Kate Berry has covered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for American Banker since 2016. She joined the publication in 2006 covering mortgage lending and the financial crisis. Berry also has covered big banks including Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo. She has won five awards from the Society of American Business Writers and Editors, and has worked at several news organizations including the Orange County Register, the Los Angeles Business Journal and the Associated Press. Berry began her career as a clerk at the New York Times.
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A federal judge refused to sign a settlement agreement between the Department of Justice and Houston developer Colony Ridge because it failed to provide any consumer relief. DOJ agreed to an out-of-court settlement instead.
April 14 -
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has dismissed scores of enforcement attorneys early in President Donald Trump's second term, is staffing up its litigation arm in anticipation of defending its rules in court.
April 13 -
Jay Plum, head of consumer lending at Fifth Third Bank, says artificial intelligence is fundamentally shifting relationships between banks and their third-party software vendors, allowing banks to do things on their own that they would previously rely on vendors to do for them, like identify risky loans and prepare for exams.
April 9 -
Swiss banking giant UBS tried to get a federal court to reject new allegations that Credit Suisse, which UBS acquired in 2023, had concealed Nazi-linked assets.
April 7 -
A federal appeals court has agreed to rehear a challenge to a Colorado law intended to combat "rent-a-bank," arrangements that would impose Colorado's interest rate caps on certain out-of-state banks.
April 6 -
The Department of Justice is seeking court approval to immediately fire more than 600 employees, slashing the CFPB's workforce by 53%.
April 1 -
Federal Reserve Vice Chair Michelle Bowman said the Fed's proposed capital framework will inject up to $100 billion into the economy to support small-business loans.
April 1 -
House Financial Services Chairman French Hill is pushing regulatory relief for banks, reforming the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and advocating a "whole-of-government" assault on fraud.
April 1 -
The nation's second-largest bank agreed to the massive settlement to avoid a looming trial in May over accusations that it enabled suspicious, multimillion-dollar transactions — including a staggering $170 million payment from the former Apollo CEO Leon Black — to Epstein.
March 30 -
A recent executive order encouraging changes to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Ability-To-Repay and Qualified Mortgage rules are adding to a packed agenda at a time when the agency has lost a third of its staff.
March 26 -
Swiss banking giant UBS Group received federal approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to convert its $1.6 trillion-asset UBS Bank USA from a Utah-chartered industrial bank to a national charter.
March 20 -
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and 10 former officials filed amicus briefs that provide legal heft to banks battling the state of Illinois over a law that removes sales taxes and tips from interchange fees.
March 18 -
Over the course of its first year in office, the second Trump administration has neutralized the enforcement of key civil rights laws by reorienting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rules and eliminating "disparate impact" that allows banks to be penalized for the discriminatory effects of policies without proving discriminatory intent.
March 18 -
Bank of America has reached a settlement in principle to resolve a class-action lawsuit filed by victims of Jeffrey Epstein.
March 17 -
The Federal Reserve's recently published request for information on options for updating its check clearing apparatus has bankers fearing that it will opt to phase out paper checks entirely — an outcome that has community banks panicked.
March 16 -
A federal judge ruled that acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Russell Vought unlawfully refused to request agency funding from the Federal Reserve Board, dealing a procedural blow to a legal argument that the Fed can only fund the CFPB when it turns a profit.
March 15 -
Civil rights groups object to a $68 million settlement between the Department of Justice and Colony Ridge Development in Texas, calling the deal a sham because it funnels $20 million into immigration enforcement and surveillance of victims.
March 10 -
Five major U.S. banks are engaging in costly litigation rather than reimburse fraud claims of a 72-year-old dementia patient who lost $337,000 in a romance scam. The victim's lawyer says banks are not abiding by the consumer protection process.
March 6 -
The Supreme Court slammed the door on CashCall's final appeal, cementing a massive win for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after a 12-year legal marathon.
March 3 -
Experts said that judges reviewing ongoing litigation between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and its employee union seem inclined to allow reductions in force to proceed if the CFPB presented a credible plan for running the agency.
February 27
