FDIC

At a recent congressional hearing, OCC chief Joseph Otting showed just how far he might go in allowing reinvestment credits to lenders.

Nonbanks hold a disproportionate percentage of the worst-rated loans, but banks hold a majority of the market, and risk management safeguards are largely untested, according to an interagency report on shared national credit.

In another rollback of the bank trading ban, the federal agencies unveiled a plan to allow financial institutions to invest in multiple companies through certain fund structures.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he was “comfortable” with a recent speech by Gov. Lael Brainard objecting to significant aspects of the Community Reinvestment Act plan proposed by the OCC and FDIC.

The Financial Services Committee will also hold hearings next month on monetary policy, the CFPB and "astroturfing" worries, among other things.

To guard against headwinds in the agricultural sector, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. recommended that institutions consider the “overall financial status” of farm loan borrowers.

Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting upset some House Democrats when he was a no-show at a previous oversight hearing. They will now get a chance to question him about the future of the Community Reinvestment Act.

An outside paper identifies the statutes, regulations and other bureaucratic realities complicating the banking agencies’ efforts to oversee and benefit from rapidly changing technology.

Bankers may not want to hear this, but communities benefit when credit unions buy banks.

Community development financial institutions could stand to gain from efforts to modernize the Community Reinvestment Act, but they fear the proposal offered by regulators may end up draining their capital.