Community Bank Access to Capital Act of 2017

Bill: 115-s-1962
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Rounds, Mike [R-SD]
Introduced: 2017-10-16
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector
Subjects: Accounting and auditing

Administrative law and regulatory procedures

Bank accounts, deposits, capital

Banking and financial institutions regulation

Securities

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Latest action: action_date: 2017-10-16
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Summaries:
action_date: 2017-10-16
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><b>Community Bank Access to Capital Act of 2017</b></p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>The Securities and Exchange Commission must revise Regulation D (which exempts certain offerings from securities registration requirements) to: (1) include a person's primary residence as an asset for purposes of calculating net worth, and (2) raise the limit on the number of purchasers of securities.</p> <p>The FRB is directed to increase, from $1 billion to&nbsp;$5 billion,&nbsp;the consolidated asset threshold (i.e., permissible&nbsp;debt level) for a bank holding company&nbsp;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. </p>

tv_txt: II 115th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1962 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES October 16, 2017 Mr. Rounds (for himself and Mr. Blunt ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL 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 means— (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 has the meaning given the term in section 3(c) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act ( 12 U.S.C. 1813(c) ); and (3) the term depository institution holding company means a bank holding company or savings and loan holding company (as those terms are defined under section 3(w) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act ( 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 , as issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision on December 16, 2010, and revised on June 1, 2011. (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) ) is amended— (1) by striking that is neither and inserting the following: that— (1) is neither ; (2) by striking the period at the end and inserting ; or ; and (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 )), with consolidated assets of not greater than $1,000,000,000. . 4. Regulation D changes Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Securities and Exchange Commission shall— (1) amend section 230.501(a) of title 17, Code of Federal Regulations, so that, for purposes of calculating net worth under paragraph (a)(5) of that section, the primary residence of a person shall be included as an asset; and (2) 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 has the meaning given the term in section 2 of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 ( 12 U.S.C. 1841 ); (2) the term Board means the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; and (3) the term savings and loan holding company has the meaning given the term in section 10(a) of the Home Owners' Loan Act ( 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 ), to raise the consolidated asset threshold under that appendix from $1,000,000,000 (as adjusted by Public Law 113–250 ( 12 U.S.C. 5371 note)) to $5,000,000,000 for a bank holding company or savings and loan holding company that— (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) ) is amended by striking subparagraph (C) and inserting the following: (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 ). .