U.S. Representatives Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) and Patrick McHenry (R-NC) introduced a bill that would require all eight U.S. financial regulators to enact a set of data collection and publication standards for reported information.
Under the bill, all public information released by the regulators (the Treasury, SEC, FDIC, OCC, CFPB, Federal Reserve Board, CFTC, National Credit Union Administration and Federal Housing Finance Agency) would be (i) better organized and (ii) available online as "open data," available to download in bulk and searchable electronically.
According to Ms. Maloney and Mr. McHenry, this bill would (i) reduce the regulatory compliance burden for the private sector and (ii) enhance transparency and accountability.
Commentary
The federal government is paving the way for the application of machine learning algorithms to analyze data from eight agencies by requiring standardized data formats. Getting eight agencies to coordinate is going to be difficult. However, it is good to force the regulators to think through their data requirements. Too often the regulators demand additional data on the theory that it may prove somehow useful, but they give insufficient consideration to the specific questions asked or the format of the responses. The result is a mass of useless data that cannot even be formatted in a consistent manner. Form PF stands as the best example of worthless data collection demanded by regulators. (The Dodd-Frank requirement that firms provide "legacy swap" data comes in a close second.)
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.