A “draft document for internal discussion” about revamping rules implementing the anti-redlining Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) could be ready within the next week, with a notice of proposed rulemaking possible later this summer, the board chairman for the federal insurer of bank deposits said Wednesday.
(In the brief video, FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams addresses timing of a proposal to make changes to regulations implementing CRA.)
In a press conference called to unveil first-quarter 2019 performance by federally insured banks and savings associations, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) Chairman Jelena McWilliams said she expected the draft “pretty soon” (which she later confirmed meant “within a week or so”). She called that timing “a pretty aggressive plan, because it takes a lot of time to put something on paper with these rulemakings. As they say, the devil is in the detail and when you start drafting, you really come to the issues that you want to address.”
McWilliams said the document – which she reiterated would be for “internal discussion” only – would serve as the basis for drafting a rule. She said a notice of proposed rulemaking would follow “a couple of months after” the drafting starts.
Regarding potential changes to the Volcker Rule (which imposes restrictions on proprietary trading), McWilliams called that much more complicated. “The agencies are still discussing; I think we are very close,” she told the gathered reporters. “I can’t tell you like two weeks, two months – I’m not sure because it’s five agencies involved,” she said. “It’s a little bit more complex.”