Opinions

Five years after the government struggled to disburse pandemic relief checks, the Fed is using improved processing for emergency funds as a reason for banks to get onboard with FedNow.

Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller has directed central bank staff to explore the concept of a limited payment account, which would give nonbank entities in the payments space — including crypto firms — access to traditional payment systems.

Senate Banking Committee Republicans, led by committee chair Tim Scott, R-S.C., introduced a bill that would raise the mandatory reporting threshold for certain currency transactions, a move meant to ease banks' anti-money laundering compliance obligations.

The effort to establish rules governing consumers' access to their financial data has been effectively derailed by litigation, moves made by the Trump-era CFPB and JPMorganChase's decision to start charging data aggregators for access to customer data.

Coordinated sanctions target two networks behind so-called pig butchering scams, human trafficking and money laundering for North Korean cybercrime groups.

Earlier in the day, Fed Gov. Stephen Miran chastised the Fed for wading into politics under the Biden administration, as he currently takes unpaid leave from President Donald Trump's top advisory council.

Federal Reserve Gov. Stephen Miran said Thursday that the central bank's forays into examining climate change and racial justice under the prior administration politicized the Fed. He also argued that Fed officials should limit their comments on economic policies such as tariffs.

Federal Reserve Governor Michael Barr said strong oversight mechanisms and consumer protections are needed for stablecoins to make them a more viable payment instrument.

Allowing lenders to base mortgage decisions on single- or double-pull credit reporting would result in more risk to banks, and higher costs for borrowers.

The conditional approval came with residency waivers for board directors and green-lights the bank's business model, which is aimed at serving tech companies and ultra-high net worth customers in the digital asset space.