Banking Politics & Policy News
American Banker's Politics & Policy coverage delivers news and analysis on how legislative action, federal agency rulemaking, regulatory politics, and public policy debates shape banking strategy, risk, competition, and compliance. Coverage explores congressional priorities, executive branch initiatives, regulatory agency actions, and the political forces that shape and impact the operating environment for financial institutions, payments companies, fintechs and distributed finance companies.
Bank leaders must navigate a dynamic policy environment where congressional action, regulatory priorities, and political forces influence capital standards, supervisory expectations, digital asset frameworks, deposit insurance, consumer rules, and competitive dynamics.
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President Joe Biden's administration and Senate Democrats are ramping up pressure on the Federal Home Loan Bank system to pump more money into solving the nation's housing crisis.
August 6
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High borrowing costs led to fewer mortgage originations in the second quarter, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit released Tuesday.
August 6
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A bill from Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and companion House legislation from Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., would change the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to guard consumers against losing money in authorized transfers that involve scams
August 2
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Graham Steele, formerly the assistant secretary for financial institutions at the Treasury Department, laid out a detailed bank regulatory reform agenda for future progressive policymakers to consider that includes rolling bank Trump administration-era tailoring rules and accounting for the increased digitization of the banking system.
August 1
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The Federal Reserve chair said Fed researchers continue to explore central bank digital currencies to stay current on international payments developments, but emphatically denied that the central bank is considering creating one of its own.
July 31
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Capital One's proposed deal to acquire Discover is being viewed by progressives as a test of how skeptical the administration really is about big bank mergers, while Republican lawmakers mostly support the deal.
July 30
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Sen. Cynthia Lummis announced a forthcoming bill that would require the government to hold 5% of the global bitcoin supply. Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have also called for strategic holdings of the cryptocurrency.
July 29
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As stablecoins and other cryptocurrencies enter the mainstream, lawmakers in Illinois have imposed a new transaction tax on digital assets. It will raise costs for everyday consumers and drive away businesses.
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Yes, banks' capital burden will decline, leaving more potential funds available for lending. But the big question is which banks will find a way to deploy those funds to generate meaningful returns.
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Restrictions that limit access to private market investments are harmful to ordinary investors, who are denied better returns. They also seal off a large potential source of funding for long-term infrastructure investments.
