A federal judge in San Francisco ordered a temporary halt to reduction in force orders issued by the Office of Management and Budget during the government shutdown, while OMB Director Russell Vought has said he expects to lay off more than 10,000 federal workers.

Mastercard has added an "agentic cloud" to speed deployment, while Visa has issued a protocol to help AI agents communicate. That and more in American Banker's global payments and fintech roundup.

The conditional approval came with residency waivers for board directors and green-lights the bank's business model, which is aimed at serving tech companies and ultra-high net worth customers in the digital asset space.

Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller said Wednesday that breakthroughs in artificial intelligence will undoubtedly make life easier and lead to growth, but acknowledged that the technology's adoption will lead to short-term labor market disruptions.

Acting Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chair Travis Hill said the agency will open the bidding process for failed banks to private equity and other nonbanks, streamline resolution plans and revamp its bidding and funding models, reforms spurred by 2023's bank failures.

Federal Reserve Governor Stephan Miran said the economic standoff with China could increase market volatility, further necessitating the central bank to move its policy stance to neutral.