Lawmakers Advance Finance Bills Amid Dodd-Frank Uncertainty

A group of Republican Senators recently wrote a letter to the Treasury Department chief seeking review of FSOC’s processes for designating non-bank firms as systemically important financial institutions, or SIFIs.  The lawmakers criticized the designation process, saying that it has “created substantial new regulatory costs while putting taxpayers on the hook for any future bailout to these firms.” A new bill in Congress seeks to subject the FSOC to the regular Congressional appropriations process. Currently, FSOC’s operations are funded by assessments on bank holding companies with assets of $50 billion or more and SIFIs without action by Congress.

Earlier in March, the Senate Banking Committee approved several bills aimed at fostering capital growth for companies. The Wall Street Journal reported that the bills include efforts to: increase the number of investors venture-capital funds can acquire before triggering SEC registration requirements; credit stock exchanges for any fees they may have overpaid to the SEC; and ease certain restrictions concerning the publication of research on exchange-traded funds.