Claire Williams

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 number of suspicious activity reports involving cryptocurrency topped 90,000 in 2021, according to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The reason for the uptick may be that crypto is becoming more mainstream.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen defended the Biden administration’s approach to economic recovery during COVID-19, but said the pandemic underscored the ways that prudential regulation for nonbanks may be warranted.

Anchorage Digital Bank has an inadequate AML compliance program and will have to create a committee within 15 days to develop a remediation plan and submit progress reports, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

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.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently decided to put an official in charge of the rising number of small and midsize national banks that partner with fintechs or have nontraditional business plans. The agency’s goal is to establish a team that understands cutting-edge technologies and establishes consistent oversight policies in response.

The acting comptroller pushed back against a key feature of Sen. Pat Toomey’s stablecoin proposal, and the idea that stablecoins could be regulated as money market funds

The guidance follows similar instructions laid out by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency late last year.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen laid out her approach to crypto regulation, including banks' and other traditional financial firms’ exposures to the crypto market, in a speech at American University.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu said some large regional banks are at risk of becoming too big to fail, and the agency is considering ways to increase the resolvability of post-merger banks.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is the second U.S. regulator to outline strategic planning and other steps banks with more than $100 billion of assets can take to minimize damage from severe weather events and the transition to a low-carbon economy.

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.

The agency will create a deputy comptroller position responsible for “novel” banking providers, redraw its territories and more closely align its examiner staffs for small and medium-size banks.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has submitted its request for information — which asks whether banks should bear the burden of proof in merger applications and how much input the CFPB should have in approving deals — to the Federal Register.

Nellie Liang, the Treasury Department's under secretary for domestic finance, said there’s consensus on the risks posed by digital assets. But she was vague about how much progress has been made in discussions between the administration and lawmakers about toughening the regulatory system.

Federal financial agencies’ role in combating climate change has become a politically polarized topic, as the withdrawal of Fed nominee Sarah Bloom Raskin shows. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other regulators could make changes to exam procedures and take other steps that don’t require congressional cooperation.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency slammed the San Antonio bank for anti-money-laundering violations. The penalty is the latest in a series of regulatory problems for USAA.

The omnibus legislation includes two measures that affect the banking industry: a cyber incident reporting requirement and Libor transition fix.

President Biden's executive order on cryptocurrency assets and a central bank digital currency marks the beginning of the administration's efforts to integrate crypto technology into the financial regulatory apparatus. That process has important implications for banks in the near term and down the road.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported a spike in troubled assets, suggesting a fairly large bank may be under heightened scrutiny. But confidentiality rules make it impossible to confirm any details.