Brendan Pedersen

With Congress pouring billions into a new grant program and state-based lending initiatives, community development financial institutions say they can move past survival mode to test new products and partner with larger financial institutions.

In a speech, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chair Jelena McWilliams zeroed in on the potential for outdated technology to impede the banking industry and even threaten the sector’s resilience.

As Fincen implements an anti-money-laundering law requiring businesses to add their beneficial owners to a new database, bankers worry they'll still be on the hook to provide that information on behalf of customers for some time.

The agency has stepped up efforts to encourage those lacking banking relationships to choose an affordable account option for their pandemic relief funds. It will have to overcome distrust of financial institutions in communities of color.

The agency first sought feedback in February 2020 on how it could update its logo, but the process was suspended two months later amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Department of Justice in the Trump administration hatched a plan to consider reforming its bank-merger review process, raising industry hopes about overhauling the outdated regime. But progressives want the agency to give more thought to the harm bank combinations cause consumers, including further branch closings.

Regulators are likely to scrap the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s divisive rule and instead pursue an interagency framework. But stakeholders commenting on a Federal Reserve draft plan say several aspects of the OCC regulation are worth keeping.

Mehrsa Baradaran, a University of California, Irvine, professor and former banking lawyer, has worked hard to close the racial wealth gap and could further such goals as head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, wrote 34 caucus members in a letter to President Biden.

Former Obama-era regulators Kara Stein and Sarah Bloom Raskin, as well as Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, have joined the field of potential nominees to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, according to sources familiar with the process.

The agency's plan would strengthen requirements that banks use a minimum amount of their real estate for the business of banking, but three grade groups say banks need flexibility in the pandemic to manage occupancy.

Democratic leaders are encouraging the Federal Reserve to develop its own digital currency to expand financial services access. Chair Jerome Powell indicated the central bank plans to take a methodical approach.

Jelena McWilliams, a Trump appointee, pushed back Wednesday on reports that an incoming Democratic majority may be able to enact policy at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. without her support. "The chairman really controls the board agenda," she said.

Many in Washington have been in suspense about whether the Biden administration would favor a former Obama official or a financial inclusion advocate for comptroller of the currency. Mehrsa Baradaran, the candidate preferred by community activist groups, appears to have the edge.

The acquisition of Golden Pacific Bank will accelerate the online lender’s effort to become a full-service bank.

For the second time in three years, the Cleveland thrift has received a low score on its Community Reinvestment Act examination for making too few home loans in low-income communities.

During the Trump era, the bank regulators couldn’t see eye to eye on how to modernize the Community Reinvestment Act. But a looming leadership change atop the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is boosting optimism that they can harmonize their approaches.

Banks lowered their loss provisions at the end of 2020, a sign they feel better about this year than last year, according to data from the FDIC. But loan balances fell for the second straight quarter and the annual loan growth rate was the lowest in seven years.

Brex currently relies on bank partners to offer credit cards and cash management accounts to small and midsize businesses. It is looking to charter its own FDIC-insured institution to be a direct provider.

The former comptroller of the currency, who founded the consulting firm known for its roster of ex-regulators, will hand over leadership of day-to-day activities to an operating committee as he pursues other projects.

The Biden administration’s yet-to-be-named comptroller of the currency is widely expected to invalidate the GOP-backed measure that bars banks from shunning gun makers, fossil-fuel producers and the like. But another option is to recast it to promote investment in underserved communities.