Government

The House Judiciary Committee approved bipartisan legislation aimed at speeding up the bankruptcy process and preventing taxpayers from taking the hit in the event of the failure of large financial institutions. The backers of the Financial Institution Bankruptcy Act say it will expedite the bankruptcy process with a speedy judicial review and quicker transfer of assets from the bank to a bridge company.

HSBC Holdings is the latest institution to make good with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) after the firm's North American arm agreed Friday to pay hundreds of millions to settle claims revolving around faulty mortgage-backed securities (MBS) sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the years before the crash.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently proposed an expansion of its consumer complaint database that would include publicly publishing full narratives of consumers' complaints against financial institutions. While the bureau suggests such action supports the goal of "[improving] the functioning, transparency, and efficiency of markets," not all agree.

Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee earlier in the week, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry said the financial condition of banks has improved since the financial crash—but he believes that supervisors need to "remain vigilant."

Congresswoman Maxine Waters announced Wednesday a new proposal aimed at reforming consumer reporting and credit scoring practices. Waters drafted her proposal, which is entitled "Fair Credit Reporting Improvement Act of 2014," in response to many recent cases and studies which have exposed flaws in the country's current consumer reporting system.

Financial regulators said Tuesday they hope to finish their work on a rule aimed at tightening mortgage standards and reducing risk by the end of this year. In a Senate Banking Committee hearing, FDIC chair Martin Gruenberg said his agency and others are "in the end game" of their work on a rule that would require mortgage-backed securities (MBS) issuers to hold a stake on packaged loans that don't meet certain exemption requirements.

Federal regulators announced last week they have finalized a rule with regards to the "liquidity coverage ratio" (LCR) of large financial institutions. The final rule is nearly identical to the rule that was originally proposed with a few changes based on public comments.

A bill proposed to dissolve the GSEs and replace them with a limited government backstop could cut direct spending by $60 billion over the next 10 years, according to an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office. Under S. 1217, the new system of guaranteeing mortgage-backed securities (MBS) would mean less risk for the government, therefore costing the government less money.

Following the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA's) recent request for input on its proposal for a single security for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Urban Institute expressed support for the idea but concern that FHFA may be unnecessarily slow in implementing such a plan.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced this week that it has published final guidelines for large financial institutions regarding the strengthening of governance and risk management practices for those institutions. Covered institutions will now be required to control and manage risk-taking activities by following a written risk governance framework under the new guidelines, OCC announced.