On September 18, the FHFA issued a second proposed rule to amend its Suspended Counterparty Program (SCP) regulation, following a review of comments on the initial proposal (covered by InfoBytes here). The SCP requires regulated entities, including Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and the FHLBanks to report misconduct by individuals or institutions they do business with. The second proposed rule would expand the categories of covered misconduct to include the receipt of prohibition orders and civil monetary penalty orders from specific federal agencies. These changes address concerns that the initial proposal was overly broad and granted “undue discretion” to the FHFA. The proposal also included a $1 million threshold for civil money penalty orders to avoid capturing relatively minor misconduct. The FHFA invited public comments on the second proposed rule 60 days after publication to the Federal Register.
