Policy & Regulation

Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting blasted a letter from Senate Democrats criticizing his agency for not implementing recommendations on supervision in the wake of the Wells Fargo scandal.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions did not keep the rest of Washington apprised of his plan to rescind an Obama-era memo on pot. Now Fincen and other federal banking agencies are dealing with the backlash from that decision.

Craig Phillips, a top aide to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, said his department "broadly" agrees with the FHFA plan, which would return Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the private market and provide them an explicit government guarantee.

If anyone has doubted that acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Mick Mulvaney intends to overhaul the agency, the last three days alone have put those doubts to rest.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s semiannual report on industry risk said tougher competition between banks, leading to looser underwriting, could arise from the economic expansion.

The agency had accused the lenders of deceiving consumers and failing to disclose the true cost of the loans, which carried interest rates as high as 950% a year.

Mick Mulvaney, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has requested no funding from the Federal Reserve in the second quarter and instead will use reserves to fund the agency.

Bank says most of the benefits from tax reform will be used for dividends and buybacks; Michael Loughlin will stay on until his replacement is named later this year.

FHFA Director Mel Watt said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be reincorporated as private entities and the government must provide an explicit guarantee for catastrophic losses in the secondary mortgage market.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau faces significant obstacles in reopening the payday lending rule including likely legal challenges and a lengthy compliance process with the Administrative Procedure Act.