Community Bank Access to Capital Act of 2017

To provide relief to community banks, to promote access to capital for community banks, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Community Bank Access to Capital Act of 2017 2. Basel III exemption for community banks (a) Definitions In this section— (1) the term community bank (A) an insured depository institution; and (B) a depository institution holding company with consolidated assets of not greater than $50,000,000,000; (2) the term insured depository institution 12 U.S.C. 1813(c) (3) the term depository institution holding company 12 U.S.C. 1813(w) (b) Promulgation of regulations Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation shall each promulgate a regulation exempting community banks from any regulation issued to implement Basel III: A global regulatory framework for more resilient banks and banking systems (c) Capital requirements adjustment The Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation shall make the revisions to capital requirements as the Comptroller, the Board, and the Corporation, respectively, determine are necessary or appropriate in light of the regulations required under subsection (b). 3. Internal control attestation requirement exemptions Section 404(c) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 ( 15 U.S.C. 7262(c) (1) by striking that is neither that— (1) is neither ; (2) by striking the period at the end and inserting ; or (3) by adding at the end the following: (2) is an insured depository institution or a depository institution holding company (as those terms are defined in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act ( 12 U.S.C. 1813 . 4. Regulation D changes Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Securities and Exchange Commission shall revise section 230.506(b)(2)(i) of title 17, Code of Federal Regulations, to change the limitation on the number of purchasers contained in the section from 35 to 70. 5. Changes required to small bank holding company policy statement on assessment of financial and managerial factors (a) Definitions In this section— (1) the term bank holding company 12 U.S.C. 1841 (2) the term Board (3) the term savings and loan holding company 12 U.S.C. 1467a(a) (b) Revision Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Board shall revise appendix C of part 225 of title 12, Code of Federal Regulations (commonly known as the Small Bank Holding Company and Savings and Loan Holding Company Policy Statement Public Law 113–250 12 U.S.C. 5371 (1) is not engaged in significant nonbanking activities either directly or through a nonbank subsidiary; (2) does not conduct significant off-balance sheet activities (including securitization and asset management or administration) either directly or through a nonbank subsidiary; and (3) does not have a material amount of debt or equity securities outstanding (other than trust preferred securities) that are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. (c) Exclusions The Board may exclude any bank holding company or savings and loan holding company, regardless of asset size, from the revision under subsection (b) if the Board determines that such action is warranted for supervisory purposes. (d) Conforming amendment Section 171(b)(5) of the Financial Stability Act of 2010 ( 12 U.S.C. 5371(b)(5) (C) any bank holding company or savings and loan holding company that is subject to the application of appendix C of part 225 of title 12, Code of Federal Regulations (commonly known as the Small Bank Holding Company and Savings and Loan Holding Company Policy Statement .

Summary: Community Bank Access to Capital Act of 2017 This bill directs the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to exempt banks with assets not greater than $50 billion from certain international financial standards. The bill amends the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to create an exemption from internal control report attestation requirements for depository institutions with assets not greater than $1 billion. The Securities and Exchange Commission must revise Regulation D (which exempts certain offerings from securities registration requirements) to raise the limit on the number of purchasers of securities. The FRB is directed to increase, from $1 billion to $3 billion, the consolidated asset threshold (i.e., permissible debt level) for a bank holding company or savings and loan holding company that: (1) is not engaged in significant nonbanking activities; (2) does not conduct significant off-balance-sheet activities; and (3) does not have a material amount of debt or equity securities, other than trust-preferred securities, outstanding. If warranted for supervisory purposes, the FRB may exclude a company from this threshold increase.