WASHINGTON — Top executives at nineteen regional banks sent a letter to the leaders of the Senate Banking Committee on Monday endorsing a bill that would replace the $50 billion asset threshold for a bank to be considered systemtically important with an indicator test that involves a bank's business model instead of just its size.
“We believe that dynamic, multifactored analyses provide the most accurate basis for making assessments for regulatory purposes and should be used accordingly,” said the letter, which was addressed to Sens. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.
Crapo and Brown have been working on a deal that would include a package of bills aimed at increasing economic growth and providing regulatory relief. It is not clear that a bill addressing the SIFI threshold will be included.
Sens. David Perdue, R-Ga., and Susan McCaskill, D-Mo., recently introduced the “The Systemic Risk Designation Improvement Act of 2017,” which the bankers endorsed in their letter. The bill would use an indicator test that focuses on measures including size, interconnectedness, cross-border activities and complexity.
A similar bill sponsored by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., passed out of the House Financial Services Committee with the support of 13 Democrats and 34 Republicans.
Signing the letter were the CEOs at Ally Financial Inc., Bank of the West, BB&T, BBVA Compass, BMO Financial Corp, Capital One Financial Corporation, Citizens Financial Group, Comerica, Discover Financial Services, Fifth Third Bancorp, Huntington, KeyBank N.A, M&T Bank, The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., Regions Financial Corporation, Santander US, SunTrust, US Bank, Zions Bancorporation.
