Latest News Dec 1, 2011 Heading 1 Style Jul 15, 2011 GAO Reports on Proprietary Trading Restrictions Jul 14, 2011 White House Threatens Veto If H.R. 2434 Undermines Dodd-Frank Jul 13, 2011 CFPB Offers Details on Large Bank Supervision Program Jun 30, 2011 Fed Finalizes “Swipe Fee” Limit Rule Jun 8, 2011 Senate Rejects Proposal to Delay Durbin Amendment   Archive Contact CCH Focus CCH Focus CCHFocusEditor@cch.com   CCH Customer Support Phone: 800.449.6435 Subscriber Invitation Visitors to CCH Focus are invited to submit articles for future issues. Analyses, viewpoints, letters to the editor, manuscripts, legal memoranda and other original materials that could be adapted for publication are welcome. Submissions or queries may be sent to   Serena Lynn, Editor 2700 Lake Cook Road, Riverwoods, Illinois 60015 Phone: 847.267.7087 Fax 847.267.7776 CCHFocusEditor@cch.com

Sign up via Heading 1 Style Heading 2 Style This is Normal style text. When creating your page, use the styles demonstrated in this page. You should, of course, delete this content and replace it with your own. Normal text Italic Text Bold Text Heading 3 Style Item 1 Item 2 Item 3 Read full article GAO Reports on Proprietary Trading Restrictions By Serena Lynn, Editor, the CCH Federal Banking Law Reporter and Bank Digest, July 15, 2011. To restrain risk-taking and reduce the potential for federal support for banking entities, the Dodd-Frank Act prohibits banking entities from engaging in certain proprietary trading. It also restricts investments in hedge funds, which actively trade in securities and other financial contracts, and private equity funds, which use debt financing to invest in companies or other less-liquid assets. Regulators must implement these restrictions by October 2011. As required by Section 989 of the Act, the GAO has reviewed: what is known about the risks associated with such activities and the potential effects of the restrictions; and how regulators oversee such activities. To conduct this work, the GAO reviewed... Read full article White House Threatens Veto If H.R. 2434 Undermines Dodd-Frank By Sarah Borchersen-Keto, CCH Washington News Bureau, Contributing Author, the CCH Federal Banking Law Reporter, July 14, 2011. The White House said President Obama would likely veto a House appropriations bill for fiscal year 2012 if it undermines the Dodd-Frank Act through funding limits or other restrictions. In a Statement of Administration Policy regarding H.R. 2434, which makes appropriations for financial services and general government programs, the White House expressed strong opposition to a number of provisions in the bill. Specifically the White House opposes changes to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s funding structure, and limitations on its expenditures, saying the changes would compromise the CFPB’s independence. According to H.R. 2434 the Federal Reserve Board cannot transfer more than $200 million to the CFPB, which compares to the $329 million the CFPB estimates it will need. H.R. 2434 would... Read full article CFPB Offers Details on Large Bank Supervision Program By Sarah Borchersen-Keto, CCH Washington News Bureau, Contributing Author, the CCH Federal Banking Law Reporter, July 13, 2011. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will begin ensuring that large depository institutions are complying with federal consumer financial protection laws when it launches operations on July 21. Banks with total assets over $10 billion, which account for over 80 percent of industry assets, will be overseen by the CFPB supervision program. The CFPB said it will provide further information via letter to the 111 banks falling under its jurisdiction in early August. Elizabeth Warren, Special Treasury Advisor on the CFPB, noted Read full article Fed Finalizes “Swipe Fee” Limit Rule By Richard Roth, J.D., and Serena Lynn, Editors, the CCH Federal Banking Law Reporter and Bank Digest, June 30, 2011. The Federal Reserve has finalized a rule implementing a provision of the Dodd-Frank Act calling for limits on “swipe fees,” the fees that debit card networks can charge for processing transactions. The rule also sets limits on network exclusivity arrangements and routing restrictions. The limit will apply only to issuers that have assets of $10 billion or more, when combined with all of their affiliates. According to the Fed's initial proposal, the average swipe fee currently is 44 cents per transaction; however, based on the Dodd-Frank Act requirement that the fee be “reasonable and proportional to the cost insured by the issuer with respect to the transaction,” the Fed proposed... Read full article Senate Rejects Proposal to Delay Durbin Amendment By Sarah Borchersen-Keto, CCH Washington News Bureau, Contributing Author, the CCH Federal Banking Law Reporter, June 8, 2011. The Senate rejected by  54 to 45 votes a proposal that would have delayed for one year the scheduled July 21 imposition of new Federal Reserve Board rules capping interchange fees for issuers with assets over $10 billion at an initial rate of 12 cents per transaction. The delay would have permitted further study of the proposed rules and their impact on consumers and small banks. The proposal, sponsored by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., had received support from Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-S.D. Johnson, who voted against the Durbin Amendment... Read full article