Policy & Regulation

The final Community Reinvestment Act rule notably expands the definition of "large" banks to include banks with at least $2 billion of assets, requiring more banks to comply with the updated rules. That expanded scope is a feature, not a bug.

The card network integrated its data-sharing technology into products from Zip, FIS and JPMorgan Chase as potential regulations loom on the horizon.

After years of discussion among regulators, the Federal Reserve Board has approved changes to its CRA rules that will base compliance exams on where lending occurs rather than branch locations. The updates — set to take effect in January 2026 — also emphasize lending in lower-income areas as well as community development loans and investments.

Banks already share consumers' transaction data with fintechs, mostly through data aggregators, and often grudgingly through screen scraping. The proposed 1033 regulation could give more control to consumers, better data access to fintechs and a competitive edge to big banks over smaller ones, some observers say.

The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an alert Friday calling on financial institutions to closely monitor and report suspected financial activities related to Hamas, including complex cryptocurrency transactions and through fictitious charities.

Three years removed from the Black Lives Matter protests, banks have not fulfilled their promises to help close the racial wealth gap.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra says that a recently proposed data-access rule would provide a competitive edge to small banks over their larger competitors.

Regulators will now accept feedback until Jan 16, 2024 — a six-week extension — concurrent with a Federal Reserve effort to gather additional information about the potential implications of the proposed capital changes.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's proposal would give consumers a legal right to grant third parties access to financial data for a specific use, but firms cannot sell the data or use it for their own benefit — including by feeding it into algorithms or artificial intelligence.

The Federal Reserve vice chair for supervision says the failure of Silicon Valley Bank showed the shortcomings of the current stress testing regime.