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Can US banks get some regulatory relief? Taking care of small- and mid-sized banks and reforming the Fed Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), chair of the US Senate Banking Committee, has put forward a regulatory relief bill which: - Raises the “Systemically Important” bar from $50 billion to $500 billion; Re-define small banks from $10 billion to $50 billion; - Provides an exemption for banks under $10 billion of assets from the Volcker Rule; - Requires the Federal Open Market Committee to release quarterly reports on economic conditions around the country, though the Fed chair would still testify before Congress semiannually; - Creates an independent commission to evaluate the structure of the Federal Reserve Board system, including a review of the number and structure of the Fed's 12 districts and requires the Federal Reserve to publish a study every two years on its regulation and oversight of nonbanks; - Requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study the Federal Reserve’s regulation of systemically important institutions (SIFIs); - Requires the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Also require3 the Fed to speed up the release of Fed minutes. Some observers have suggested this bill will go nowhere; but we would not write it off so fast. Shelby is the master of the legislative process and there is some bipartisan support already for parts of his bill. Deutsche Bank Francis J. Kelly Global Public Affairs francis.j.kelly@db.com 6 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_026800