Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) yesterday introduced the American Bankers Association-advocated CLEARR Act (H.R. 2133), which would provide relief from certain rules and regulations for community banks. Many of the bill’s provisions are included in ABA’s Blueprint for Growth.
Among other things, the bill would limit the authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by raising the asset size threshold for CFPB supervision from $10 billion to $50 billion and removing the term “abusive” from the CFPB’s “unfair, deceptive or abusive” acts or practices authority. It would also provide relief in the mortgage lending area by exempting community banks from certain escrow requirements and providing a Qualified Mortgage safe harbor for loans held in portfolio.
Additionally, the bill would repeal the Dodd-Frank Act provision amending the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to require collection of small business and minority-owned business loan data, and it would prohibit federal banking agencies from requiring depository institutions to terminate a specific account or group of accounts unless the agency has a material reason not based solely on reputational risk.
