The Federal Reserve received a bipartisan critique Wednesday from members of a congressional oversight panel who said the central bank has been slow to launch a key emergency lending program for midsize companies.

A transparent, decentralized ledger will speed up payments while mitigating the inevitable next round of federal mismanagement, says Polyient Labs' Jeff Hinkle.

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.

Recent tweaks to Reg D have blurred the line between checking and savings accounts, opening up the possibility for new innovation in those products.

Members of the Banking Committee pressed the Treasury secretary and Fed chief to ensure CARES Act funds are deployed as Congress intended. They also debated the need for more stimulus to ease the economic effects of the coronavirus.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling on the Federal Reserve to hold corporate executives personally liable if they take bailout money intended to bolster credit markets and fail to meet all the certification requirements.

With rates so low — after steep emergency Federal Reserve cuts in response to the pandemic’s fallout — banks will struggle to generate bread-and-butter interest income and asset-sensitive lenders will face substantial net interest margin contraction this year and next, analysts say.

Kent Hiteshew, who was recently hired by the Fed to help with the municipal market, said the Municipal Liquidity Facility opened Monday.

FedAccounts would be government banking on a massive scale, says Intrepid Ventures' Eric Grover.

The program would give small businesses greater flexibility on how they use loan proceeds; Warren Buffett’s company dumped 10 million of its nearly 12 million shares in the bank.