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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Wyoming Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis, one of the crypto industry’s staunchest supporters in Congress, is planning to introduce a comprehensive bill next year that would cover everything from how digital assets are taxed and categorized to consumer protections.
December 23
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Maxine Waters, the House Financial Services Committee chair, is questioning Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chief Jelena McWilliams's claim that board Democrats' request for comment on merger policy was invalid without her support.
December 22
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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.
December 21
- AB - Policy & Regulation
The state Department of Financial Protection and Innovation issued a cease-and-desist order against Nano Banc, saying the troubled bank violated an earlier consent agreement when it replaced five board members and appointed a new CEO without the regulator’s permission.
December 21 -
The year's biggest storylines included an M&A revival, a reexamination of overdraft fees, a changing of the guard in Washington and the rise of new technologies. Here's a look back.
December 19
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Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter praised Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra “for his leadership" on bank merger issues. Chopra and two other Democratic board members at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. are locked in a battle with Chair Jelena McWilliams over the agency’s own merger policy.
December 17
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The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released draft “supervisory principles” for banks with more than $100 billion of assets, saying they should account for weather-related risks. Officials said public feedback on the guidelines will help inform more detailed interagency policy next year.
December 16
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Efforts by individual states to rewrite existing rules governing interstate bank lending risk throwing the entire system into chaos. Only Congress has the ability to reestablish a workable set of national rules.
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The new law's reciprocal and custodial deposit provisions recognize what the evidence has shown for two decades. They should spur, not substitute for, the broader work of protecting America's depositors.
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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.
