WASHINGTON The Federal Reserve Board is scheduled to take up the thorny issue of predatory lending again at a meeting next Wednesday.
The discussion is to come after three public hearings held this summer at which the agency solicited comments on how best to stop abusive practices. Legislators and community groups have pushed the Fed to use more of its authority to curb predatory practices.
At next weeks meeting, the Fed is scheduled to finalize a rule authorizing financial holding companies to act as finders by bringing buyers and sellers together. The Fed is also expected to issue a proposal that would grant financial holding companies the right to act as real estate brokers and managers, and another that would broaden the data processing activities that financial holding companies may engage in.
Bank and thrift regulators published a separate proposal Wednesday that would reduce the capital required to back loans to well-run, well-supervised securities firms. Under the proposal, banks would have to hold $1.60 for every $100 lent to these broker-dealers.
