Brendan Pedersen

The rule, which runs well over 500 pages, is expected to meet resistance from bankers worried about the regulatory burden of calculating the carbon emissions from their borrowers.

Lenders argue that they're taking steps to eliminate or rein in the consumer fees, but several Democratic senators say reform legislation could be a necessary step in the near future.

Democrats face the brunt of this year’s tough elections among the key financial committees in Congress, but Republicans are retiring in greater numbers.

The move from Republican senators mirrors an effort launched in the House, where Citibank also provides credit cards for congressional business. Republicans will be unable to enact such changes unless they take either chamber in upcoming elections.

Acting Director Himamauli Das acknowledged concerns from Democratic lawmakers that Fincen was moving too slowly to implement beneficial ownership rules but said the agency "will likely continue to do so, because our budget situation has required us to make significant trade-offs among competing priorities.”

Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bob Menendez say the banks that own the payments system "have chosen to let consumers suffer" from unchecked fraud problems.

The industry is preparing for a grueling federal rulemaking process to implement the Corporate Transparency Act, which was intended to streamline anti-money-laundering compliance. Analysts say the devil will be in the regulation’s myriad details.

Observers say that while Michael Barr may not be progressives' first choice to be the Fed's top regulator, he has gained their support given the importance of the post and the pressure of looming midterm elections. What his exact policy prescriptions and priorities in the post-Dodd-Frank world will be, however, is unclear.

More than a year into his administration, President Biden has either vacancies or acting heads of each of the bank regulatory agencies. That may not be ideal, but the White House doesn't seem to be eager to put forth permanent replacements.

In a letter obtained by American Banker, the Senate Banking Committee chair called on the Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to reform their bank merger review processes.

The legislation would grant stablecoin issuers a high degree of flexibility, allowing firms to be regulated state by state, as a bank, or as a “limited national limited payment stablecoin issuer” supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Even as the Biden administration ramped up sanctions against Russia on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen faced questions from Republican lawmakers who want to go further. Yellen, meanwhile, stressed the value of working together with allies.

Vocal in their opposition to some restrictive state laws in recent years, most institutions are silent on similar laws being pursued today. Why?

Democrats at a hearing on Capitol Hill contended overdraft fees hurt low-income consumers and should be reined in — with Rep. Maxine Waters proposing to make larger banks offer an account without such charges. Yet Republicans said eliminating the fees would drive some consumers toward predatory lenders and away from small banks.

Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., is accusing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of pressuring Equifax, Experian and Transunion into removing most medical debt from credit reports, a move he says would compromise lenders' ability to gauge risk. Democrats, experts who testified at a hearing Tuesday and the CFPB pushed back.

The nomination of Lisa Cook, an economics professor who is one of President Biden's choices for the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, advanced Tuesday on a party-line procedural vote in the Senate.

The White House's $5.8 trillion spending proposal to Congress includes more dollars for anti-money-laundering enforcement, Small Business Administration loan guarantee programs and affordable housing financed by community development financial institutions.

House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters has asked more than 30 trade associations, including banking groups, to describe how their members — company by company — have limited or ended their dealings in Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.

A new Securities and Exchange Commission proposal would require public companies to report climate-related risks across their value chain. That could be especially difficult if it means banks have to account for their borrowers' emissions.

Four of five bills aimed at countering Russian aggression in Europe won significant bipartisan support from the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday. But the panel adopted a bill intended to expand the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's ability to hunt down Russian assets over fierce Republican opposition.