Policy & Regulation

The new Federal Reserve vice chair for supervision called for capital requirements that target higher-risk activities and more complex organizations; merger decisions that factor in a deal's impact on accessibility of financial services; and better tests for evaluating banks' preparedness for climate change.

The former Fed vice chair for supervision said the recent ruling in West Virginia v. the EPA will not 'gut' the administrative state, but it could be a needed restraint.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard said Wednesday that there are signs that inflation is easing, but the central bank has no intention of laying off the throttle.

Major foreign banks are just as important to the U.S. financial system as large domestic banks, and ought to be regulated as such.

The operational melding of highly regulated banks and less-regulated fintechs led acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu to warn of the potential for another financial crisis.

After the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency cracked down on a $2.8 billion-asset bank, industry observers expect more scrutiny of the ties between banks and financial technology startups.

Fintech and cryptocurrency firms competing with banks but subject to fewer regulations are "getting away with murder," said Eugene Ludwig, a former comptroller under the Bill Clinton administration. 

A shift is underway at the Federal Reserve in how to describe neutral — the interest rate level that neither stimulates nor restrains growth — as it debates how much higher to hike.

It remains to be seen what the capped price for Russian oil will be or whether the move will stabilize world energy prices.

The 2012 order, which came alongside fines to U.S. authorities totaling nearly $2 billion, had sullied the London-based bank's reputation. "Over the last decade HSBC's employees have worked hard to transform the bank's financial crime risk management capabilities," HSBC says.