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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The Minneapolis bank extended its purchase agreement until the end of 2022, six months after the deal's original targeted closing date. Large-bank acquisitions have been drawing closer regulatory scrutiny during the Biden administration.
September 16 -
President Biden called on the SEC, CFPB and other agencies to vigorously use their enforcement powers to combat consumer scams and financial crimes involving cryptocurrencies; issue rules that address emerging risks tied to digital assets; share data on consumer complaints; and promote a modernized payment system.
September 16 -
"The SEC may not want to answer to Congress on its climate disclosure rule, but ultimately, the SEC will have to answer to the courts — which should make it nervous," the Senate Banking Committee's Pat Toomey warned the agency's chairman, Gary Gensler.
September 15 -
Many leading bank trade associations have called industrial loan companies a regulatory "loophole" that must be closed, but a bipartisan group of senators has their back.
September 15 -
Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, called for rules to protect buy now/pay later and earned wage access users and harshly criticized training repayment agreements. But Sen Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and industry advocates defended financial innovation.
September 13 -
An appeals court ruled that the electronic delivery of private information that was not made public did not constitute real harm to the consumer.
September 12 -
The International Standards Organization's approval of a new merchant category code for gun and ammunition sales paves the way for credit card networks to begin flagging suspicious weapons sales to law enforcement agencies.
September 9
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As written, new capital standards for U.S. banks fail to account for the additional risk posed by many home loan clients who obtain second mortgages. Fixing the problem will significantly reduce the rule's benefit to banks.
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The only thing we know about the next financial crisis is that it won't look like the last one. But specific changes to bank safety and soundness requirements and clearer regulatory authorities would help us respond.
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In the year of the country's 250th anniversary celebrations, it's worth looking back at the long road the U.S. dollar took to global dominance, and the lessons we can learn from it.


















