U.S. Regulatory Week Ahead
November 6 - 10, 2023
It is another busy week ahead on the U.S. financial regulatory front. Federal Reserve Board Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr makes two more speeches this week, both in defense of the Fed’s recent rulemaking changes to the Community Reinvestment Act. Barr gave two speeches last week in defense of the changes, and this coming week, he will be joined by Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu, who will also give a speech defending the change. Clearly, regulators are anticipating legal challenges to the regulations and are making a full-throated public defense of them.
Also, this week, SIFMA holds its annual conference in Washington. Most of the major financial regulatory heads will be speaking, and we expect some news to emerge on various regulatory issues. The SIFMA event is being held while the D.C. FinTech Week conference is being held, where regulators – including SEC Chair Gary Gensler, Vice Chair Barr, and OCC Acting Chair Hsu – will shuttle over to speak on their respective policy agenda in the fintech space (and in Barr and Hsu’s case, likely again defend the Community Reinvestment Act regulatory changes).
Looking at Congress this week, the House Financial Services Committee is holding a hearing on U.S. regulators working in the international sphere and what impact it is having on the autonomy of U.S. regulation. Over in the Senate, the Budget Committee and Finance Committee each hold hearings focused on tax policy, wealthy individuals, and cracking down on their ability to avoid higher taxes.
Below is the full regulatory calendar as we see it for the coming week. Please let us know if you have any questions.
U.S. Congressional Hearings
House of Representatives
November 7, 10:00 a.m. – The House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy will hold a hearing entitled “The Tangled Web of Global Governance: How the Biden Administration is Ceding Authority Over American Financial Regulation” Witnesses testifying include:
o Mr. Thomas Hoenig, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Mercatus Center, George Mason University
o Professor Christina Parajon Skinner, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies & Business Ethics, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
o Mr. Bryan Bashur, Director of Financial Policy, Americans for Tax Reform
o Ms. Renita Marcellin, Advocacy and Legislative Director, Americans for Financial Reform
November 7, 10:00 a.m. – The House Ways and Means Committee holds a hearing entitled “Ensuring that ‘Woke’ Doesn’t Leave Americans Broke: Protecting Seniors and Savers from ESG Activism.” No witnesses have been announced yet.
U.S. Senate
November 8, 10:00 a.m. – The Senate Budget Committee will hold a hearing entitled “Fairness and Fiscal Responsibility: Cracking Down on Wealthy Tax Cheats” Witnesses include:
o Dr. Natasha Sarin, Professor Of Law And Finance, Yale Law School & Yale School Of Management
o Dr. Nathaniel Hendren, Professor Of Economics and Co-Founder Of Policy Impacts, Massachusetts Institute Of Technology
o Mr. Chris Edwards, Kilts Family Chair In Fiscal Studies, Cato Institute
November 9, 10:00 a.m.: The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing entitled: “Examining How the Tax Code Affects High-Income Individuals and Tax Planning Strategies” Witnesses include:
o Chye-Ching Huang, Director, Tax Law Center, New York University School of Law
o Morris Pearl, Chair, Patriotic Millionaires
o William McBride, Ph.D., Vice President Of Federal Tax Policy And Stephen J. Entin Fellow In Economics, Tax Foundation
o Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Ph.D., President, American Action Forum
U.S. Regulatory Meetings & Events
Federal Reserve Board
November 6, 11:00 a.m. – Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook will give a speech on financial stability at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
November 7, 9:15 a.m. – Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michael S. Barr will give a speech on Financial Technology at the DC Fintech Week, Washington, D.C.
November 7, 10:00 a.m. – Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher J. Waller will give a speech on Using Economic Data to Understand the Economy at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Conference: Beyond the Numbers 2023 in St. Louis, Missouri.
November 8 – Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa D. Cook speaks on financial stability at the Central Bank of Ireland Financial System Conference 2023: Achieving Good Outcomes in an Uncertain World, Dublin 4, Ireland
November 8, 2:00 p.m. – Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome H. Powell gives opening remarks at the Division of Research and Statistics Centennial Conference, Washington, D.C.
November 8, 2:00 p.m. – Federal Reserve Board Vice Chair for Supervision Michael S. Barr gives a speech on the Community Reinvestment Act at the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders (NAAHL) – Annual Policy & Practice Conference, Washington, D.C.
November 8, 4:45 p.m. – Federal Reserve Board Vice Chair Philip N. Jefferson gives closing remarks at the Division of Research and Statistics Centennial Conference, Washington, D.C.
November 9, 2:00 p.m. – Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome H. Powell participates in a policy panel discussion at the 24th Jacques Polak Annual Research Conference hosted by the IMF in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Treasury Department
No significant events are scheduled at this time.
Securities and Exchange Commission
November 7, 12:45 p.m.: SEC Chair Gary Gensler will speak at the SIFMA Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
November 8, 9:00 a.m. – SEC Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal will participate in a fireside chat at the Practicing Law Institute’s 55th Annual Institute on Securities Regulation in New York. Other senior SEC staff will be participating in panels throughout the three-day conference.
November 8, 11:30 a.m. – SEC Chair Gary Gensler will participate in a fireside chat for DC FinTech Week.
November 9, 2:00 p.m.: The SEC will hold a Closed Meeting.
Commodities Futures Trading Commission
November 6, 9:00 a.m. – The CFTC holds a meeting of the Global Markets Advisory Committee. The agenda includes:
Presentation from the GMAC's Global Market Structure Subcommittee on the Subcommittee's workstreams involving U.S. Treasury market reforms, global standards and best practices for market volatility controls and circuit breakers, improving liquidity across asset classes, and international alignment of trading and clearing obligations to address market fragmentation, and consider recommendations from the Subcommittee on such workstreams; Presentation from the GMAC's Technical Issues Subcommittee on the Subcommittee's workstreams involving international standardization and amalgamation of trade reporting for swaps market oversight, global coordination of market events, and improving efficiencies in post-trade processes, and consider recommendations from the Subcommittee on such workstreams; Presentation from the GMAC's Digital Asset Markets Subcommittee on the Subcommittee's workstreams involving industry standards and best practices for tokenized asset markets, the regulation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and utility tokens, and identification of other issues to address in digital finance and tokenization of assets, non-financial activities and Web3, and blockchain technology and consider recommendations from the Subcommittee on such workstreams.
November 8, 9:25 a.m. – CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam will participate in a fireside chat at the 7th Annual DC Fintech Week Conference in Washington, D.C.
November 8, 4:20 p.m. – CFTC Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero will participate in a fireside chat with FinCEN’s Kevin O’Connor at TRM Labs’ Crypto Law Enforcement Summit in Washington, D.C.
November 10, 11:00 a.m. (South Korea) – CFTC Commissioner Caroline D. Pham will participate in a fireside chat titled “Proposals for Innovation of Digital Asset Regulation” at the Blockchain Week in Busan 2023.
November 11, 10:50 a.m. – CFTC Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero will participate in a bipartisan panel, Explore Pathways to Pursue a Presidential Appointment, at the 2023 National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NABAPA) Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
No significant events are scheduled at this time.
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
November 7, 10:20 a.m. – Acting Comptroller Michael Hsu will participate in a conversation with Bloomberg TV host Romaine Bostick at the DC Fintech Week in Washington, D.C.
November 8, 2:00 p.m. – Acting Comptroller Michael J. Hsu will participate in a panel discussion on the Community Reinvestment Act during the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders Annual Policy & Practice Conference in Washington, D.C.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
No significant events are scheduled at this time.
National Credit Union Administration
No significant events are scheduled at this time.
Federal Trade Commission & Department of Justice Antitrust Division
No significant events are scheduled at this time.
Farm Credit Administration
November 9, 10:00 a.m. – The FCA Board will meet to hear the report of the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Inclusion Report Concerning Native Americans and Veterans. They will then move to vote on the Conservators and Receivers Final Rule.
Trade Associations & Think Tank Events
Trade Associations
November 5 -8 – The American Bankers Association Agricultural Bankers Conference is being held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
November 6 – 7: SIFMA holds its Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. A number of regulators and senior policymakers will be speaking.
Think Tanks
November 6, 9:00 a.m. – The Wilson Center holds its 2023 Canada-U.S. Legal Issues Symposium on "Economic Sanctions Enforcement and Compliance in Canada and the United States."
November 6 – 8 – DC FinTech Week is held in Washington, D.C. The Conference is sponsored by Fannie Mae, the Financial Technology Association, the Bank for International Settlements, and a number of leading tech companies.
November 7: The ISDA Derivatives Trading Forum is being held in London.
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