Title: Volcker Rule Regulatory Harmonization Act
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector

Summary:
This bill amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 to exempt from the Volcker Rule banks with assets of $10 billion or less. (The Volcker Rule prohibits banking agencies from engaging in proprietary trading or entering into certain relationships with hedge funds and private-equity funds.)
The bill also grants exclusive rulemaking authority under the Volcker Rule to the Federal Reserve Board. (Currently, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission also have regulatory authority under the Volcker Rule.)

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4790 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4790

To amend the Volcker rule to give the Board of Governors of the Federal 
 Reserve System sole rulemaking authority, to exclude community banks 
   from the requirements of the Volcker rule, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 12, 2018

   Mr. Hill introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Volcker rule to give the Board of Governors of the Federal 
 Reserve System sole rulemaking authority, to exclude community banks 
   from the requirements of the Volcker rule, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY UNDER THE VOLCKER RULE.

    (a) In General.--Section 13(b) of the Bank Holding Company Act of 
1956 (12 U.S.C. 1851(b)) is amended--
            (1) in the subsection heading, by striking ``and 
        Rulemaking'' and inserting ``, Rulemaking, Examinations, and 
        Enforcement'';
            (2) by amending paragraph (2) to read as follows:
            ``(2) Rulemaking.--The Board shall have sole authority to--
                    ``(A) issue regulations under this section after 
                the date of the enactment of this paragraph; and
                    ``(B) amend any regulations issued under this 
                section before, on, or after such date.''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(3) Examination and enforcement authority.--
                    ``(A) Primary federal banking agency.--The primary 
                Federal banking agency for a banking entity shall have 
                sole authority to conduct examinations of all 
                affiliates of the banking group to ensure compliance 
                with this section and to enforce the requirements of 
                this section. The primary Federal banking agency shall 
                keep the Board informed of all examinations of and any 
                proposed supervisory or enforcement actions against any 
                affiliate of the banking entity and shall ensure that 
                all actions taken against any affiliate of the banking 
                group are consistent with the Board's interpretation of 
                this section and rules promulgated thereunder.
                    ``(B) Definitions.--For purposes of this paragraph, 
                the term `primary Federal banking agency' means, with 
                respect to any banking group, the appropriate Federal 
                banking agency for an affiliate within the banking 
                group with the highest amount of unconsolidated assets 
                as of the most recent quarter.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 13 of the Bank Holding Company 
Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. 1851) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``the appropriate Federal banking agencies, 
        the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity 
        Futures Trading Commission,'' each place it appears and 
        inserting ``the Board'';
            (2) by striking ``appropriate Federal banking agencies, the 
        Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures 
        Trading Commission'' and inserting ``Board'';
            (3) in subsection (c)(5), by striking ``Notwithstanding 
        paragraph (2)'' and all that follows through ``provided in 
        subsection (b)(2),'' and inserting ``The Board shall have the 
        authority'';
            (4) in subsection (d)(1)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (F)(ii)--
                            (i) by striking ``the appropriate Federal 
                        banking agencies'' and inserting ``the Board''; 
                        and
                            (ii) by striking ``have not jointly'' and 
                        inserting ``has not''; and
                    (B) in subparagraph (G)(viii), by striking 
                ``appropriate Federal banking agencies, the Securities 
                and Exchange Commission, or the Commodity Futures 
                Trading Commission,'' each place it appears and 
                inserting ``Board''; and
            (5) in subsection (e)(2)--
                    (A) by striking ``an appropriate Federal banking 
                agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the 
                Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as appropriate,'' 
                and inserting ``the Board''; and
                    (B) by striking ``under the respective agency's 
                jurisdiction''.

SEC. 2. EXCLUSION OF COMMUNITY BANKS FROM VOLCKER RULE.

    Section 13(h)(1) of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. 
1851(h)(1)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (D), by redesignating clauses (i) and 
        (ii) as subclauses (I) and (II), respectively, and moving such 
        subclauses 2 ems to the right;
            (2) by redesignating subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), and (D) 
        as clauses (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv), respectively, and moving 
        such clauses 2 ems to the right;
            (3) by striking ``The term'' and inserting the following:
                    ``(A) In general.--The term''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) Exclusion.--Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), 
                the term `banking entity' does not include any entity 
                that has total consolidated assets of $10,000,000,000 
                or less.''.
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