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.
- AB - Policy & Regulation
In attempting to advance a measure dealing with bank merger policy, the three Democratic board members at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. were really trying to "wrest control" of the agency, Chair Jelena McWilliams said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
December 16
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Caroline Pham, a managing director at Citigroup, would fill one of two seats on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission reserved for Republican appointees.
December 15
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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra has helped assert the authority of the three Democrats — including himself — who serve on the governing body of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. GOP lawmakers responded with a bill to strip the consumer agency's head of voting powers on the FDIC board.
December 15
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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.
December 14
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Sandra Thompson has won praise from homeownership advocates for suspending a fee imposed on borrowers that was meant to recoup Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's pandemic-related losses, among other actions she reversed. On Tuesday, President Biden said he will nominate her to be the permanent director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
December 14
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A clash among FDIC board members has intensified a debate about whether regulators should take a tougher look at large M&A deals. House Financial Services Chair Maxine Waters added to the frenzy by calling for a moratorium on approving big acquisitions.
December 13
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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.
December 13
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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.
