FDIC

Four federal agencies offered guidance Wednesday on how to offer products that compete against payday loans without incurring Washington's wrath. The announcement could spark the rebirth of deposit advances, which were regulated out of existence during the Obama administration.

Craft Bank, which plans to open this summer, is in the final stage of raising $30 million in initial capital.

Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting’s regulation reforming the Community Reinvestment Act lacks performance metrics criticized in an earlier proposal. But neither the FDIC nor the Fed is supporting the final plan.

The order's removal allows the Delaware company to pursue more opportunities in its payments business.

Operation HOPE Chief Executive John Hope Bryant talks about how the Community Reinvestment Act influenced him at the age of 9 and eventually led to the founding of his nonprofit, which works with banks to help communities in need. But he says the 1977 law is outdated.

The interim rule will allow institutions with over $250 billion of assets to exclude certain assets from the supplementary leverage ratio to help them respond to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

Congress authorized the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to intervene if the pandemic caused a liquidity scare, but nearly two months later deposits are through the roof and the agency has not acted on the expanded authority.

Critics of the Community Reinvestment Act revamp want to freeze the rulemaking process. That would only delay financial help to New York and other hard-hit cities.

The agency said without further action banks' participation in coronavirus relief programs could inflate their deposit insurance assessments.

At a Senate hearing with all the bank regulators, Joseph Otting got an earful over his agency’s decision to move forward with Community Reinvestment Act reform during the pandemic. Lawmakers also urged the Fed to speed up the rollout of coronavirus relief programs.