Neil Haggerty

A trade group says suspending so-called beneficial owner rules would help financial institutions make more small-business loans through the Paycheck Protection Program.

The heads of two congressional committees are requesting a briefing from the agency after a watchdog recommended improvements in how it prepares for crises.

Republicans balked at measures like an overdraft fee ban and interest rate cap in the recent stimulus bill, but Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, isn’t done trying to add such proposals to future relief packages.

Sherrod Brown, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, explains why consumer protection is so important as the coronavirus pandemic ravages the economy.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote in a letter to the Treasury secretary that the Financial Stability Oversight Council should create a liquidity facility to deal with a flood of forbearance requests brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

Measures that delay the Current Expected Credit Losses standard and reduce a community bank capital ratio are temporary, but the industry now sees an opening to argue that they should be permanent.

After Congress temporarily lowered the leverage ratio used by smaller institutions, the federal agencies said they would allow a one-year transition before banks have to comply again with the regular standard.

If Capitol Hill plans another round of stimulus, Democrats could have more leverage to demand steps such as suspending overdraft fees – a measure which could have a big impact on credit union revenue.

If Capitol Hill plans another round of stimulus, Democrats could have more leverage to demand steps such as suspending overdraft fees or placing a temporary cap on consumer lending rates.

The $2 trillion stimulus package, which the House passed earlier in the day, aims to expand Federal Reserve liquidity resources and provide financial institutions with some regulatory relief.