The momentum for U.S. bank deregulation continues to grow, but it is becoming more likely that it will take the form of multiple smaller bills targeting relief for specific segments of the financial sector as opposed to a single, comprehensive bill, says Fitch Ratings.
The Financial Choice Act (FCA) remains the benchmark for the full deregulation agenda given the upcoming House vote on a revised version that was passed by the House Financial Services committee earlier this month. The updated version (FCA 2.0) is mostly in line with the original bill from 2016 and still calls for the full repeal of the Volcker Rule, the Orderly Liquidation Authority (OLA) and the Department of Labor (DOL) Fiduciary Rule.
Broad and deep deregulation is generally viewed by Fitch as likely to have a negative impact from a bank credit risk perspective; however, the ultimate form of regulatory change and its application by individual banks will determine the ratings implication.
A repeal of Volcker is unlikely to result in banks’ returning to full-scale proprietary trading, but it could carry negative rating implications depending on banks’ response. The elimination of OLA could expose the banking sector to significant systemic risk in the event of a crisis, though resolution planning could be a mitigating factor to large bank failures. While eliminating the DOL Fiduciary Rule would likely benefit banks’ wealth management businesses and asset managers’ profitability, reputational and litigation risks would remain.
Key differences between FCA 2.0 and the original bill include simplifying the threshold for banks to opt out of most regulations, changing operational risk weights for global systemically important banks (G-SIBs), replacing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and relaxing some components of stress-testing.
Fitch does not believe proposed changes to the CFPB would directly affect most banks’ and non-bank financial institutions’ credit profiles, though they could reduce the regulatory burden and associated costs. Further revision to bank stress testing as proposed under FCA 2.0 is likely to be ratings neutral.
