U.S. Regulatory Week Ahead

Written By Francis Kelly

October 2 - 6, 2023

The coming week will be critical for the future of the Consumer Financial Protection Board (CFPB) as the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear oral arguments over whether the agency is constitutionally legal.  The core of the case, which was brought by groups representing the payday lending industry, questions whether the way the CFPB is funded (which comes from the Federal Reserve instead of Congressional appropriations) is fatally flawed.   In other words, the Supreme Court could rule the CFPB is unconstitutionally structured and either gets Congress to restructure its funding or cease to exist.

Also, this past Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to take up a case related to the 2011 Federal Reserve Board’s rule regulating swipe fees for debit cards.  The lawsuit argues the fees set by the Fed are arbitrary and too high.  It may allow the Justices to look further at the Durbin Amendment, which granted the Fed further power over credit card companies and their fee structures.

Turning to the regulatory agencies, no significant regulatory proposals are being considered this coming week.  But there will be a lot of speeches about regulatory issues, particularly by Fed Vice Chair Michael Barr, who will give two significant speeches on bank regulation.  The CFTC will see most of their commissioners and Chair Benham give major policy speeches this coming week, too.  

Finally, we will be closely watching a joint appearance by Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Kahn and Justice Department Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Jonathan Kanter on antitrust enforcement and what the two seek to achieve by the new merger guidelines they recently released.

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 

  • There are no hearings in the House Financial Services Committee currently scheduled.

 

U.S. Senate

  • There are no hearings in the Senate Banking Committee currently scheduled.

  

 

US Regulatory Meetings & Events

 

Federal Reserve Board

  • October 2, 1:00 p.m. EST: Federal Reserve Board Vice Chair Vice Chair for Supervision Michael S. Barr will give a speech entitled “Monetary Policy and Financial Stability.” at the Forecasters Club Luncheon, Cornell Club in New York.

  • October 4, 10:25 a.m. EST: Federal Reserve Board Governor Michelle W. Bowman gives a speech entitled “The Role of Research, Data, and Analysis in Banking Reforms” at the 2023 Community Banking Research Conference, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Missouri.

  • October 5, 12:15 p.m. EST: Federal Reserve Board Vice Chair for Supervision Michael S. Barr gives a speech entitled “Cyber Risk in the Banking Sector” at the Large and Foreign Banking Organizations Cyber Conference: Managing Cyber Risk from the C-Suite, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio.

     

  • October 6, 12:00 p.m. EST: Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher J. Waller gives a keynote speech at the Brookings Institution, “Making American’s Payment System Work for a Digital Century” in Washington, D.C.

 

Securities and Exchange Commission

  • October 3, 2:00 p.m.: The SEC and the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board will host an event entitled “Your TSP Account – What to Think About When Nearing Retirement or Considering Leaving the Government”  to share information about TSP accounts and things to consider when retiring or leaving federal service.  The event will be done virtually.  The first will be at the University of North Georgia and the Second at Dalton State College in Georgia.

  • October 4, 8:00 a.m.: The SEC is partnering with the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) and the Georgia Secretary of State for two joint investor roundtables.

     

  • October 5, 8:00 a.m.: The SEC will hold a closed meeting.

 

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

  • October 4, 1:00 p.m. EST: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Advisory Committee on Community Banking holds a virtual meeting, beginning at 1 p.m., of the Minority Depository Institutions Subcommittee on "economic trends and key challenges and opportunities and the work of the banking industry and private entities that support MDIs and Community Development Financial Institutions."

  • October 5, 9:00 a.m. EST: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation holds a meeting of the FDIC Advisory Committee on Community Banking for a discussion of issues that are of interest to community banks, including examination policies and procedures, credit and lending practices, deposit insurance assessments, insurance coverage, and regulatory compliance. 

 

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

  • October 3, 8:30 a.m. EST: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency holds a meeting of the Mutual Savings Association Advisory Committee to advise the OCC on regulatory or other changes the OCC may make to ensure the health and viability of mutual savings associations.

 

Commodities Futures Trading Commission

  • October 2, 10:20 a.m. EST/Chicago: Chair Rostin Behnam will deliver the keynote address and participate in a fireside chat at the FIA Expo 2023 in Chicago, Illinois.

  • October 2, 2:50 EST: Commissioner Caroline D. Pham will participate on a panel titled “Tokenization and Its Role in Accelerating Collateral Management” at FIA Expo 2023 in Chicago, Illinois.

  • October 2, 11:10 a.m. EST: Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson will participate in a fireside chat with former CFTC Chair J. Christopher Giancarlo at the Fordham Law Blockchain Regulatory Symposium in New York.

  • October 4, 4:50 a.m. EST/9:50 a.m. London time) Commissioner Goldsmith Romero will participate on the virtual panel, Carbon Credits—questioning the quality today, the potential tomorrow, at The Economist’s Sustainability Week: Countdown to COP28.

  • October 4, 11:15 a.m. EST: Chairman Rostin Behnam will participate in a fireside chat at the 2023 Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Financial Markets Group Fall Conference, Chicago, Illinois.

  • October 4, 12:00 p.m. EST: Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson will provide opening remarks at a CFTC Office of Customer Education and Outreach and Office of Technology Innovation virtual event on social media investment fraud and artificial intelligence for World Investor Week.

  • October 4, 12:00 p.m. EST: The CFTC’s Office of Customer Education and Outreach and Office of Technology Innovation will host Technology and Fraud: Stopping Scams in a Digital World, a free virtual event for financial educators, innovators, regulators, and anyone with interest in these issues, in recognition of World Investor Week – Oct 2-9. Experts will discuss social media-driven investment fraud and the role artificial intelligence (AI) may play in accelerating online fraud.

  • October 5, 1:00 p.m. EST: The CFTC”s Global Markets Advisory Committee meets.  Their 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, international alignment of trading and clearing obligations to address market fragmentation; 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, 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.

  • October 5, 11:00 a.m. EST: Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson will provide a keynote speech on Emerging Carbon Markets at the Baker Institute Annual Energy Summit in Houston, Texas.

  • October 7, 9:15 a.m. EST: Commissioner Caroline D. Pham will deliver a keynote address at the North American Millers’ Association 2023 Annual Meeting in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

  • October 6, 9:00 a.m. EST: Rohit Chopra, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, delivers morning keynote remarks at the Brookings Institution’s “Making America’s Payment System Work for a Digital Century” Conference in Washington, D.C.

National Credit Union Administration

  • October 3-4: The National Credit Union Administration holds its MDI Symposium. the event aims to support minority depository institutions and will be held at the NCUA headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.

 

Federal Trade Commission & Department of Justice Antitrust Division

 

Farm Credit Administration

  • No public events or meetings are currently scheduled.

  

 

Trade Associations & Think Tank Events

 

Think Tanks

 

Trade Associations

 

  • October 2, 9 a.m. EST: The Institute for International Finance holds an online webinar entitled “Unlocking Private Climate Finance for Emerging Markets.”  

  • October 8-10, The American Bankers Association Annual Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.

  

Please let us know if you have any questions or would like to be added to our email distribution list.

Francis Kelly
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