OCC

From scams to watch out for to the role banks play in an SBA virus loan program, news about the pandemic's impact was everywhere. Also: As State Farm bows out, U.S. Bank seizes an expansion opportunity; CFPB sues Fifth Third for allegedly opening phony accounts; and more from this week's most-read stories.

The OCC and FDIC’s proposal for modernizing the community reinvestment law would give banks below $500 million of assets the option to keep the current regime. But bankers and industry representatives say that threshold should be higher.

The agency's recent update to its guidelines for banks on working with data aggregators and other third parties was not extreme, but some critics say its heavy emphasis on security could be a setback for open banking.

The chair of the House Financial Services Committee, Maxine Waters, contends that Tim Sloan knowingly made misleading and inaccurate comments during a hearing before her panel last year.

State and federal officials committed to providing “appropriate regulatory assistance” to banks whose customers may be hurt by the coronavirus outbreak and said prudent measures would not be subject to criticism by examiners.

Sen. Mark Warner led a group of Democratic senators in calling on bank, credit union and GSE regulators to give detailed instructions on helping consumer and commercial borrowers hurt by the COVID-19 outbreak.

The company disclosed that an internal review of a now-discontinued loan program found that employees engaged in misconduct tied to income verification and requirements, among other things.

The agencies recommend steps financial institutions should take to proactively prevent disruption of operations, minimize contact between staff and consumers, and plan for how affected employees reenter the workplace, among other things.

The agencies recommend steps banks should take to proactively prevent disruption of operations, minimize contact between staff and customers, and plan for how affected employees reenter the workplace, among other things.

Most states have some kind of pricing limit on consumer loans. But proposals for a national usury law divide even Democrats, some of whom are concerned about restricting credit.

As part of a review, the agency said it had identified requirements dealing with operating subsidiaries, noncontrolling investments by banks and other corporate activities that were no longer necessary.

The bank said it was Sloan's decision to retire, but a new report from House Democrats reveals that Fed and OCC officials made moves behind the scenes in 2018 and 2019 to pressure the bank's board to remove him.

The banking regulators have announced that they are postponing next week’s National Interagency Community Reinvestment Conference because of growing health concerns about the virus outbreak.

Compliance, risk management and staffing will likely come under added scrutiny as regulators lay out a framework for future fintech-bank mergers.

Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting suggested the central bank was adopting a “partisan” stance against his plan to overhaul the Community Reinvestment Act.

In a sudden reversal, the OCC and FDIC said they would push back the deadline to April for groups to weigh in on the proposal to modernize the Community Reinvestment Act.

Compared with incendiary fights elsewhere in the capital, deliberations among the banking agencies tend to be more banal. But on issues from the Volcker Rule to CRA reform, disagreements lately between officials have grown sharper.

Proposed reforms to the Community Reinvestment Act focus on everything but bank products that promote higher education. It’s time to change that.

An intraparty rift went public Wednesday over legislation that would impose a 36% rate limit on all consumer loans. Critics are concerned it would cut off minority borrowers’ access to small-dollar loans and hurt some community banks.

After the State of the Union speech Tuesday, Republican lawmakers hailed the president's economic record while Democrats continued criticism of an administration plan to reform the Community Reinvestment Act.