U.S. financial industry lobby groups are calling on regulators to do away with rules that they say are creating a needless regulatory burden on financial firms.
The Financial Services Roundtable (FSR) and the U.S. Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) Tuesday submitted a joint comment letter to federal banking authorities requesting reforms to industry regulations that they say “are outdated, unnecessary or unduly burdensome” for firms.
The comment was delivered in response to legislation requiring that banking regulations be reviewed at least every 10 years to consider how to reduce regulatory burden. In the letter, the FSR and SIFMA make a number of recommendations to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve Board, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), including that these sorts of reviews should be expanded to include reforms adopted recently in the wake of the financial crisis.
For instance, the letter says that the rule reviews should include regulations that fall under the jurisdiction of the recently-established Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The groups argue that when the CFPB came into being, most of the rules it adopted were existing rules that it merely republished without updating them.
In addition to the call to expand these sorts of reviews, the FSR and SIFMA make recommendations for reforms to a number of specific rules.
“It is important that regulators conduct regular reviews to increase the clarity, uniformity and cost-effectiveness of their regulations, while decreasing uncertainty, duplication and inconsistencies across their definitions and rulemakings. We look forward to continuing in this constructive dialogue with the regulators to ensure proper effectiveness of these important regulations,” said SIFMA president & CEO, Kenneth Bentsen, Jr.