MBA Agrees with Fed Vice Chair Barr on Re-Proposing Basel III Endgame

MBA’s President and CEO, Bob Broeksmit, CMB, issued the following statement following Federal Reserve Vice Chair Michael Barr’s speech outlining recommendations to re-propose the Basel III Endgame proposal: 

“It appears that common sense has prevailed with the decision to re-propose the flawed Basel III Endgame proposal, a move that we have consistently called for since last summer in testimony before Congress, speeches, comment letters, and ongoing conversations with federal regulators.

“We support Vice Chair Barr’s recommendations to recalibrate some provisions that would have had negative impacts on single-family housing and commercial real estate finance markets. This includes removing the 20-percentage point risk-weighting add-on for single-family mortgages, which would have further diminished banks’ participation in mortgage lending while reducing credit availability for low- and moderate-income homebuyers. 

“We look forward to reviewing and commenting on the re-proposal, which logic dictates should include the regulators’ quantitative impact study. We will continue to advocate for a bank capital framework – including reduced risk-weighting for mortgage servicing rights and warehouse lines – that ensures safety and soundness without reducing mortgage market participation and thus limiting choice and increasing costs for consumers.”