Brendan Pedersen

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks said the agency plans to issue new assessment procedures within weeks as a follow-up to recent Community Reinvestment Act reforms. He also touched on the “true lender” issue and why the agency is considering a narrow-purpose payments charter.

Regulators are urging banks to offer small-dollar loans again and lifting existing restrictions on nonbank lenders. But the real challenge is making those loans favorable to consumers without losing money.

Seven trade groups said they would fight any effort by the agency to establish a tailored license for payments providers such as PayPal, Stripe and Square.

The three-month extension for the central bank's lending programs is one of several recent steps by policymakers to stabilize the economy as the coronavirus pandemic stretches through the summer.

The regulation allows banks to add employees with past convictions for trivial crimes after the industry complained the prior rules were too severe.

Responding to an unnamed bank that had sought the opinion, the regulatory agency issued an interpretive letter clarifying that an institution's custody services can be used for cryptographic keys and other digital currency-related assets.

Even though fewer cases are reported among the agency's employees compared to the government average, the watchdog said the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. should improve its anti-harassment training and other procedures.

Backers say a bill to limit asset growth instead of restricting brokered funds addresses concerns about expanding balance sheets at troubled banks. But skeptics worry it would open the door to greater risk.

The investment firm is the latest nonbank to try to enter banking through a Utah-based ILC.

The so-called tech sprint involving 20 companies from across the country is intended to help improve the efficiency of banks' quarterly data submissions to the regulators.