FIRM Act

The "Financial Integrity and Regulation Management Act," or FIRM Act, seeks to curtail the perceived political weaponization of Federal banking agencies by removing reputational risk as a factor in the supervision of depository institutions. Congress finds that financial regulation should primarily promote safety and soundness, and that all federally legal businesses and law-abiding citizens should have equal access to financial services without unlawful discrimination or political influence. The bill defines "reputational risk" as the potential for negative publicity to adversely impact a depository institution, explicitly excluding issues related to state sponsors of terrorism or foreign terrorist organizations. It asserts that the use of reputational risk in supervisory frameworks encourages agencies to regulate based on subjective views and has been used to implement political agendas, citing instances like "Operation Choke Point." A core provision of the FIRM Act requires each Federal banking agency to remove any reference to reputational risk from all guidance, rules, examination manuals, or similar documents. This ensures that reputational risk is no longer taken into consideration when examining and supervising depository institutions. Furthermore, the Act explicitly prohibits Federal banking agencies from engaging in any activity concerning or related to the regulation, supervision, or examination of reputational risk. This includes establishing rules, conducting examinations, issuing supervisory criticisms, making supervisory ratings decisions, or taking enforcement actions based on reputational risk. Agencies are mandated to report to Congress within 180 days on their implementation of these changes.