Brendan Pedersen

The Financial Stability Oversight Council's guidelines for regulators avoided measures that banks feared such as fossil fuel loan limits and rigid new stress tests. But the panel is recommending rules that would require financial institutions to disclose their exposure to global warming.

From factoring global warming into the underwriting of government-backed loans to conducting "sensitivity analysis" of banks' ability to withstand severe weather, several government agencies are accelerating efforts to address the impact of climate change on the financial system.

Democrats proposed raising the account threshold and exempting certain transactions from a measure enlisting financial institutions’ help in catching tax cheats. But opponents say the changes are insufficient and centrist lawmakers — whose support is crucial to enact the plan — were mum.

A House member suggested she and other party moderates are open to revamping or even scrapping a plan that would require banks to report customer account information to the Internal Revenue Service.

Banks and other stakeholders are trying to stop a proposal requiring financial institutions to submit more account data, but the Biden administration says opponents of the measure are spreading the false notion that it would reveal information about specific transactions.

Gov. Randal Quarles is no longer vice chair for supervision, and the Federal Reserve Board will make bank regulatory policy only when multiple members reach consensus. Observers expect inaction until the Biden administration fills key leadership posts.

Some policymakers in the nation’s capital have urged the Federal Reserve banks of Boston and Dallas to consider people of color and women while selecting new presidents. Republicans led by Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania say the process should be left to the local bank boards.

Regulators’ efforts to open the federal banking system to crypto firms and other nonbanks have been hampered by differing legal interpretations and challenges by state regulators. Congressional action updating the 19th-century law could bring much-needed clarity, observers say.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, the top GOP member on the Financial Services Committee, said lawmakers should take the lead in developing a policy framework for stablecoins and other cryptocurrencies. He criticized Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler for suggesting the agency already has authority to act.

The Federal Reserve chairman told lawmakers that the central bank wouldn't try to block other cryptocurrency providers if it decides to issue a digital dollar. At the same hearing, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen continued to defend a proposal requiring banks to report customer account information to the IRS.