Policy & Regulation

The Federal Reserve’s system for interbank payments went down Wednesday afternoon, according to a website for payment services operated by the U.S. central bank.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said bank regulators still aim to write a universal rule updating the Community Reinvestment Act, despite years of disagreement between the agencies on how to proceed.

The Alabama company is instead on the hunt for nonbank acquisition candidates as well as employees or clients it could lure away from regional banks that have announced merger deals recently, John Turner says.

Lost in the debate about whether to make fintechs comply with the Community Reinvestment Act is that many of them already partner with banks to make loans in low-income neighborhoods.

Acting Director Dave Uejio said Tuesday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will push back implementation of the qualified mortgage rule and may amend or revoke other Trump-era rules that have yet to take effect.

Banks lowered their loss provisions at the end of 2020, a sign they feel better about this year than last year, according to data from the FDIC. But loan balances fell for the second straight quarter and the annual loan growth rate was the lowest in seven years.

Chair Jerome Powell told a congressional panel that the Federal Reserve is weighing whether to extend temporary relief from the “supplementary leverage ratio” — meant to help banks lend more during the pandemic — beyond March 31.

The Banking Committee will hold a confirmation hearing on March 2 for Rohit Chopra and Gary Gensler. They are the administration's picks, respectively, to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

If policymakers are serious about revitalizing low-income communities, they should require all fintechs and other nonchartered lenders to adhere to the Community Reinvestment Act.

Libre by Nexus deceived detainees into believing they owed a monthly charge related to their proceedings before U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to a lawsuit filed by the consumer bureau and three states.