Bank Regulation

Changes are coming to the suspension and debarment practices of the Small Business Administration (SBA), and contractors should ready themselves for an uptick in suspension and debarment activity as a result.  That’s the takeaway from a new audit report released last week by the SBA’s Office of the Inspector General


Continue Reading Suspension & Debarment Update: SBA to Sharpen Suspension & Debarment Procedures

On May 9, 2019, the House Financial Services Committee (“HFSC”) unanimously approved an amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 2514, the Coordinating Oversight, Upgrading and Innovating Technology, and Examiner Reform Act (the “COUNTER Act” or the “Act”).  The COUNTER Act, introduced by Representative Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) would be the first major reform of the Bank Secrecy Act, 31 U.S.C. §§ 5311 et seq. (“BSA”) and related anti-money laundering (“AML”) regulations since 2001.  The COUNTER Act will now move to the House floor for debate.  The HFSC postponed a vote on a related bill that is aimed at combating illicit financial activity in anonymous shell companies and that would require most corporations and limited liability companies to disclose beneficial ownership information at the time of incorporation.
Continue Reading House Financial Services Committee Passes BSA/AML Overhaul Legislation

Bank-fintech partnerships are good for consumers and banks, as I recently explained in testimony to Congress during a hearing on the opportunities and challenges in the fintech marketplace.

Consumers benefit because banks are able to use fintech to deliver safer, more transparent, lower cost and more convenient financial products and
Continue Reading Giving The Middle Class Credit: With Latest Bill, Congress Is Taking A Step In The Right Direction

In recent days, Citi strategist Jonathan Stubbs and his colleagues have warned that the global economy is trapped in a “death spiral.”[1] Economist  Mohamed El-Erian says that the era when policymakers could rely upon growth from easy money provided by Central Banks is over, and went on too long
Continue Reading Can the G20 Pull the Global Economy Out of its Stall?

The IMF and World Bank have now opened their fall meetings in Lima, Peru — forty eight years since the last time they met in Latin America. The twelve countries of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) (which includes the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, Chile and Peru) have just agreed on a
Continue Reading Latin America’s Slump Masks Big Economic Differences

The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors met last weekend in DC during World Bank/IMF meetings to discuss global economic conditions.  OECD Secretary General Gurria and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon also attended as did IMF Managing Director LaGarde and World Bank President Kim.

The US came in
Continue Reading G20 Mildly Optimistic about Growth, Worried About Greece, Annoyed at the US

The recently completed annual BRICS (the collective name for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit generated three agreements which demonstrate the ongoing move towards self-reliance and strategic cooperation amongst emerging and developing economies.

The Agreement on the New Development Bank and the Treaty for the Establishment of a
Continue Reading Economic Self-Reliance and Strategic Cooperation: 2014 BRICS Summit