Hannah Lang

Zions Bancorp. CEO Harris Simmons says the Secured Overnight Financing Rate is more suited for derivative traders than regional banks as a replacement for Libor. His bank this week became the largest to say it would use the alternative developed by the American Financial Exchange.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development will revive a 2013 rule that makes lenders liable for practices that were unintentionally discriminatory as well as 2015 guidelines for how local jurisdictions comply with the Fair Housing Act.

The central bank should consider using a tool requiring higher capital amounts when times are good rather than offering temporary regulatory relief in a downturn, said Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council has struggled to find its footing since its creation in Dodd-Frank. The Treasury secretary has signaled a more aggressive role for the panel, including reviving its authority to target nonbank behemoths.

One official at the bureau said this fall could be an “unusual point in history” for the mortgage market as delinquent borrowers exit forbearance plans. The agency proposed new steps for servicers to help consumers stay in their homes.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen conducted her first meeting as chair of the Financial Stability Oversight Council and set the stage for a potential recalibration of the panel's role after it was weakened in the Trump administration.

The agency announced it was rescinding seven policy statements issued last year meant to help companies combat fallout from COVID-19 but that the bureau's current chief said came at the expense of consumers.

Although the Federal Housing Administration's insurance fund is "well above" its legal minimum, HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said the mortgage agency has no plans to cut prices.

The heads of the Federal Reserve and Treasury are urging passage of legislation that would replace Libor with the Secured Overnight Financing Rate in certain contracts. That would spare banks litigation over trillions of dollars of contracts when Libor expires in 2023.

For banks that pass this year’s stress tests, the Federal Reserve said it will eliminate the restrictions on dividends and share buybacks while subjecting those institutions instead to the stress capital buffer.