Archive for February 20, 2012
Monday Regulatory Roundup: Here’s What’s Happening in Washington (2/20)
Prohibitions and Restrictions on Proprietary Trading and Certain
Interests in, and Relationships With, Hedge Funds and Covered Funds
AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
SUMMARY: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC” or
“Commission”) is requesting comment on a proposed rule that would
implement Section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer
Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”) which contains certain prohibitions
and restrictions on the ability of a banking entity and nonbank
financial company supervised by the Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System (the “Board”) to engage in proprietary trading and
have certain interests in, or relationships with, a hedge fund or
private equity fund (“CFTC Rule”).
On November 7, 2011, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency,
Treasury (“OCC”); the Board; the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (“FDIC”); and the Securities and Exchange Commission
(“SEC”) published a joint proposed rule implementing Section 619 of
the Dodd-Frank Act (the “Joint Release”).\1\ The CFTC is adopting the
entire text of the proposed common rules section from the Joint Release
(the “Joint Rule”) as part of its proposed rule.\2\ Similar to the
OCC, the Board, the FDIC, and the SEC in the Joint Release, the CFTC is
modifying the Joint Rule with CFTC-specific rule text. The CFTC Rule
also contains additional questions specific to the CFTC in Section III
and does not include Subpart E of the Joint Release because Subpart E
deals exclusively with the Board. The Commission solicits comments on
all aspects of this proposed rule.
DATES: Comments should be received on or before April 16, 2012.
Disclosure to Investors in System-wide and Consolidated Bank Debt
Obligations of the Farm Credit System
AGENCY: Farm Credit Administration.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
SUMMARY: The Farm Credit Administration (FCA, us, we, or our) proposes
to amend our regulations related to the Federal Farm Credit Banks
Funding Corporation (Funding Corporation) System Audit Committee (SAC)
and the Farm Credit System (System) annual report to investors. The
proposed rule would remove the provision that a two-thirds majority
vote of the Funding Corporation board of directors be required to deny
a request for resources by the SAC to engage independent legal counsel,
outside advisors or consultants. The proposed rule would instead
require appropriate funding to the SAC to perform these duties,
quarterly reporting by the SAC to the Funding Corporation board on
resources used, and annual reporting to investors.
DATES: Submit comments on or before April 16, 2012.
Defining Larger Participants in Certain Consumer Financial
Product and Service Markets
AGENCY: Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.
ACTION: Proposed rule; request for public comment.
SUMMARY: The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) is
proposing a new regulation pursuant to
section 1024 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010. That
provision grants the Bureau authority to supervise certain nonbank
covered persons for compliance with Federal consumer financial laws and
for other purposes. The Bureau has the authority to supervise nonbank
covered persons of all sizes in the residential mortgage, private
education lending, and payday lending markets. In addition, the Bureau
has the authority to supervise nonbank “larger participant[s]” in
markets for other consumer financial products or services. The Bureau
must define such “larger participants” by rule, and such an initial
rule must be issued by July 21, 2012.
In this proposal, the Bureau proposes to define larger participants
in the markets for consumer debt collection and consumer reporting. The
Bureau intends that this proposal and subsequent initial rule will be
followed by a series of rulemakings covering additional markets for
consumer financial products and services. The Bureau also proposes to
include provisions in this proposal that will facilitate the
supervision of nonbank covered persons.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 17, 2012.
Monday Regulatory Roundup: Here’s What’s Happening in Washington (2/13)
Electronic Fund Transfers (Regulation E)
AGENCY: Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.
SUMMARY: The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) is
proposing to amend Regulation E, which implements the Electronic Fund
Transfer Act, and the official interpretation to the regulation, which
interprets the requirements of Regulation E. The proposal is related to
a final rule, published elsewhere in today’s Federal Register, that
implements section 1073 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and
Consumer Protection Act regarding remittance transfers. The proposal
requests comment on whether a safe harbor should be adopted with
respect to the phrase “normal course of business” in the definition
of “remittance transfer provider.” This definition determines whether
a person is covered by the rule. The proposal also requests comment on
several aspects of the final rule regarding remittance transfers that
are scheduled in advance, including preauthorized remittance transfers.
In developing the final rule, the Bureau believes that these issues
would benefit from further public comment.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 9, 2012.
Monday Regulatory Roundup: Here’s What’s Going on in Washington (2/6)
Financial Derivatives Transactions To Offset Interest Rate Risk;
Investment and Deposit Activities
AGENCY: National Credit Union Administration.
SUMMARY: Through this Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“ANPR”),
the NCUA Board (Board) requests additional public comments to identify
the conditions for federal credit unions (FCUs) to engage in certain
derivatives transactions for the purpose of offsetting interest rate
risk (IRR).\1\ This ANPR follows an earlier Advance Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking (ANPR I) on derivatives transactions issued for comment (76
FR 37030, June 24, 2011). This ANPR asks additional questions regarding
the conditions under which NCUA may grant authority for an FCU to
engage in derivatives transactions independently.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 3, 2012.Compensation, Retirement Programs, and Related Benefits
Loan Workouts and Nonaccrual Policy, and Regulatory Reporting of
Troubled Debt Restructured Loans
AGENCY: National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).
SUMMARY: NCUA proposes to amend its regulations to require federally
insured credit unions (FICUs) to maintain written policies that address
the management of loan workout arrangements and nonaccrual policies for
loans, consistent with industry practice or Financial Institutions
Examination Council (FFIEC) requirements. The proposed rulemaking
includes guidelines set forth as an interpretive ruling and policy
statement (IRPS) and incorporated as an appendix to the rule that will
assist FICUs in complying with the rule, including the regulatory
reporting of troubled debt restructured loans (TDR loans or TDRs) in
FICU Call Reports. The NCUA Board (Board) believes this proposed
rulemaking and IRPS is timely considering the growth of these types of
loans during the recent economic stresses experienced in the financial
industry.
DATES: Send your comments to reach us on or before March 2, 2012. We
may not consider comments received after the above date in making our
decision on the proposed rule.
Compensation, Retirement Programs, and Related Benefits
AGENCY: Farm Credit Administration.
SUMMARY: The Farm Credit Administration (FCA, us, we, or our) proposes
to amend our regulations related to Farm Credit System (System) bank
and association disclosures to shareholders and investors. The proposed
rule would require reporting of supplemental retirement plans, a
discussion of the link between senior officer compensation and
performance, and timely and transparent reporting to shareholders of
significant events that occur between annual reporting periods. We
believe the proposed changes will provide full, transparent and
consistent disclosures to shareholders. The proposed rule would
identify the minimum responsibilities a compensation committee must
perform to ensure it continues to exercise good stewardship, and
require that System banks and associations provide for a nonbinding,
advisory vote on senior officer compensation in order to engage
shareholders in the management and control of their institution. Also,
the proposed rule would bifurcate existing annual reporting
requirements at Sec. 620.5 and make other conforming technical
changes.
DATES: Submit comments on or before March 23, 2012.
