Nine federal financial regulatory agencies have proposed or will propose joint data standards that would apply to data submitted to the agencies.

As required by the Financial Data Transparency Act of 2022, the data standards for identifiers of legal entities and other common identifiers are meant to promote the interoperability of financial regulatory data across the agencies, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said in a Friday (Aug. 2) press release.

Along with the CFPB, the other agencies inviting public comment on the proposed rule concerning these standards include the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the National Credit Union Administration, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of the Treasury, according to the release and the proposed rule.

In the SEC’s own press release about the proposed joint data standards, SEC Chair Gary Gensler said: “This proposal will make financial data more accessible, uniform and useful to the public. Consistent data standards will make it easier for financial institutions to file reports across multiple agencies. They will also help regulators be more effective and efficient in carrying out our oversight functions.”

The Financial Data Transparency Act was passed as a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act in December 2022, according to a statement issued at the time by Sen. Mark Warner.

It aims to modernize data collection by the federal financial regulators by requiring them to develop common data formatting standards for the financial data they already collect from regulated institutions, making that data easier to process and use, the statement said.

In May, Warner, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry, Ranking Member Maxine Waters and Sen. Mike Crapo sent a letter to the heads of eight of the federal financial regulatory agencies, urging them to implement the Financial Data Transparency Act.

The members of Congress said in the letter that implementing the law will make federal financial data more accessible, uniform and useful for the public; facilitate the use of artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies; and lead to greater transparency and market efficiencies.

The Federal Reserve Board on Friday joined eight other agencies in asking for public comment on a rule that would create data standards for information collected and submitted to financial regulators. 

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Treasury Department, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Federal Housing Finance Agency, National Credit Union Administration and Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a joint rulemaking to promote the “interoperability of financial regulatory data,” as required by the Financial Data Transparency Act of 2022. 

The act directs federal financial agencies to issue individual rules adopting joint data standards for the collection of certain information. The agencies also are required to consult with each and other departments and agencies. 

Once the final standards are established, the agencies will each issue separate rules and adopt the data collection standards. The agencies include the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,. 

The agencies are expected to work together on the adoption of the established joint standards and to monitor developments related to data standards. 

“The field of data standards, data transmission, schemas and taxonomies is rich with well-established practices and is also rapidly evolving, including with proposals to extend existing standards beyond their existing use and with development of new standards,” according to the 74-page notice of proposed rulemaking. 

The Federal Data Transparency Act allows each agency to tailor data standards when the standards are adopted. Each agency in its rulemaking also must seek to “minimize disruptive changes” to small entities and may “reduce any unjustified burden on smaller entities affected by the regulations. The regulators also may adopt other data standards beyond the standard issued jointly. However, no new information collection requirements are required by the act. 

Comments on the data standards proposal are due 60 days after the notices from each agency are published in the Federal Register.

Rep. Phillips says Hall-Long lied about conducting ‘audit’

But the ranks of critics have grown and include two women in the state House of Representatives.

State Reps. Sophie Phillips and Madinah Wilson-Anton, both Democrats from Bear who have not been supporters of Hall-Long’s candidacy, called on her to withdraw from the race.

Such strident statements from Democrat lawmakers about a high-ranking party member whose gubernatorial bid is supported by Democrat House Speaker Valerie Longhurst are basically unheard of in Delaware.

Phillips told WHYY News that she was appalled by the state report’s findings.

“I was honestly shocked. I didn’t know any of that to be true,” Phillips said. “As an elected official, I need to be able to trust the executive branch and especially someone who’s going to be in charge of running a $6 billion budget. So yes, just utter shock. I don’t think she is the right person to run in a general election against the Republicans either.”

House Minority Leader Mike Ramone of Pike Creek and former Rehoboth Beach police officer Jerry Price are facing off in the Republican gubernatorial primary. The primary winners will face off in the Nov. 5 general election.

Phillips, who is in her first two-year term, said she was infuriated by what the state report concluded about what last fall Hall-Long had called an “audit” of her campaign finances by Summit CPA Group of Middletown.

Hall-Long had never released the audit, despite calls by her primary opponents and government transparency groups to do so. Hall-Long instead announced in November that, while her handpicked accounting firm found “errors’’ in the finance reports, “no wrongdoings or violations were found.”

The state report countered that Summit CPA Group and its principal, Karen Remick, “did not appear to seek audit evidence beyond the Longs’ representation that certain credit card charges were campaign related, and further accepted purported 2016 charges as campaign related with no documentation the charges had occurred.”

The report also said Remick would not cooperate with the state’s review, which began in January. Dana Long was interviewed but not the lieutenant governor. The report didn’t specify why not, and neither Albence’s office nor Hall-Long would say why she did not speak with former FBI boss Lampinski.

Phillips said it’s now clear that Hall-Long’s statements about the Summit CPA Group over the last nine months “turned out to be a lie.”

Wilson-Anton, elected in 2020, said Hall-Long’s actions are disqualifying.

“This is not the behavior of someone who is fit to run for office, let alone fit to lead our state as governor,’’ said Wilson-Anton, who nevertheless expressed some affection for Hall-Long.

“She is a sweet lady. I honestly believe she means well,” Wilson-Anton said. “But that’s not enough. We need our governor to be competent and visionary, and that means they can’t put untrustworthy people in positions of power and public trust, especially when they have a history of violating that public trust and abusing their power.”

Dana Long had been arrested for stealing Republican campaign signs near Middletown during his wife’s 2014 race for state Senate. She won that election by 267 votes out of 12,193 cast, won the race for lieutenant governor in 2016, and was re-elected in 2020.