By Michael Fryzel
With all the discussion about the Financial CHOICE Act and the yet unseen Senate version of regulatory reform, there has been little reported about the Financial Agency Konsolidation Effort (FAKE). This alleged piece of legislation would consolidate the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB). All those agencies would become part of a new Financial Regulatory Division of the United States Treasury Department.
Boards, commissions or committees would no longer be a part of any financial regulatory agency. The structure for each would be a Treasury appointed Director reporting to an Assistant Secretary who in turn would report to the Treasury Secretary. It is speculated that this would eliminate scores of positions, save millions of dollars and provide standardized regulation and exams for all financial institutions.
Few people, if any, have seen this legislation and some argue that it does not exist. It is rumored that the two national organizations for credit unions claim there cannot possibly be such legislation since they never were consulted about it. Similarly, the banking organizations are rumored to have said that they have been consulted, drafted some of the language and are clearing their schedules for another trip to the White House for the signing of the bill.
Unnamed and unreliable sources claim the legislation exceeds 1,500 pages, making it larger than Dodd-Frank. While some question whether any bill could be so detailed, rumors have it that a huge warehouse in D.C. has been rented by Treasury to store the 535 copies for Congress and an additional 5,000 for staff, general public and the press.
Identical bills will reportedly be introduced in both the House and Senate with no members yet claiming to be sponsors. No one in Congress is expected to read the bill, but many are eager for a photo-op with something they may not stand for but can stand on.
No One Taking Credit...Yet
No one has yet taken credit for this bold piece of legislation. Many however are anxiously awaiting its introduction and drafting statements that will both support and criticize the bill.
While some have claimed there may be no financial regulatory reform legislation passed this year, others believe that FAKE may be something that could find support on both sides of the aisle.
But since all this is fake news, no such proposed legislation exists. At least not yet. \
Michael Fryzel is the former chairman of NCUA and NCUA board member who is now in private practice in Chicago. Mr. Fryzel can be reached at meflaw@aol.com.