The House Financial Services Committee advanced a bill this week to increase the asset threshold from $1 billion to $3 billion for banks eligible for 18-month on-site examination cycles.
Currently, explained the bill’s sponsor Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), banks with assets less than $1 billion are eligible for on-site examinations once every 18-months. Tenney’s Small Bank Exam Cycle Improvement Act (H.R.5076) would move the $3 billion in assets, which gives small banks the chance to have an 18-month exam cycle rather a 12-month exam cycle. This, in turn, gives them more time between exams.
“As a result of Dodd-Frank’s onerous one-size-fits-all regulations, America loses one community bank per day,” Tenney said. “This bill alleviates small institutions from one-size-fits-all burden by changing the exam cycle asset threshold to give smaller sized banks more time to invest in job creators and help rural communities rebuild and grow. Furthermore, this bipartisan bill will free up federal financial regulators allowing them to invest more time examining those banks in trouble and those that need more supervision.”
It was co-sponsored by Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL).
“I was Florida’s Governor when the financial crisis hit. I never want any American to experience that again,” Crist said. “But our community banks weren’t the cause of the crisis. This bipartisan bill provides thoughtful relief to small banks, freeing up more resources to make more loans to middle-class families and small businesses on Main Street, the heart of our economy and community.”
The bill was passed unanimously by the House Financial Services Committee.