FDIC

Bank regulators have not even proposed a plan yet for revamping the Community Reinvestment Act, but stakeholders likely to weigh in on the plan are already establishing battle lines.

In addition to his highly publicized comments on trade and other political issues, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase used his annual letter to underscore the importance of job training for low-wage workers and call attention to an FDIC proposal that encourages banks to hire workers who have been convicted of minor crimes.

As part of a larger regulatory relief effort, regulators have raised the dollar-amount threshold for commercial real estate transactions that require a formal appraisal.

Policies to shore up banks’ corporate cultures have remained a low priority even though some regulators want to attack the issue head on. Strengthening a firm’s ethical values may best be left to a bank’s internal brass.

The agency said Cross River Bank and an affiliated debt settlement company misled customers into thinking a debt consolidation program would settle their debts and boost their creditworthiness.

In his last major speech as the agency’s No. 2, Thomas Hoenig said it would be a “serious policy mistake” to relax measures such as the supplementary leverage ratio, but he was more open to regulatory relief in other areas.

Just as promised, Republican lawmakers went to work Wednesday considering regulatory reform ideas that would go further than the Senate's tweaks of the Dodd-Frank Act.

In an update on the Deposit Insurance Fund, FDIC staff said the fund's ratio of reserves to estimated deposits will likely reach the required 1.35% level by the second half of 2018.

Gulfside Bank, which would be based in Sarasota, is angling to become southwest Florida's first new bank in a decade.

The agency's decision to lift a 2002 consent order against Ace Cash Express could lead to a revival of partnerships between national banks and payday lenders.

Regulators are working intently on a proposal to reform how they apply the Community Reinvestment Act after previous attempts to modernize CRA policy drew mixed reviews.

The major prepaid card issuer agreed to the penalty to settle allegations that it had charged higher fees than what was disclosed to customers.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg said Tuesday that he is on the fence about whether to serve on the agency's board for the remainder of the year even after he is replaced as head of the agency.

The tax reform law passed late last year, which significantly cut the corporate tax rate, has been widely popular among banks, but a one-time hit to the value of their deferred tax assets was felt far and wide.

The quarterly earnings decline from a year earlier was largely due to a one-time hit to the value of banks’ deferred tax assets, according to the agency’s Quarterly Banking Profile.

A decision by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. — soon to be under new management — on Square’s ILC application could foreshadow how other fintech firms seek banking powers.

The Treasury Department struck a middle ground in recommendations for Dodd-Frank Act wind-down powers, resisting calls to repeal those powers but still addressing concerns that they are too generous to large firms.

The Puerto Rico-based bank failed in 2015. The FDIC, its receiver, is seeking unspecified economic and punitive damages from 16 lenders, including Bank of America, Barclays and Credit Suisse.

The Trump administration on Wednesday refrained from proposing the elimination of authority to clean up failed financial behemoths, but the Treasury Department still wants substantial reforms to the resolution powers.

The full Senate will now consider the nomination of Jelena McWilliams to lead the FDIC, as well as nominees to sit on the Federal Reserve Board and the Financial Stability Oversight Council.