The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) is calling on federal regulators to implement the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act.
Among its provisions, the bill would increase the asset threshold for a regional bank to be considered systemically important to $100 billion and increases the limit to $250 billion after 18 months. Large banks will continue to face the same higher capital requirements, stress tests, and other resilience measures as designated by the Dodd-Frank Act. Under Dodd-Frank, smaller banks were subject to the same compliance rules as the largest banks.
The legislation also increases the Federal Reserve’s Small Bank Holding Company (BHC) asset threshold from $1 billion to $3 billion. This increase would exempt the affected bank holding companies from certain capital requirements. The bill also provides support for financial companies to educate their employees about how to identify and prevent financial exploitation of senior citizens.
The bill was approved by Congress and signed into law in May.
“The landmark Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act includes numerous provisions that will allow community banks to unleash their full economic potential, so swift enactment is needed to support local communities now,” ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey wrote in a letter to federal regulators. “Inspired by ICBA’s Plan for Prosperity, this pro-growth law will make a positive difference for local consumers and small businesses. The faster it can be implemented by regulators, the better.”
While some provisions will take time to implement, others can be quickly enacted by revising existing rules, said ICBA. For example, this includes regulations providing “qualified mortgage” and Home Mortgage Disclosure Act relief, implementing Volcker Rule and escrow exemptions, expanding access to the 18-month exam cycle and Small Bank Holding Company Policy Statement, and providing for a short-form call report in two quarters of the year.