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Chairman Jelena McWilliams said the agency will issue a request for information "to learn more about what banks are doing, what banks are considering doing and what, if anything, the FDIC should be doing in this space.”

The Treasury Department announced that Michael Hsu, a senior official at the Federal Reserve, would lead the national bank regulator until a Senate-confirmed comptroller is in place.

The Federal Reserve said its regional banks should consider whether nontraditional financial companies meet the requirements of certain federal statutes and present “undue” risk to the financial system before granting access.

The industry has raised concerns about nontraditional bank owners, and some lawmakers have backed limits for industrial loan companies and cryptocurrency firms. But members of the House and Senate have been unable to reach a consensus on legislation.

A senior White House economic aide said the decision on selecting the next central bank chief will come after a thorough “process.”

The head of the Federal Reserve appeared to support Congress’s expanding the scope of the Community Reinvestment Act to unregulated institutions, just as regulators weigh how to modernize the framework for banks.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen plans to name Michael Hsu, associate director of bank supervision at the Federal Reserve, to be the acting comptroller of the currency, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Federal Reserve's top supervisory official, Randal Quarles, says regulators need to get a stronger grasp of digital currencies in order to supervise them. His comments Thursday follow reports that several large banks have started offering clients the ability to invest in bitcoin funds.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is dismissing claims that loose monetary policy has led to rising home values and shrinking inventory and insists that the market is buoyed by creditworthy borrowers and investors.

It would be available to homeowners making 80% or less of their area’s median income who weren't eligible to tap into low rates last year.