Friday's News

State Legislative Developments

• NYBA submitted a letter in support of a bill, now under consideration for the Governor’s approval, that will increase the public funds investment options available for counties outside of New York City. NYBA is supporting the advocacy of A.7209 (Thiele)/ s.6323 (Gaughran) by the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) and applauds this effort to give more flexibility to county governments in need of safe but alternative ways to drive returns on their investments.
  
• Governor Cuomo signed into law a bill (S.3941 (Comrie)/A.6040 (Burgos)) to expand the definition of telemarketing to include marketing by text message. Texting was not previously defined as telemarketing, exempting it from certain protections.

Federal Legislative Developments

• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) released a discussion draft of legislation to legalize cannabis at the federal level, remove federal penalties on cannabis, expunge nonviolent federal cannabis-related criminal records and allow states to decide if or how to legalize the drug. The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act faces extremely long odds for passage this year.
  
  
• U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan) once again introduced legislation regarding overdraft protection programs. H.R. 4277 would amend the Truth in Lending Act to establish fair and transparent practices related to the marketing and provision of overdraft coverage programs at financial institutions.

 Federal Regulatory Developments

• The federal banking agencies are seeking comment on proposed guidance on managing risks associated with third-party relationships, including fintech partnerships. The proposal offers a framework of risk management principles to assist banks in managing third-party relationships and promotes compliance with consumer protection laws and regulations. The proposed guidance takes into account the level of risk, complexity, and size of the financial institution and the nature of the third-party relationship.
  
  
• The CFTC’s Market Risk Advisory Committee endorsed the “SOFR First” initiative as a Best Practice for changing trading conventions from Libor to SOFR. The full CFTC board must now vote on the recommendation. In addition, CFTC staff issued a statement on the importance of an orderly transition away from Libor.
  
  
• The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) voted on two new initiatives. The first could result in the elimination of Troubled Debt Restructuring (TDR) accounting for companies that have implemented CECL. TDR could potentially be replaced by a “robust loan modification framework.” The second is a reconsideration of CECL accounting for loans purchased with credit deterioration (PCD). Feedback on PCD indicated that it does not yield useful information.

Resources

• The Federal Reserve has released a tool for community banks to help them implement CECL. The tool, called SCALE for Scaled CECL Allowance for Losses Estimator, uses industry or peer data from the Call Report as the starting point for estimating an allowance for credit losses. The tool is available here.
  
  
• Child Tax Credit payments began hitting the bank accounts of eligible Americans yesterday. The IRS has created this resource page containing helpful tools and information in English and other languages.
  
  
• The FDIC and CFPB has revised their course materials for the Money Smart Curriculum for Older Adults.