The Senate Banking Committee passed the Financial Regulatory Improvement Act of 2015, a bill that revises provisions of the Dodd-Frank. The bill, passed by the Senate Banking Committee with only Republicans voting in favor, eases regulatory burdens on small financial institutions. The bill would increase Congressional oversight of government-sponsored enterprises (GSE), Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

The legislation raises the asset threshold for designating banks as systemically important financial institutions from $50 billion to $500 billion (i.e., the Federal Reserve would now evaluate bank holding companies with $500 billion rather than $50 billion). In addition, it revises the Federal Home Loan Bank Act definition of a “community financial institution” to include small credit unions – those with less than $1.1 billion in assets.

See link to WIPP website from where this news article was extracted: http://www.wipp.org/news/233563/Extreme-Makeover-Dodd-Frank-Edition.htm