Commentary by Steven Lofchie
House Financial Services Committee members Mike Flood (R-NE), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), French Hill (R-AR) and Wiley Nickel (D-NC) introduced the Uniform Treatment of Custodial Assets Act. The proposed legislation would prohibit financial institutions from including crypto assets held in their custody as a liability on their balance sheet.
House Financial Services Subcommittee Chair Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) requested information from the SEC and FINRA on their efforts to address "serious" national security issues raised by broker-dealers that have ownership connections to the Chinese Communist Party.
House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry (R-NC) led Republican committee members in urging the SEC to not finalize any new regulation until evaluating the aggregate impact of interconnected proposals regarding private funds, equity market structure and corporate governance.
Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) questioned Treasury on its efforts to "[leverage] finance and financial risk mitigation to confront the threat of climate change."
The House Financial Services Committee considered testimony from witnesses on the impact of, and interaction between, recent regulatory banking proposals to implement Basel standards and increase capital requirements.