The changes are meant to make the program more attractive for both business borrowers and the banks that make the loans; as workers trickle back to offices on Wall Street, they'll see a different landscape due to coronavirus concerns.

The central bank will increase support for credit issued through the Main Street Lending Program while providing midsize firms with more flexibility on the amounts they receive.

All U.S. states will be able to have at least two cities or counties eligible to directly issue notes to the Municipal Liquidity Facility program regardless of population.

John Dugan says a successful effort by banks to alleviate the economic damage of the pandemic could boost the industry's reputation.

Members of both parties raised concerns that the requirements for participating in the Municipal Liquidity Facility and Main Street Lending Program are too restrictive to benefit smaller localities and certain midsize firms.

The Federal Reserve set up a liquidity facility to help banks meet demand for emergency small-business loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, but it's gone largely unused.

Chairman Jerome Powell said the Federal Reserve's actions during the coronavirus outbreak have been aimed squarely at helping U.S. workers, not Wall Street or wealthier Americans. He also said Friday that a new lending program geared toward middle-market firms is "days away" from getting up and running.

Even after the Fed eased some limitations in April to promote emergency lending, the bank has had to make some “tough choices” to heed the $1.95 trillion growth ceiling set by regulators in the aftermath of its phony-accounts scandal.

The takeaway from the PPP rollout is that bankers must protect their reputations and limit their risk appetites as they participate in further government-backed rescue programs.

The general structure of this year’s reviews is unchanged despite the pandemic. But a supplemental analysis of banks' response to the downturn could weigh heavily in evaluating 2020 capital distributions and making adjustments to the tests over the long run.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston published details on the terms for lenders and borrowers to participate in the facility intended to provide coronavirus relief funds to middle-market firms.

Payouts continue to be relatively generous, but that could change if the Federal Reserve demands banks bolster capital or the economy worsens.

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition, California Reinvestment Coalition and Democracy Forward accuse the agency of “unlawfully gutting” the historic anti-redlining law.

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.