I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1226 

To establish a mechanism for developing uniform United States positions 

on issues before the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision at the 

Bank for International Settlements, to require a review on the most 

recent recommendation of the Basel Committee for an accord on capital 

standards, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 10, 2005 

Mr. BACHUS (for himself, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Ms. PRYCE of Ohio, Mr. BAKER, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. 

CAPUANO, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mrs. 

BIGGERT, Mr. FITZPATRICK of Pennsylvania, Mr. GERLACH, Mr. 

GILLMOR, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. FORD, Mr. LEACH, Mr. CASTLE, Mr. 

RYUN of Kansas, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. PAUL, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, Mr. 

MANZULLO, Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida, and Mr. CLAY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To establish a mechanism for developing uniform United 

States positions on issues before the Basel Committee 

on Banking Supervision at the Bank for International 

Settlements, to require a review on the most recent recommendation of the Basel Committee for an accord on 

capital standards, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States Finan3 cial Policy Committee For Fair Capital Standards Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. UNITED STATES FINANCIAL POLICY COMMITTEE. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby established 

6 an inter-agency committee, to be known as the ‘‘United 

7 States Financial Policy Committee’’ (hereafter in this Act 

8 referred to as the ‘‘Committee’’), which shall consist of— 

9 (1) the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall 

10 serve as the Chairperson of the Committee; 

11 (2) the Chairman of the Board of Governors of 

12 the Federal Reserve System; 

13 (3) the Comptroller of the Currency; 

14 (4) the Chairperson of the Federal Deposit In15 surance Corporation; and 

16 (5) the Director of the Office of Thrift Super17 vision. 

18 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Committee is to 

19 develop uniform United States positions on proposals 

20 made to, and issues before, the Basel Committee on Bank21 ing Supervision that, if implemented, may directly or indi22 rectly affect United States financial institutions. 

23 (c) MEETINGS.—The Committee shall meet before 

24 any meeting of the Basel Committee on Banking Super25 vision that is related to, or is expected to involve a discus26 sion of, capital standards and at any other time the Chair-
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1 person or any member of the Committee calls for a meet2 ing. 

3 (d) ADHERENCE TO COMMITTEE POSITION.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each member of the Com5 mittee that is a participant on the Basel Committee 

6 on Banking Supervision shall adhere to the positions 

7 of the Committee in any negotiations of the Basel 

8 Committee on Banking Supervision. 

9 (2) LACK OF UNIFORM POSITION.—If the mem10 bers of the Committee that are participants on the 

11 Basel Committee on Banking Supervision are unable 

12 to agree on a uniform position on an issue, the posi13 tion of the Secretary of the Treasury shall be deter14 minative for purposes of paragraph (1) with respect 

15 to such issue. 

16 (e) REPORTS TO THE CONGRESS.— 

17 (1) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Committee shall 

19 submit an annual report to the Congress on the 

20 proceedings of the Committee during the period 

21 covered by the report. 

22 (B) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—The report 

23 shall include— 

24 (i) a brief description of issues that 

25 were addressed by the Committee; 
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1 (ii) a brief description of the uniform 

2 positions developed by the Committee with 

3 respect to such issues; and 

4 (iii) in the case of any issue for which 

5 a uniform policy was not agreed to, a brief 

6 description of the positions of the parties 

7 to the disagreement and an explanation of 

8 the reasons why the parties could not 

9 reach an agreement. 

10 (2) REPORTS TO THE CONGRESS PRIOR TO

11 AGREEMENT ON ANY BASEL ACCORD.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—No Federal banking 

13 agency (as defined in section 3(z) of the Fed14 eral Deposit Insurance Act) may agree to any 

15 proposed recommendation of the Basel Com16 mittee on Banking Supervision before the agen17 cy submits a report on the proposed rec18 ommendation to the Congress. 

19 (B) CONSULTATIONS.—The head of any 

20 Federal banking agency that submits a report 

21 to the Congress under subparagraph (A) shall 

22 consult with the Congress concerning the pro23 posal. 

24 (3) EVALUATION OF NEW BASEL CAPITAL AC25 CORD.—The Federal banking agencies (as defined in 
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1 section 3(z) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act), 

2 in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, 

3 shall evaluate the impact of the revised Capital Ac4 cord, taking into account the following factors, and 

5 shall include such evaluation in the report: 

6 (A) The cost and complexity of the pro7 posal. 

8 (B) The impact of the proposal on small, 

9 medium, and large financial institutions. 

10 (C) The impact of the proposal on real es11 tate markets. 

12 (D) The effect of an operational risk cap13 ital standard on the resilience of the Nation’s 

14 financial system and competition. 

15 (E) The impact of the proposal on com16 petition between banks and other financial in17 stitutions. 

18 (F) The need for additional training for 

19 supervision and examination personnel. 

20 (G) Any comments filed by the public after 

21 notice and an opportunity to comment for a pe22 riod of not less than 60 days. 

23 (H) The relative impact of compliance by 

24 domestic banks. 
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1 (f) ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT SERVICES.—Each 

2 agency represented on the Committee shall provide such 

3 administrative support services as may be necessary for 

4 the Committee to carry out its responsibilities under this 

5 Act. 

6 SEC. 3. REPRESENTATION ON BASEL COMMITTEE ON 

7 BANKING SUPERVISION FOR THE DIRECTOR 

8 OF THE OFFICE OF THRIFT SUPERVISION. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 912 of the International 

10 Lending Supervision Act of 1983 (12 U.S.C. 3911) is 

11 amended— 

12 (1) by striking ‘‘SEC. 912. As one of the three’’ 

13 and inserting the following: 

14 ‘‘(a) FDIC.—As one of the 4’’; and 

15 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub16 section: 

17 ‘‘(b) DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF THRIFT SUPER18 VISION.—As 1 of the 4 Federal bank regulatory and su19 pervisory agencies, the Director of the Office of Thrift Su20 pervision shall be given equal representation with the 

21 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the 

22 Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit In23 surance Corporation on the Committee on Banking Regu24 lations and Supervisory Practices of the Group of Ten 

25 Countries and Switzerland.’’. 
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1 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

2 The heading for section 912 of the International Lending 

3 Supervision Act of 1983 (12 U.S.C. 3911) is amended to 

4 read as follows: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 912. EQUAL REPRESENTATION FOR THE FDIC AND 

6 THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF THRIFT 

7 SUPERVISION.’’. 

Æ