At a House Financial Services Committee hearing, industry leaders praised recent updates to Basel capital rules but highlighted ongoing concerns over regulatory overlap and real estate finance impacts, signalling a careful but optimistic stance on forthcoming reforms.
At a House Financial Services Committee hearing this week, Bank Policy Institute chief executive Greg Baer argued that the banking agencies’ latest capital proposals are a meaningful improvement on the 2023 draft, but said regulators still need to think more carefully about how different parts of the framework interact. The hearing, titled “Prioritizing Main Street: Evaluating the Impact of Capital Proposals on Economic Growth and American Communities”, brought together witnesses from the Mortgage Bankers Association, MRV Associates, Louis Dreyfus Company and Davis Polk, alongside Baer.
Baer told lawmakers the revised Basel package does a better job of reflecting risk and, in turn, should support a more efficient allocation of bank capital. He also pointed to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s 2019 remark that bank capital was “about right”, arguing that levels have risen substantially since then. In his view, one of the key remaining issues is the overlap between the Basel proposal and the Fed’s stress-testing regime, which he said needs to be addressed if regulators want a framework that is both tougher and more coherent.
The hearing also drew a sharp exchange over how capital rules affect lending into the real economy. Republican Representative Bill Huizenga said the revised proposal better preserves banks’ role in capital markets and allows risk to flow to those best placed to bear it. Democratic Representative Brad Sherman, meanwhile, said changes to the draft had eased concerns that the rules had favoured publicly traded companies over privately held borrowers and had stopped penalising capital markets trading activity.
Mortgage Bankers Association chief executive Bob Broeksmit said the agencies had listened to industry criticism and produced a materially better proposal, particularly on mortgage servicing assets. He also warned that private mortgage insurance, an important hedge against credit risk, had not been adequately addressed. According to the MBA, the earlier version of the capital rewrite risked severe disruption to both residential and commercial real estate finance.
The testimony came as other banking and policy debates gathered pace in Washington and beyond. The Bank Policy Institute also filed a comment letter urging the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to clarify its proposed stablecoin rules under the GENIUS Act, saying the draft needs to better balance innovation, financial stability and consumer protection. And in a separate filing, BPI backed the Federal Reserve’s move to remove reputation risk from its supervisory framework, calling the concept too subjective and warning that it can distort examiners’ judgement away from material financial risks.
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Source: Noah Wire Services
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The draft above was created using the information available at the time the story first
emerged. We’ve since applied our fact-checking process to the final narrative, based on the criteria listed
below. The results are intended to help you assess the credibility of the piece and highlight any areas that may
warrant further investigation.
Freshness check
Score:
8
Notes:
The article references a House Financial Services Committee hearing held on April 28, 2026, which is recent. The Bank Policy Institute’s website published an article on May 2, 2026, summarising the testimony of Greg Baer, President & CEO of the Bank Policy Institute, before the committee. This suggests the content is fresh and original. However, the article includes a source reference map indicating that the content is inspired by the headline at the Bank Policy Institute’s website. This raises concerns about the originality of the content, as it appears to be a direct reproduction of the Bank Policy Institute’s own publication. The presence of a source reference map suggests that the article may be repurposed from the Bank Policy Institute’s website, which could affect its originality. Additionally, the article includes links to other sources, such as the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services’ website and the Mortgage Bankers Association’s website, indicating that the content is not entirely original. The presence of these links suggests that the article may be aggregating content from multiple sources, which could affect its originality. Given these factors, the freshness score is 8, indicating that the content is recent but may not be entirely original.
Quotes check
Score:
7
Notes:
The article includes direct quotes from Greg Baer, President & CEO of the Bank Policy Institute, as well as from other witnesses at the House Financial Services Committee hearing. These quotes are attributed to their respective sources, and the article provides links to the original sources. However, the article does not provide specific dates for the quotes, making it difficult to verify their freshness. Additionally, the article includes a source reference map indicating that the content is inspired by the headline at the Bank Policy Institute’s website, which raises concerns about the originality of the quotes. Given these factors, the quotes score is 7, indicating that the quotes are present but their freshness and originality are uncertain.
Source reliability
Score:
6
Notes:
The article is published on the Bank Policy Institute’s website, which is a reputable source within the banking industry. However, the presence of a source reference map indicating that the content is inspired by the headline at the Bank Policy Institute’s website raises concerns about the originality of the content. Additionally, the article includes links to other sources, such as the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services’ website and the Mortgage Bankers Association’s website, indicating that the content is not entirely original. Given these factors, the source reliability score is 6, indicating that the source is reputable but the content’s originality is questionable.
Plausibility check
Score:
8
Notes:
The article discusses recent developments in the banking industry, including the House Financial Services Committee hearing on Basel III capital proposals and the testimony of Greg Baer, President & CEO of the Bank Policy Institute. These events are plausible and align with recent industry discussions. However, the presence of a source reference map indicating that the content is inspired by the headline at the Bank Policy Institute’s website raises concerns about the originality of the content. Given these factors, the plausibility score is 8, indicating that the content is plausible but its originality is uncertain.
Overall assessment
Verdict (FAIL, OPEN, PASS): FAIL
Confidence (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH): MEDIUM
Summary:
The article discusses recent developments in the banking industry, including the House Financial Services Committee hearing on Basel III capital proposals and the testimony of Greg Baer, President & CEO of the Bank Policy Institute. However, the presence of a source reference map indicating that the content is inspired by the headline at the Bank Policy Institute’s website raises concerns about the originality of the content. Additionally, the article includes links to other sources, such as the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services’ website and the Mortgage Bankers Association’s website, indicating that the content is not entirely original. Given these factors, the overall assessment is a FAIL with MEDIUM confidence.
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