Industry Alerts & Publications

OCC Releases Proposed Rule to Allow Certain Federal Savings Associations to Elect to Operate with National Bank Powers

September 20, 2018

On September 10, 2018, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the “OCC”) issued a proposed rule implementing Section 206 of the Economic Growth, Relief and Consumer Protection Act, which permits federal savings associations with total consolidated assets of $20 billion or less as of December 31, 2017 to elect to operate with national bank powers without converting to a national bank charter. This election would allow an eligible federal savings association to exceed its statutory commercial and consumer lending limits and avoid compliance with the qualified thrift lender test.

For more information, including a summary of the OCC’s proposed rule, please see the attached News Alert.

New Tax Law – What Every Credit Union Executive Needs to Know

August 22, 2018

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which became law on December 22, 2017, imposes a substantial new penalty tax on tax-exempt organizations, including federal and state-chartered credit unions, regarding certain types of “excessive” compensation paid to their covered employees. This new penalty tax is effective for the taxable years of the credit union beginning after December 31, 2017 and will likely have a significant impact on the design and administration of the executive compensation programs of many credit unions.

American Banker Article on Need to Repeal the Federal Reserve Board’s MHC Dividend Waiver Rule

August 10, 2018

Enclosed is a link to an article that Eric Luse of our firm wrote for the American Banker explaining why the Federal Reserve Board’s dividend waiver rule is unworkable and unfair to mutual holding companies and public stockholders.

Treasury Issues Report on Nonbank Financials, Fintech and Innovation; OCC Announces Acceptance of Fintech Charter Applications

August 2, 2018

On July 31, 2018, the Treasury Department issued its report on financial technology (fintech) companies and the OCC announced that it will begin accepting national bank charter applications from fintech companies.

SEC Finalizes Rule on Smaller Reporting Company Definition

July 18, 2018

The SEC recently finalized a rule, effective September 10, 2018, that expands the definition of “smaller reporting company” (“SRC”) to include registrants with (i) a public float of less than $250 million, or (ii) annual revenues of less than $100 million for the previous year and either no public float or a public float of less than $700 million.