Testifying before the House Financial Services Committee today, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin outlined his recommendations for financial reform, including tailoring capital requirements, reducing regulatory overlap, remedying the Volcker Rule and making the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau more accountable.
As an example, during the question-and-answer period Mnuchin suggested that the Dodd-Frank Act’s $50 billion asset threshold for designation as a systemically important financial institution “should be raised substantially, at least to $250 or $300 billion.” He recommended further tailoring the designation process so that regulators should have discretion to exempt “simple, un-complex banks” above whatever asset threshold is established.
The American Bankers Association has long supported a tailored approach to regulating SIFIs based on a broader range of systemic risk indicators, including business model, geographic exposure and interconnectedness. The association supports Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer’s bipartisan Systemic Risk Designation Improvement Act, which would eliminate the arbitrary $50 billion threshold.
