposal without the participation of the other agencies.

Federal Regulatory Developments

• The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is seeking comments related to small-dollar lending, including steps that can be taken to encourage FDIC-supervised institutions to offer small-dollar credit products that are responsive to customers' needs and that are underwritten and structured prudently and responsibly.
• The Senate confirmed Michelle “Miki” Bowman to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, the fourth Trump nominee to join the Board. Ms. Bowman is a member of a rural banking family and is currently serving as the Kansas state banking commissioner.
• The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued an update that gives non-public companies one additional year to comply with CECL. The new implementation date is January 1, 2022.
• The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network reissued its orders regarding title companies and their obligation to identify the individuals behind high-end, all-cash real estate deals.  The orders will now cover, among other areas, all five boroughs of New York City.

• The Federal Reserve is proposing a modernization of Regulations J and CC, a move that will update the check collection framework to reflect a system that is mostly electronic and also address financial messaging standards. 

Resources

• The Financial Stability Board (FSB) issued a list of 50 crucial terms that should be used to develop a standard lexicon for complex cyber security matters. 

• The FFIEC has published a Cybersecurity Resource Guide for Financial Institutions to let banks know what resources are available to them in designing a resilience program or regime.

Questions?
Contact Mike Smith at (212) 297-1699 or msmith@nyba.com, or Clare Cusack at (212) 297-1664 or ccusack@nyba.com.
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