The week the Senate approved its financial regulatory reform bill, the House passed three bills which could become part of House-Senate conference committee talks on regulatory reform.
First, the House passed H.R. 1116, the TAILOR Act of 2017, sponsored by Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Colo.) by a 247-169 vote. The bill moves financial regulatory agencies away from the current one-size-fits-all approach to instead consider additional factors such as an institution’s risk profile, unintended potential impact of implementation of such regulations, and underlying policy objectives of the statutory scheme which led to the regulation.
“As our small banks and credit unions go, so goes the American dream,” Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling said in a press release. “At a bare minimum, let’s tailor the rules and regulations to the size and complexity of the institution so our credit unions, so our banks can thrive and thus our constituents can thrive and meet their economic goals and responsibilities.”
The next day the House passed two more bills, H.R. 4545, the Financial Institutions Examination Fairness and Reform Act of 2017, and H.R. 4263, the Regulation A+ Improvement Act.
“By cutting the red tape that’s causing our community financial institutions to go out of business or holding companies back from growing, we are bringing relief to our community financial institutions and businesses – relief that will help promote job growth and boost our local economies,” Hensarling said.
H.R. 4545 increases transparency and accountability for financial institutions by improving the timeliness of feedback from examinations and by creating a new, more independent regulatory examination appeals process. It passed 283-133.
H.R. 4263 increases the amount that companies can offer under Regulation A from $50 million to $75 million, adjusted for inflation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) every two years to the nearest $10,000. The bill passed 246-170.
Hensarling said he was looking forward to talks with the Senate on a combined financial reform package.
“I want to congratulate Chairman (Sen. Mike) Crapo and the Senate for putting together and passing a package of helpful bipartisan banking bills. I look forward to combining them with our helpful House bipartisan banking bills and getting that combined bill to the president’s desk,” Hensarling said.