S-1962 : Still Just a Bill

Community Bank Access to Capital Act of 2017

This bill directs the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to exempt banks with assets not greater than $50 billion from certain international financial standards.

The bill amends the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to create an exemption from internal control report attestation requirements for depository institutions with assets not greater than $1 billion.

The Securities and Exchange Commission must revise Regulation D (which exempts certain offerings from securities registration requirements) to: (1) include a person's primary residence as an asset for purposes of calculating net worth, and (2) raise the limit on the number of purchasers of securities.

The FRB is directed to increase, from $1 billion to $5 billion, the consolidated asset threshold (i.e., permissible debt level) for a bank holding company or savings and loan holding company that: (1) is not engaged in significant nonbanking activities; (2) does not conduct significant off-balance-sheet activities; and (3) does not have a material amount of debt or equity securities, other than trust-preferred securities, outstanding. If warranted for supervisory purposes, the FRB may exclude a company from this threshold increase.