Treasury Department

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has all but ruled out letting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac exit U.S. control before he steps down, leaving it to the Biden administration to decide the fates of the mortgage giants.

Time and again, Janet Yellen has warned Wall Street is piling a dangerous amount of debt onto the balance sheets of risky U.S. businesses. But as she prepares to take over as Treasury secretary, she may find it difficult to do anything quickly to rein in these markets, experts say.

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.

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 incoming administration chose a battle-tested policymaker who can draw on her nearly two decades at the Fed to help rebuild an economy still struggling from the coronavirus pandemic.

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.

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.

The teams include people who previously worked for the Treasury and the Federal Housing Finance Agency as well as HUD.

A moderate pick with financial sector ties could upset progressives, while the likely GOP majority in the Senate could balk at a nominee seen as too liberal. Here are some of the candidates.

If Republicans keep their majority, the incoming administration will likely have to pick moderates over progressives to have any chance of getting its nominees approved.

Asked about the political uncertainty surrounding the undecided presidential race, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank isn’t wavering from its duty “to support the economy during this difficult time.”

A Democratic victory in Tuesday's election would likely produce new leaders at the CFPB and OCC who could take bank regulation in a sharply different direction. Here are some names potentially under consideration.

Underwhelming participation in the middle-market loan program has forced the central bank to reduce the minimum borrowing amount for the third time, to $100,000.

The Dallas bank has begun encouraging larger borrowers to seek forgiveness of Paycheck Protection Program loans first as it holds out for the government to streamline the process for loans below $150,000.

Southern Bancorp in Arkansas, which raised $35 million in capital from private investors, is out to prove that community development financial institutions can deliver attractive returns and fulfill their missions to help the underserved.

Kashkari, who oversaw the 2008 bank bailouts as a then-Treasury official, has been outspoken in favor of higher capital requirements since he took over at the Minneapolis Fed in 2016.