As with most things related to 2020, COVID-19 will be a deciding factor as the Federal Reserve considers whether banks are able to increase their dividends or resume share buybacks.

The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that it had joined the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System after participating in discussions with the group for over a year.

From brokering insurance contracts to financial settlements, smart contracts could bring immense innovation to CBDCs that otherwise would act as little more than an augmented medium of exchange, says Cypherium's Sky Guo.

The central bank is exploring how to improve the consistency and transparency of safety and soundness scores used to grade banks and their holding companies, the agency’s vice chairman of supervision said.

Faster payments haven't always lived up to the hype and promise because of development and adoption stagnation in the U.S., but the idea of speedier transactions is becoming more popular.

A number of top Wells executives privately expect it won’t be able to escape the limit on assets until late next year at the earliest, while key Fed officials see the process dragging into 2022 or beyond, according to people familiar with their thinking.

The end date for the Paycheck Protection Program Loan Facility was moved from Dec. 31 to March 31, giving lenders more time to line up the liquidity needed to buy and sell portfolios.

As Congress moves to spur more coin production, banks and retailers are running campaigns urging consumers to empty their piggy banks to get more change into circulation.

Senators voted 48-47 to put Christopher Waller on the Federal Reserve Board, concluding a confirmation process that had been dragged out for months because of controversy surrounding a separate nomination for Judy Shelton.

Following their disagreement about emergency funds mandated by the last big relief package, the Treasury secretary and Fed chief urged House lawmakers to pass another stimulus bill by the end of the year.

Vice Chairman of Supervision Randal Quarles said the agency wants to figure out why banks are holding on to capital that could be used more aggressively to respond to the pandemic.

Tuesday's hearing on the CARES Act was dominated by bickering over Treasury's decision to shut down the Fed's emergency lending facilities, drowning out pleas from some lawmakers for more aid.

The OCC, Federal Reserve and FDIC said that a failure to adequately prepare for the transition away from Libor could undermine banks' safety and soundness, but also extended the sunset date for many iterations of the interest rate benchmark to July 2023.

The central bank will prolong the life of the Commercial Paper Funding Facility and three other programs while returning congressionally approved funds for five separate facilities that will shut down Dec. 31.

The Trump administration has compelled the Federal Reserve to shut down the Main Street Lending Program and other facilities that aid banks’ pandemic relief efforts, but President-elect Biden’s Treasury nominee could help turn the spigot back on.

Yellen, the former head of the Federal Reserve, would become the first woman to hold the nation’s top economic policy job just as the coronavirus pandemic threatens another downturn.

Participation in the Paycheck Protection Program and other emergency lending during the pandemic has swelled many small banks’ balance sheets. Federal regulators are giving them a temporary pass on supervisory requirements tied to their size.

The move comes a day after the Federal Reserve had balked at the Treasury Department's demand that it return funds meant for pandemic relief that have so far gone unused.

Democrats called the decision by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin "misguided," arguing that it's too soon to shutter the Federal Reserve's emergency-lending programs. Republicans say the programs have run their course and should expire a the end of the year.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called on the Federal Reserve Thursday to let several of its emergency lending facilities expire at yearend and return unused funds provided by Congress. But the central bank wants the programs to continue.