Sen. Richard Shelby
WASHINGTON—Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has released details of draft legislation aimed at providing regulatory relief and reform aimed at overhauling aspects of 2010’s Dodd-Frank Act.
Shelby, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, called the version of the legislation he released a “working document” that includes a number of provisions, one of which would require the Fed to disclose more information to Congress about its policy decisions.
"This discussion draft is a working document intended to initiate a conversation with all members of the committee who are interested in reaching a bipartisan agreement to improve access to credit and to reduce the level of risk in our financial system," Shelby said in a released statement.
As currently written, the legislation would:
- Loosen regulations on the smallest of financial institutions, including relief from annual privacy disclosure requirements.
- Authorize privately insured credit unions to become members of the Federal Home Loan Bank system.
- Provide greater transparency of the Financial Stability Oversight Council.
- Require the Federal Open Market Committee to deliver quarterly reports to Congress with analysis and data regarding its monetary policy decisions.
- Require the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York be appointed by the White House and confirmed by the Senate.
It didn’t take long for Democrats to criticize the bill. Ohio Sen. Sherrod Bill, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said in a statement that the legislation “holds Main Street financial institutions hostage to a partisan effort to dismantle Dodd-Frank's consumer protections and sensible rules for the large banks and nonbanks that played central roles in the financial crisis."
NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger thanked Shelby for his leadership and commitment to regulatory relief.
“We are pleased that the discussion draft of the Financial Regulatory Improvements Act unveiled today has a number of provisions to provide regulatory relief to credit unions,” said Berger in a statement. “We are continuing to review it and look forward to working with the chairman and committee members prior to next week’s mark-up to help advance NAFCU’s priorities for credit union regulatory relief.”
CUNA President and CEO Jim Nussle said Shelby’s draft legislation aligns with regulatory relief changes that CUNA has long advocated for.
"CUNA has repeatedly called on Congress to provide regulatory relief, and I thank Chairman Shelby and his staff for many Title I provisions that will benefit credit unions and their members," said Nussle in a statement. "The draft bill includes three credit union specific provisions that will allow budget transparency for the National Credit Union Administration, allow privately insured credit unions to become members of a Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) and provide parity for all credit unions with under $1 billion in assets to join the FHLB system. These commonsense provisions have wide bipartisan support, and I urge Congress to work together to advance these important provisions. CUNA will continue to explore ways Congress can provide additional regulatory relief for credit unions as part of this legislative process.”