Representatives from the Federal Reserve, FDIC and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said today there are no plans to finalize major rulemakings until next year, when President-elect Trump will likely appoint new leaders to the FDIC and OCC.
During an oversight hearing before the House Financial Services Committee, several lawmakers asked about pending rulemakings at the agencies given the recent election results, such as the FDIC’s proposals on corporate governance and brokered deposits as well as the joint agency proposal on Basel III endgame capital requirements. Lawmakers wanted to know whether the agencies would pause rulemaking until the new administration was in place.
Fed Vice Chairman for Supervision Michael Barr said there are three major interagency rulemakings concerning capital, liquidity and long-term debt. “I look forward to working with my new colleagues at the OCC and the FDIC on those rulemakings next year,” he said. Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu also said there were no plans to move forward on those rulemakings.
FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg said his agency has several pending rulemakings. “We don’t anticipate any of them will be ready for action prior to the end of the current administration,” he said.
Still, Barr noted there are other proposals currently going through the normal rulemaking process, such as on data collection and combating elder fraud. “Those kinds of things I think will proceed, but on the major rulemakings that people are focused on, I plan to wait until my colleagues join with me next year,” he said.
In a statement on X, the American Bankers Association said it welcomed the commitment from federal banking regulators to not finalize any major rules before the change in administration. ABA also called on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to make the same commitment.
