115th CONGRESS 1st Session |
To provide relief to community banks, to promote access to capital for community banks, and for other purposes.
December 6, 2017
Mr. Hill (for himself and Mr. David Scott of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
To provide relief to community banks, to promote access to capital for community banks, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
This Act may be cited as the “Community Bank Access to Capital Act of 2017”.
SEC. 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).
SEC. 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.”.
Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Securities and Exchange Commission shall 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.
SEC. 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 $3,000,000,000 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’).”.