PayThink

By exempting small banks from compliance with its open banking rule, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is relegating them to the dustbin of history. That cannot be allowed to happen.

The Synapse failure and recent enforcement actions make it clear that fintechs need to up their regulatory compliance game. At the same time, they have an opportunity to help shape future rules.

An uptick in fines associated with anti-money-laundering failures demonstrates that U.S. banks still have much work to do in terms of optimizing their internal systems to identify and stop the flow of dirty money.

Banks have favored the low-regulation vision of former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, but his victory could imperil institutions and norms that banks rely on. Vice President Kamala Harris is more likely to preserve the status quo — including the Biden regulatory agenda.

The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a major element of the IRA, provides a critical opportunity for banks to integrate green finance into their core strategies.

It is nonsensical for the government to sue one of the leading lenders in an underserved minority community as a means of encouraging more lending in that community.

Decentralized digital ledgers offer financial services supervisors extraordinary access to information while eliminating concerns about information reliability. That should be reflected in regulatory attitudes toward crypto.

The Home Loan banks have been a stable source of community bank funding for generations. An unnecessary regulatory crackdown now puts that reliability in question.

Systemic racial inequality has long been a drag on the U.S. economy, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the housing market. There are smart strategies that would even the playing field.

Banks are not likely to see their regulatory capital requirements decline any time soon. But the way capital levels are calculated could be made more reflective of real risks.