The Senate on Wednesday passed a bill sponsored by Sen. Mike Crapo that would roll back some of the regulations put in place by the Dodd-Frank Act following the 2008 financial crisis.  The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, which was passed in a 67-31 bipartisan vote, would provide notable regulatory relief to regional banks by raising the threshold by which bank holding companies are presumptively subject to enhanced prudential standards under Dodd-Frank from $50 billion to $250 billion in total consolidated assets.  The bill also includes provisions to lessen the regulatory burden on community banks, such as tailoring mortgage regulations and creating an exemption to the Volcker Rule for small banks, and would add some new consumer protection measures, including an expansion of access to free credit freezes following a data breach.  The legislation will now move to the House, where Rep. Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has indicated a desire to add around 30 measures to the Senate bill, and resolve any differences with the Senate bill through negotiations in the reconciliation process (external link).

Photo of Mike Nonaka Mike Nonaka

Michael Nonaka is co-chair of the Financial Services Group and advises banks, financial services providers, fintech companies, and commercial companies on a broad range of compliance, enforcement, transactional, and legislative matters.

He specializes in providing advice relating to federal and state licensing and…

Michael Nonaka is co-chair of the Financial Services Group and advises banks, financial services providers, fintech companies, and commercial companies on a broad range of compliance, enforcement, transactional, and legislative matters.

He specializes in providing advice relating to federal and state licensing and applications matters for banks and other financial institutions, the development of partnerships and platforms to provide innovative financial products and services, and a broad range of compliance areas such as anti-money laundering, financial privacy, cybersecurity, and consumer protection. He also works closely with banks and their directors and senior leadership teams on sensitive supervisory and strategic matters.

Mike plays an active role in the firm’s Fintech Initiative and works with a number of banks, lending companies, money transmitters, payments firms, technology companies, and service providers on innovative technologies such as bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, blockchain, big data, cloud computing, same day payments, and online lending. He has assisted numerous banks and fintech companies with the launch of innovative deposit and loan products, technology services, and cryptocurrency-related products and services.

Mike has advised a number of clients on compliance with TILA, ECOA, TISA, HMDA, FCRA, EFTA, GLBA, FDCPA, CRA, BSA, USA PATRIOT Act, FTC Act, Reg. K, Reg. O, Reg. W, Reg. Y, state money transmitter laws, state licensed lender laws, state unclaimed property laws, state prepaid access laws, and other federal and state laws and regulations.