FAIR Exams Act

The FAIR Exams Act would establish new procedures for how federal regulators examine financial institutions. The bill would create an Office of Independent Examination Review within the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council to handle appeals and complaints from banks and other financial institutions about their examination reports. This would give financial institutions the right to request an independent review of major supervisory decisions made by regulators.

The bill would also impose new requirements on federal financial regulatory agencies, including deadlines for providing final examination reports to institutions and conducting exit interviews. When a financial institution requests it, regulators would need to list all materials they relied upon to support their major supervisory findings. If enacted, these changes could give banks more opportunity to challenge regulatory decisions and greater transparency into how examiners reach their conclusions.

The bill has passed committee review and is now eligible for a floor vote in the House, though it still requires approval by both chambers of Congress and the President's signature to become law.