Policy & Regulation

Most executives are comfortable crossing over $1 billion of assets, where more frequent exams are the biggest supervisory change. But few are eager to take on the compliance burdens that accompany the jump above $10 billion.

More than a year into the pandemic, with the U.S. economy improving and consumers having paid down debt, bankers are finally loosening the reins in auto lending and credit cards.

Cordray, named this week to lead the Education Department's office of federal student aid, cracked down on banks, student loan servicers and for-profit colleges when he was director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

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 online lender was not a party to the lawsuit involving the Federal Trade Commission and a payday lender, but it could emerge as one of the big winners from the Supreme Court’s decision.

Two new government reports suggest that U.S. consumers’ fortunes have improved since the start of the pandemic, with bankruptcies falling sharply and fewer people falling behind on bills. But it’s not clear how long the positive trends will sustain themselves as government relief efforts wind down and evictions and foreclosures resume.

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.

Without rollbacks of existing anti-money-laundering reporting requirements, a measure designed to make Bank Secrecy Act enforcement more risk-focused would do little to ease banks' regulatory burden.