NewsWatch Today

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) urged federal regulators to begin a formal rulemaking to clarify the distinctions between guidance and rules. In a letter to regulators, Luetkemeyer encouraged the agencies to adopt the principles of a September 2018 interagency statement on the role of supervisory guidance. He said the clarity will ensure banks and examiners clearly understand the grounds for enforcement actions.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Ranking Member Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) announced the panel’s subcommittee assignments for the 116th Congress. The Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection will be led by Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

ICBA expressed disappointment in federal regulators’ insufficient proposal to reduce reporting burdens and repeated its call for a true short-form call report. Following its weeks-long grassroots advocacy campaign, ICBA said the call report for the first and third quarters should consist of a balance sheet, income statement, and statement of changes in shareholders’ equity.

ICBA expressed disappointment in federal regulators’ insufficient proposal to reduce reporting burdens and repeated its call for a true short-form call report. Following its weeks-long grassroots advocacy campaign, ICBA said the call report for the first and third quarters should consist of a balance sheet, income statement, and statement of changes in shareholders’ equity.

ICBA called on key congressional committees to hold hearings on the National Credit Union Administration’s approval of an “emergency merger” between Pentagon Federal Credit Union and Progressive Credit Union.

The December issue of Independent Banker® magazine features profiles of ICBA’s Community Bankers of the Year. The profiles of Ken LaRoe, Scott McComb, Josh Rowland, and Stan Wilmoth feature their views on values, human connections, civic partnership, and community service.

Congress extended the National Flood Insurance Program through this Friday. With the program set to expire at the end of last week, the last-minute vote averted a lapse.

ICBA Bancard’s Tina Giorgio and TCM Bank’s Damon Moorer were featured in the latest This Month In Banking podcast by the Kafafian Group. The 30-minute recording discusses how Bancard and TCM support community banks’ credit card offerings and offers insight on trends affecting payments.

The shift to EMV chip technology has reduced card-present counterfeit payment fraud by 82 percent at chip-enabled merchants, Visa said. More than 3.1 million merchants are now accepting chip cards—67 percent of U.S. storefronts—and 98 percent of U.S. payment volume in September was on EMV cards.

The FDIC and Federal Reserve are reviewing resolution-planning regulations for bank holding companies, FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams said. McWilliams said that while the largest financial institutions remain an untested resolution challenge, the agencies are looking to make resolution planning more targeted and will release a proposal in the coming months.

A federal court this week granted the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection’s request to delay the effective date of its rule on small-dollar loans. The decision delays the August 2019 compliance date as the bureau plans to issue proposed rules in January that will reconsider the rule. The bureau plans to propose revisiting only the ability-to-repay provisions, which it said have greater consequences for consumers and the industry than the payment provisions.

The FDIC is hosting an upcoming teleconference on consumer compliance topics related to the S. 2155 regulatory relief law. Scheduled for 2 p.m. (Eastern time) Thursday, Oct. 25, the teleconference will feature a formal presentation on provisions of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act as well as a question-and-answer segment.