Hannah Lang

The White House and the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced steps to help nonprofits and public agencies buy foreclosed properties, among other initiatives, as part of a plan to boost supply over the next three years.

Adrienne Harris, who did stints at the Treasury Department and National Economic Council during the Obama administration, would succeed Linda Lacewell as superintendent of the state's Department of Financial Services.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency in the Trump administration had been preoccupied with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s capital position. Acting Director Sandra Thompson has shifted the agency’s focus to affordable housing and fair lending.

Regulators and the Biden administration are considering how to respond to the sharp growth in digital assets pegged to fiat currency. Their options include establishing rules like those for bank deposits and having the Federal Reserve issue a digital dollar that competes with private-sector stablecoins.

The Federal Reserve has been circumspect about whether it will issue its own digital currency. Observers are looking to an upcoming report by the central bank for clarity about its intentions and how a digital dollar would work with private stablecoins.

The Biden administration will soon face tough decisions on whether to renominate Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chair and whom to select for vice chair of supervision and other posts.

This year's assessment for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is the first to take into account a January agreement between the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Treasury Department that allowed the companies to retain more earnings.

The guarantor of mortgage-backed securities has been without a Senate-confirmed president for four and a half years. The vacancy makes it difficult for other government agencies to coordinate housing objectives, according to stakeholders.

This year’s stress tests examined 23 banks including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, with the remainder of the firms on an “every other year” test cycle. The capital requirements for those remaining firms are unchanged from last year.

Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee objected to Biden administration picks for key jobs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development based on their past criticism of police practices. The nominees, including the prospective Federal Housing Administration chief, said their statements were taken out of context.

As the Federal Reserve mulls the idea of issuing a digital currency, some industry representatives are already sounding the alarm. Their main concern is a new regime for storing cash will reduce demand for bank deposits.

The industry had tightened up last year in the face of COVID-19. But as the economic outlook improves, banks are now easing criteria amid heightened competition, according to the Federal Reserve’s survey of loan officers.

The legislation would establish a quick process for legacy financial contracts to swap in the Secured Overnight Financing Rate after the London interbank offered rate all but expires in 2023.

A hike in guarantee fees charged to lenders for the companies’ backing of loans was due to expire this year, but lawmakers now want to extend it to raise $21 billion for the bipartisan package.

A Senate hearing highlighted the two parties' starkly different views of digital assets, with Democrats warning of price manipulation and Republicans saying the government should just get out of the way.

While federal regulators attempt to overhaul the Community Reinvestment Act for banks, Congress has shown little interest in applying it to other lenders. But recent moves in Illinois and New York have given some stakeholders hope that state lawmakers will pick up the slack.

Graham Steele, a former Senate Banking Committee staffer who has supported strong regulation, was named as the administration's choice for assistant secretary of financial institutions.

Widely perceived as the architect of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren used the occasion of the agency's 10th anniversary to call for more robust oversight of cryptocurrency and banks' overdraft practices.

The president has a chance to make his mark on the central bank as the terms of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Vice Chair of Supervision Randal Quarles near their end. He will face pressure from progressives to pick reform-minded leaders, while moderate Democrats and Republicans in the narrowly divided Senate might favor reappointing Powell.

The White House's firing of Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria sparked immediate speculation about who will run the agency and help chart the future of the two mortgage giants. Potential nominees include ex-Obama administration officials, congressional staffers and members of the Biden transition team.