| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 987 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend certain banking laws to prohibit certain financial service providers |
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| 6 | 6 | | who deny fair access to financial services from using taxpayer funded |
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| 7 | 7 | | discount window lending programs, and for other purposes. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 9 | 9 | | FEBRUARY5, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mr. B |
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| 11 | 11 | | ARR(for himself, Mr. MEUSER, Mr. SCOTTFRANKLINof Florida, Mr. |
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| 12 | 12 | | C |
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| 13 | 13 | | LYDE, and Mr. HARRIGAN) introduced the following bill; which was re- |
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| 14 | 14 | | ferred to the Committee on Financial Services |
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| 15 | 15 | | A BILL |
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| 16 | 16 | | To amend certain banking laws to prohibit certain financial |
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| 17 | 17 | | service providers who deny fair access to financial serv- |
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| 18 | 18 | | ices from using taxpayer funded discount window lending |
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| 19 | 19 | | programs, and for other purposes. |
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| 20 | 20 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 21 | 21 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 22 | 22 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 23 | 23 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair Access to Bank-4 |
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| 24 | 24 | | ing Act’’. 5 |
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| 25 | 25 | | SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 |
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| 26 | 26 | | Congress finds that— 7 |
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| 29 | 29 | | •HR 987 IH |
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| 30 | 30 | | (1) article I of the Constitution of the United 1 |
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| 31 | 31 | | States guarantees the people of the United States 2 |
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| 32 | 32 | | the right to enact public policy through the free and 3 |
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| 33 | 33 | | fair election of representatives and through the ac-4 |
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| 34 | 34 | | tions of State legislatures and Congress; 5 |
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| 35 | 35 | | (2) financial institutions rightly objected to the 6 |
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| 36 | 36 | | Operation Choke Point initiative through which cer-7 |
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| 37 | 37 | | tain government agencies pressured financial institu-8 |
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| 38 | 38 | | tions to cut off access to financial services to lawful 9 |
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| 39 | 39 | | sectors of the economy; 10 |
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| 40 | 40 | | (3) in response to pressure from advocates 11 |
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| 41 | 41 | | whose policy objectives are served when financial in-12 |
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| 42 | 42 | | stitutions deny certain customers access to financial 13 |
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| 43 | 43 | | services, financial institutions are now, however, in-14 |
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| 44 | 44 | | creasingly employing subjective, category-based eval-15 |
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| 45 | 45 | | uations to deny certain persons access to financial 16 |
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| 46 | 46 | | services; 17 |
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| 47 | 47 | | (4) this privatization of the discriminatory prac-18 |
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| 48 | 48 | | tices underlying Operation Choke Point by financial 19 |
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| 49 | 49 | | institutions represents as great a threat to the na-20 |
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| 50 | 50 | | tional economy, national security, and the soundness 21 |
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| 51 | 51 | | of banking and financial markets in the United 22 |
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| 52 | 52 | | States as Operation Choke Point itself; 23 |
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| 53 | 53 | | (5) financial institutions are supported by the 24 |
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| 54 | 54 | | United States taxpayers and enjoy significant privi-25 |
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| 57 | 57 | | •HR 987 IH |
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| 58 | 58 | | leges in the financial system of the United States 1 |
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| 59 | 59 | | and should not be permitted to act as de facto regu-2 |
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| 60 | 60 | | lators or unelected legislators by withholding finan-3 |
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| 61 | 61 | | cial services to otherwise credit worthy businesses 4 |
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| 62 | 62 | | based on subjective political reasons, bias or preju-5 |
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| 63 | 63 | | dices; 6 |
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| 64 | 64 | | (6) financial institutions are not well-equipped 7 |
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| 65 | 65 | | to balance risks unrelated to financial exposures and 8 |
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| 66 | 66 | | the operations required to deliver financial services; 9 |
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| 67 | 67 | | (7) the United States taxpayers came to the aid 10 |
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| 68 | 68 | | for large financial institutions during the great re-11 |
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| 69 | 69 | | cession of 2008 because they were deemed too im-12 |
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| 70 | 70 | | portant to the national economy to be permitted to 13 |
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| 71 | 71 | | fail; 14 |
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| 72 | 72 | | (8) when a financial institution predicates the 15 |
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| 73 | 73 | | access to financial services of a person on factors or 16 |
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| 74 | 74 | | information (such as the lawful products a customer 17 |
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| 75 | 75 | | manufactures or sells or the services the customer 18 |
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| 76 | 76 | | provides) other than quantitative, impartial risk- 19 |
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| 77 | 77 | | based standards, the financial institution has failed 20 |
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| 78 | 78 | | to act consistent with basic principles of sound risk 21 |
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| 79 | 79 | | management and failed to provide fair access to fi-22 |
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| 80 | 80 | | nancial services; 23 |
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| 81 | 81 | | (9) financial institutions have a responsibility to 24 |
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| 82 | 82 | | make decisions about whether to provide a person 25 |
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| 85 | 85 | | •HR 987 IH |
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| 86 | 86 | | with financial services on the basis of impartial cri-1 |
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| 87 | 87 | | teria free from prejudice or favoritism; 2 |
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| 88 | 88 | | (10) while fair access to financial services does 3 |
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| 89 | 89 | | not obligate a financial institution to offer any par-4 |
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| 90 | 90 | | ticular financial service to the public, or to operate 5 |
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| 91 | 91 | | in any particular geographic area, or to provide a 6 |
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| 92 | 92 | | service the financial institution offers to any par-7 |
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| 93 | 93 | | ticular person, it is necessary that— 8 |
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| 94 | 94 | | (A) the financial services a financial insti-9 |
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| 95 | 95 | | tution chooses to offer in the geographic areas 10 |
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| 96 | 96 | | in which the financial institution operates be 11 |
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| 97 | 97 | | made available to all customers based on the 12 |
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| 98 | 98 | | quantitative, impartial risk-based standards of 13 |
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| 99 | 99 | | the financial institution, and not based on 14 |
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| 100 | 100 | | whether the customer is in a particular category 15 |
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| 101 | 101 | | of customers; 16 |
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| 102 | 102 | | (B) financial institutions assess the risks 17 |
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| 103 | 103 | | posed by individual customers on a case-by-case 18 |
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| 104 | 104 | | basis, rather than category-based assessment; 19 |
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| 105 | 105 | | and 20 |
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| 106 | 106 | | (C) financial institutions implement con-21 |
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| 107 | 107 | | trols to manage relationships commensurate 22 |
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| 108 | 108 | | with these risks associated with each customer, 23 |
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| 109 | 109 | | not a strategy of total avoidance of particular 24 |
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| 110 | 110 | | industries or categories of customers; 25 |
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| 114 | 114 | | (11) financial institutions are free to provide or 1 |
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| 115 | 115 | | deny financial services to any individual customer, 2 |
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| 116 | 116 | | but first, the financial institutions must rely on em-3 |
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| 117 | 117 | | pirical data that are evaluated consistent with the 4 |
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| 118 | 118 | | established, impartial risk-management standards of 5 |
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| 119 | 119 | | the financial institution; and 6 |
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| 120 | 120 | | (12) anything less is not prudent risk manage-7 |
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| 121 | 121 | | ment and may result in unsafe or unsound practices, 8 |
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| 122 | 122 | | denial of fair access to financial services, cancelling, 9 |
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| 123 | 123 | | or eliminating certain businesses in society, and have 10 |
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| 124 | 124 | | a deleterious effect on national security and the na-11 |
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| 125 | 125 | | tional economy. 12 |
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| 126 | 126 | | SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 13 |
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| 127 | 127 | | The purposes of this Act are to— 14 |
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| 128 | 128 | | (1) ensure fair access to financial services and 15 |
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| 129 | 129 | | fair treatment of customers by financial service pro-16 |
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| 130 | 130 | | viders, including national and State banks, Federal 17 |
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| 131 | 131 | | savings associations, and State and Federal credit 18 |
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| 132 | 132 | | unions; 19 |
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| 133 | 133 | | (2) ensure financial institutions conduct them-20 |
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| 134 | 134 | | selves in a safe and sound manner, comply with laws 21 |
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| 135 | 135 | | and regulations, treat their customers fairly, and 22 |
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| 136 | 136 | | provide fair access to financial services; 23 |
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| 139 | 139 | | •HR 987 IH |
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| 140 | 140 | | (3) protect against financial institutions being 1 |
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| 141 | 141 | | able to impede otherwise lawful commerce and there-2 |
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| 142 | 142 | | by achieve certain public policy goals; 3 |
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| 143 | 143 | | (4) ensure that persons involved in politically 4 |
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| 144 | 144 | | unpopular businesses but that are lawful under Fed-5 |
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| 145 | 145 | | eral law receive fair access to financial services 6 |
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| 146 | 146 | | under the law; and 7 |
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| 147 | 147 | | (5) ensure financial institutions operate in a 8 |
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| 148 | 148 | | safe and sound manner by making judgments and 9 |
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| 149 | 149 | | decisions about whether to provide a customer with 10 |
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| 150 | 150 | | financial services on an impartial, individualized 11 |
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| 151 | 151 | | risk-based analysis using empirical data evaluated 12 |
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| 152 | 152 | | under quantifiable standards. 13 |
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| 153 | 153 | | SEC. 4. ADVANCES TO INDIVIDUAL MEMBER BANKS. 14 |
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| 154 | 154 | | (a) M |
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| 155 | 155 | | EMBERBANKS.—Section 10B of the Federal 15 |
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| 156 | 156 | | Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 347b) is amended by adding at 16 |
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| 157 | 157 | | the end the following: 17 |
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| 158 | 158 | | ‘‘(c) P |
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| 159 | 159 | | ROHIBITION ONUSE OFDISCOUNTWINDOW 18 |
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| 160 | 160 | | L |
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| 161 | 161 | | ENDINGPROGRAMS.—No member bank with more than 19 |
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| 162 | 162 | | $50,000,000,000 in total consolidated assets, or sub-20 |
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| 163 | 163 | | sidiary of the member bank, may use a discount window 21 |
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| 164 | 164 | | lending program if the member bank or subsidiary refuses 22 |
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| 165 | 165 | | to do business with any person who is in compliance with 23 |
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| 166 | 166 | | the law, including section 8 of the Fair Access to Banking 24 |
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| 167 | 167 | | Act.’’. 25 |
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| 170 | 170 | | •HR 987 IH |
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| 171 | 171 | | (b) INSUREDDEPOSITORYINSTITUTIONS.—Section 1 |
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| 172 | 172 | | 8(a)(2)(A) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 2 |
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| 173 | 173 | | U.S.C. 1818(a)(2)(A)) is amended— 3 |
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| 174 | 174 | | (1) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end; 4 |
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| 175 | 175 | | (2) in clause (iii), by striking the comma at the 5 |
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| 176 | 176 | | end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 6 |
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| 177 | 177 | | (3) by adding at the end the following: 7 |
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| 178 | 178 | | ‘‘(iv) an insured depository institution 8 |
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| 179 | 179 | | with more than $500,000,000,000 in total 9 |
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| 180 | 180 | | consolidated assets, or subsidiary of the in-10 |
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| 181 | 181 | | sured depository institution, that refuses to 11 |
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| 182 | 182 | | do business with any person who is in com-12 |
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| 183 | 183 | | pliance with the law, including section 8 of 13 |
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| 184 | 184 | | the Fair Access to Banking Act.’’. 14 |
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| 185 | 185 | | (c) N |
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| 186 | 186 | | ONMEMBER BANKS, TRUSTCOMPANIES, AND 15 |
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| 187 | 187 | | O |
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| 188 | 188 | | THERDEPOSITORYINSTITUTIONS.—Section 13 of the 16 |
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| 189 | 189 | | Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 342) is amended by in-17 |
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| 190 | 190 | | serting ‘‘Provided further, That no such nonmember bank 18 |
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| 191 | 191 | | or trust company or other depository institution with more 19 |
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| 192 | 192 | | than $50,000,000,000 in total consolidated assets, or sub-20 |
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| 193 | 193 | | sidiary of such nonmember bank or trust company or 21 |
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| 194 | 194 | | other depository institution, may refuse to do business 22 |
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| 195 | 195 | | with any person who is in compliance with the law, includ-23 |
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| 196 | 196 | | ing, including section 8 of the Fair Access to Banking 24 |
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| 197 | 197 | | Act:’’ after ‘‘appropriate:’’. 25 |
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| 200 | 200 | | •HR 987 IH |
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| 201 | 201 | | SEC. 5. PAYMENT CARD NETWORKS. 1 |
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| 202 | 202 | | (a) D |
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| 203 | 203 | | EFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘payment 2 |
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| 204 | 204 | | card network’’ has the meaning given the term in section 3 |
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| 205 | 205 | | 921(c) of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (15 U.S.C. 4 |
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| 206 | 206 | | 1693o–2(c)). 5 |
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| 207 | 207 | | (b) P |
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| 208 | 208 | | ROHIBITION.—No payment card network, in-6 |
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| 209 | 209 | | cluding a subsidiary of a payment card network, may, di-7 |
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| 210 | 210 | | rectly or through any agent, processor, or licensed member 8 |
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| 211 | 211 | | of the network, by contract, requirement, condition, pen-9 |
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| 212 | 212 | | alty, or otherwise, prohibit or inhibit the ability of any per-10 |
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| 213 | 213 | | son who is in compliance with the law, including section 11 |
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| 214 | 214 | | 8 of this Act, to obtain access to services or products of 12 |
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| 215 | 215 | | the payment card network because of political or 13 |
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| 216 | 216 | | reputational risk considerations. 14 |
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| 217 | 217 | | (c) C |
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| 218 | 218 | | IVILPENALTY.—Any payment card network 15 |
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| 219 | 219 | | that violates subsection (b) shall be assessed a civil penalty 16 |
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| 220 | 220 | | by the Comptroller of the Currency of not more than 10 17 |
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| 221 | 221 | | percent of the value of the services or products described 18 |
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| 222 | 222 | | in that subsection, not to exceed $10,000 per violation. 19 |
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| 223 | 223 | | SEC. 6. CREDIT UNIONS. 20 |
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| 224 | 224 | | Section 206(b)(1) of the Federal Credit Union Act 21 |
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| 225 | 225 | | (12 U.S.C. 1786) is amended by inserting ‘‘or is refusing 22 |
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| 226 | 226 | | or has refused, or has a subsidiary that is refusing or has 23 |
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| 227 | 227 | | refused, to do business with any person who is in compli-24 |
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| 228 | 228 | | ance with the law, including section 8 of the Fair Access 25 |
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| 229 | 229 | | to Banking Act,’’ after ‘‘as an insured credit union,’’. 26 |
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| 233 | 233 | | SEC. 7. USE OF AUTOMATED CLEARING HOUSE NETWORK. 1 |
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| 234 | 234 | | (a) D |
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| 235 | 235 | | EFINITIONS.—In this section: 2 |
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| 236 | 236 | | (1) C |
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| 237 | 237 | | OVERED CREDIT UNION .—The term ‘‘cov-3 |
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| 238 | 238 | | ered credit union’’ means— 4 |
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| 239 | 239 | | (A) any insured credit union, as defined in 5 |
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| 240 | 240 | | section 101 of the Federal Credit Union Act 6 |
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| 241 | 241 | | (12 U.S.C. 1752); or 7 |
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| 242 | 242 | | (B) any credit union that is eligible to 8 |
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| 243 | 243 | | make application to become an insured credit 9 |
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| 244 | 244 | | union under section 201 of the Federal Credit 10 |
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| 245 | 245 | | Union Act (12 U.S.C. 1781). 11 |
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| 246 | 246 | | (2) M |
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| 247 | 247 | | EMBER BANK.—The term ‘‘member bank’’ 12 |
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| 248 | 248 | | has the meaning given the term in the third undesig-13 |
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| 249 | 249 | | nated paragraph of the first section of the Federal 14 |
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| 250 | 250 | | Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 221). 15 |
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| 251 | 251 | | (b) P |
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| 252 | 252 | | ROHIBITION.—No covered credit union, member 16 |
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| 253 | 253 | | bank, or State-chartered non-member bank with more 17 |
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| 254 | 254 | | than $50,000,000,000 in total consolidated assets, or a 18 |
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| 255 | 255 | | subsidiary of the covered credit union, member bank, or 19 |
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| 256 | 256 | | State-chartered non-member bank, may use the Auto-20 |
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| 257 | 257 | | mated Clearing House Network if that member bank, 21 |
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| 258 | 258 | | credit union, or subsidiary of the member bank or credit 22 |
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| 259 | 259 | | union, refuses to do business with any person who is in 23 |
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| 260 | 260 | | compliance with the law, including section 8 of this Act. 24 |
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| 261 | 261 | | SEC. 8. FAIR ACCESS TO FINANCIAL SERVICES. 25 |
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| 262 | 262 | | (a) D |
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| 263 | 263 | | EFINITIONS.—In this section: 26 |
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| 266 | 266 | | •HR 987 IH |
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| 267 | 267 | | (1) BANK.—The term ‘‘bank’’— 1 |
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| 268 | 268 | | (A) means an entity for which the Office 2 |
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| 269 | 269 | | of the Comptroller of the Currency is the appro-3 |
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| 270 | 270 | | priate Federal banking agency, as defined in 4 |
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| 271 | 271 | | section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act 5 |
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| 272 | 272 | | (12 U.S.C. 1813); and 6 |
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| 273 | 273 | | (B) includes— 7 |
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| 274 | 274 | | (i) member banks; 8 |
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| 275 | 275 | | (ii) non-member banks; 9 |
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| 276 | 276 | | (iii) covered credit unions; 10 |
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| 277 | 277 | | (iv) State-chartered non-member 11 |
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| 278 | 278 | | banks; and 12 |
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| 279 | 279 | | (v) trust companies. 13 |
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| 280 | 280 | | (2) C |
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| 281 | 281 | | OVERED BANK.— 14 |
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| 282 | 282 | | (A) I |
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| 283 | 283 | | N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘covered 15 |
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| 284 | 284 | | bank’’ means a bank that has the ability to— 16 |
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| 285 | 285 | | (i) raise the price a person has to pay 17 |
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| 286 | 286 | | to obtain an offered financial service from 18 |
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| 287 | 287 | | the bank or from a competitor; or 19 |
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| 288 | 288 | | (ii) significantly impede a person, or 20 |
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| 289 | 289 | | the business activities of a person, in favor 21 |
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| 290 | 290 | | of or to the advantage of another person. 22 |
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| 291 | 291 | | (B) P |
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| 292 | 292 | | RESUMPTION.— 23 |
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| 293 | 293 | | (i) I |
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| 294 | 294 | | N GENERAL.—A bank shall not be 24 |
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| 295 | 295 | | presumed to be a covered bank if the bank 25 |
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| 299 | 299 | | has less than $50,000,000,000 in total as-1 |
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| 300 | 300 | | sets. 2 |
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| 301 | 301 | | (ii) R |
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| 302 | 302 | | EBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION .— 3 |
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| 303 | 303 | | (I) I |
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| 304 | 304 | | N GENERAL.—A bank is pre-4 |
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| 305 | 305 | | sumed to be a covered bank if the 5 |
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| 306 | 306 | | bank has $50,000,000,000 or more in 6 |
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| 307 | 307 | | total assets. 7 |
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| 308 | 308 | | (II) R |
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| 309 | 309 | | EBUTTAL.—A bank that 8 |
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| 310 | 310 | | meets the criteria under subclause (I) 9 |
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| 311 | 311 | | can seek to rebut this presumption by 10 |
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| 312 | 312 | | submitting to the Office of the Comp-11 |
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| 313 | 313 | | troller of the Currency written mate-12 |
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| 314 | 314 | | rials that, in the judgement of the 13 |
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| 315 | 315 | | agency, demonstrate the bank does 14 |
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| 316 | 316 | | not meet the definition of covered 15 |
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| 317 | 317 | | bank. 16 |
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| 318 | 318 | | (3) C |
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| 319 | 319 | | OVERED CREDIT UNION .—The term ‘‘cov-17 |
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| 320 | 320 | | ered credit union’’ means— 18 |
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| 321 | 321 | | (A) any insured credit union, as defined in 19 |
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| 322 | 322 | | section 101 of the Federal Credit Union Act 20 |
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| 323 | 323 | | (12 U.S.C. 1752); or 21 |
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| 324 | 324 | | (B) any credit union that is eligible to 22 |
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| 325 | 325 | | make application to become an insured credit 23 |
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| 326 | 326 | | union under section 201 of the Federal Credit 24 |
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| 327 | 327 | | Union Act (12 U.S.C. 1781). 25 |
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| 330 | 330 | | •HR 987 IH |
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| 331 | 331 | | (4) DENY.—The term ‘‘deny’’ means to deny or 1 |
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| 332 | 332 | | refuse to enter into or terminate an existing finan-2 |
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| 333 | 333 | | cial services relationship with a person. 3 |
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| 334 | 334 | | (5) F |
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| 335 | 335 | | AIR ACCESS TO FINANCIAL SERVICES .— 4 |
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| 336 | 336 | | The term ‘‘fair access to financial services’’ means 5 |
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| 337 | 337 | | persons engaged in activities lawful under Federal 6 |
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| 338 | 338 | | law are able to obtain financial services at banks 7 |
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| 339 | 339 | | without impediments caused by a prejudice against 8 |
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| 340 | 340 | | or dislike for a person or the business of the cus-9 |
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| 341 | 341 | | tomer, products or services sold by the person, or fa-10 |
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| 342 | 342 | | voritism for market alternatives to the business of 11 |
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| 343 | 343 | | the person. Refusing to provide or continue to pro-12 |
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| 344 | 344 | | vide financial services to a person because the per-13 |
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| 345 | 345 | | son engaged in rude or harassing conduct toward an 14 |
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| 346 | 346 | | employee of a bank is not a violation of this section. 15 |
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| 347 | 347 | | (6) F |
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| 348 | 348 | | INANCIAL SERVICE.—The term ‘‘financial 16 |
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| 349 | 349 | | service’’ means a financial product or service, includ-17 |
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| 350 | 350 | | ing— 18 |
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| 351 | 351 | | (A) commercial and merchant banking; 19 |
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| 352 | 352 | | (B) lending; 20 |
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| 353 | 353 | | (C) financing; 21 |
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| 354 | 354 | | (D) leasing; 22 |
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| 355 | 355 | | (E) cash, asset and investment manage-23 |
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| 356 | 356 | | ment and advisory services; 24 |
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| 357 | 357 | | (F) credit card services; 25 |
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| 360 | 360 | | •HR 987 IH |
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| 361 | 361 | | (G) payment processing; 1 |
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| 362 | 362 | | (H) security and foreign exchange trading 2 |
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| 363 | 363 | | and brokerage services; and 3 |
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| 364 | 364 | | (I) insurance products. 4 |
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| 365 | 365 | | (7) M |
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| 366 | 366 | | EMBER BANK.—The term ‘‘member bank’’ 5 |
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| 367 | 367 | | has the meaning given the term in the third undesig-6 |
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| 368 | 368 | | nated paragraph of the first section of the Federal 7 |
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| 369 | 369 | | Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 221). 8 |
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| 370 | 370 | | (b) R |
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| 371 | 371 | | EQUIREMENTS.— 9 |
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| 372 | 372 | | (1) I |
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| 373 | 373 | | N GENERAL.—To provide fair access to fi-10 |
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| 374 | 374 | | nancial services, a covered bank (including a sub-11 |
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| 375 | 375 | | sidiary of a covered bank), except as necessary to 12 |
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| 376 | 376 | | comply with another provision of law— 13 |
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| 377 | 377 | | (A) shall make each financial service it of-14 |
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| 378 | 378 | | fers available to all persons in the geographic 15 |
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| 379 | 379 | | market served by the covered bank on propor-16 |
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| 380 | 380 | | tionally equal terms; 17 |
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| 381 | 381 | | (B) may not deny any person a financial 18 |
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| 382 | 382 | | service the covered bank offers unless the denial 19 |
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| 383 | 383 | | is justified by such quantified and documented 20 |
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| 384 | 384 | | failure of the person to meet quantitative, im-21 |
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| 385 | 385 | | partial risk-based standards established in ad-22 |
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| 386 | 386 | | vance by the covered bank; 23 |
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| 388 | 388 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 14 |
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| 389 | 389 | | •HR 987 IH |
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| 390 | 390 | | (C) may not deny, in coordination with or 1 |
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| 391 | 391 | | at the request of others, any person a financial 2 |
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| 392 | 392 | | service the covered bank offers; and 3 |
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| 393 | 393 | | (D) shall, when denying any person finan-4 |
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| 394 | 394 | | cial services the covered bank offers, provide 5 |
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| 395 | 395 | | written justification to the person explaining 6 |
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| 396 | 396 | | the basis for the denial, including any specific 7 |
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| 397 | 397 | | laws or regulations the covered bank believes 8 |
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| 398 | 398 | | are being violated by the person or customer, if 9 |
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| 399 | 399 | | any. 10 |
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| 400 | 400 | | (2) J |
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| 401 | 401 | | USTIFICATION REQUIREMENT .—A jus-11 |
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| 402 | 402 | | tification described in paragraph (1)(D) may not be 12 |
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| 403 | 403 | | based solely on the reputational risk to the covered 13 |
|---|
| 404 | 404 | | bank. 14 |
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| 405 | 405 | | (c) C |
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| 406 | 406 | | AUSE OFACTION FORVIOLATIONS OFTHIS 15 |
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| 407 | 407 | | S |
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| 408 | 408 | | ECTION.— 16 |
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| 409 | 409 | | (1) I |
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| 410 | 410 | | N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 17 |
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| 411 | 411 | | provision of law, a person may commence a civil ac-18 |
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| 412 | 412 | | tion in the appropriate district court of the United 19 |
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| 413 | 413 | | States against any covered bank that violates or fails 20 |
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| 414 | 414 | | to comply with the requirements under this Act, for 21 |
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| 415 | 415 | | harm that person suffered as a result of such viola-22 |
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| 416 | 416 | | tion. 23 |
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| 419 | 419 | | •HR 987 IH |
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| 420 | 420 | | (2) NO EXHAUSTION.—It shall not be necessary 1 |
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| 421 | 421 | | for a person to exhaust its administrative remedies 2 |
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| 422 | 422 | | before commencing a civil action under this Act. 3 |
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| 423 | 423 | | (3) D |
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| 424 | 424 | | AMAGES.—If a person prevails in a civil 4 |
|---|
| 425 | 425 | | action under this Act, a court shall award the per-5 |
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| 426 | 426 | | son— 6 |
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| 427 | 427 | | (A) reasonable attorney’s fees and costs; 7 |
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| 428 | 428 | | and 8 |
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| 429 | 429 | | (B) treble damages. 9 |
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| 430 | 430 | | Æ |
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