Hannah Lang

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.