On January 30, 2018, the US Government Accountability Office released a report that details the compliance of six US federal financial institution regulators (the US Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) with the requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA). Under the RFA, regulators must either consider a proposed rule or regulation's impact on smaller financial institutions and consider potential alternatives, or certify that the proposed rule or regulation will not have a significant impact on a large percentage of small financial institutions. The GAO report identified a number of weaknesses with the agencies' compliance with both aspects of the RFA, including a lack of transparency with respect to documentation supporting an agency's regulatory flexibility analysis, and missing information in certifications. The GAO report makes 10 recommendations—each tailored to respond to perceived weaknesses at specific regulators—with each of the six reviewed agencies receiving at least one recommendation. The recommendations include enhancing transparency, developing policies and procedures that better document and explain the respective agency's analysis and requiring the agencies to review existing evaluation frameworks to ensure harmonization with the requirements of the RFA.
The full text of the GAO report is available at: https://www.gao.gov/assets/690/689732.pdf.
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