Jerome Powell

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told senators that the central bank is willing to explore a credit-sensitive interest benchmark in addition to the secured overnight financing rate, which some banks say could cause problems during economic stress.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed his agency’s skepticism of a Community Reinvestment Act plan proposed by other regulators, and said the Fed has an important role to ensure banks “are resilient against the longer-term risks from climate change.”

The conclusion of President Trump's impeachment trial last week means both chambers of Congress are back to regular business.

The new regulation aims to standardize the process for determining if those owning less than a quarter of a bank must comply with holding company requirements.

In another rollback of the bank trading ban, the federal agencies unveiled a plan to allow financial institutions to invest in multiple companies through certain fund structures.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he was “comfortable” with a recent speech by Gov. Lael Brainard objecting to significant aspects of the Community Reinvestment Act plan proposed by the OCC and FDIC.

After declining to support the proposal drafted by the OCC and FDIC, the Federal Reserve could issue its own framework or just keep the current CRA regime.

Corporate debt swelled to $15.987 trillion in the third quarter after borrowing increased by nearly 6%, according to the Federal Reserve.

In a rare move, the House Financial Services Committee chairwoman will lead a congressional delegation to a public FDIC board meeting as it considers releasing a proposal to rework the Community Reinvestment Act.

The Fed chairman said he has not given up on the central bank agreeing with other regulatory agencies on a plan to modernize the Community Reinvestment Act, but admitted, "I don’t know whether that will be possible or not.”