Policy & Regulation

Yan Zhao, President of NYDIG as she exploreshow Bitcoin is experiencing wider adoption in the traditional finance world, and why that is.

With the Biden administration suffering setbacks in trying to appoint a Senate-confirmed leader at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, acting Comptroller Michael Hsu could emerge as the consensus choice, observers said.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued LendUp in September, alleging that the digital payday lender consistently misled customers about the benefits repeatedly using its loan products.

The Financial Conduct Authority has fined a U.K. unit of HSBC Holdings 64 million pounds ($85 million) after finding “serious weaknesses” in the automated processes it used to monitor suspicious transactions, the latest example of the watchdog’s increasingly assertive stance against the firms it regulates.

Neither Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chair Jelena McWilliams nor the board’s three Democratic directors gave ground in their dispute over control of the agency and the direction of bank merger policy during a meeting Tuesday.

The American Bankers Association urged the agency to maintain “an orderly, transparent policymaking process” after three Democratic directors had approved a board action without including Trump-appointed Chair Jelena McWilliams. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce went a step further, accusing them of trying to “circumnavigate” McWilliams’ authority.

In an unprecedented move, two Democrats on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s board said they had approved a review of the policy without the consent of Trump-appointed Chair Jelena McWilliams. The agency released a statement saying the action had no legal standing.

The economic tremors caused by the COVID-19 crisis led some analysts to argue that it was only a matter of time before some financial institutions collapsed. But thanks to government stimulus, the industry’s ample capital levels and moderate risk exposure, bank closings have become a rarity.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network proposed standards to determine which companies must report their beneficial owners under a law enacted in January. Banks hope the new requirements will free them of the burden of collecting true-owner information about their customers.

The regulator has a policy that allows it to convert public enforcement actions into informal, nonpublic ones in cases where banks haven't fully met their obligations. Its inspector general says that the practice may give a false impression to customers and investors.