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.
-
Friends of Traditional Banking is focusing on four GOP senators in tight races as it prepares to endorse two incumbents for the November elections.
August 28
-
Bankers have long opposed the idea of the U.S. Postal Service taking deposits and making loans directly, but some in the industry are open to the idea of letting banks and credit unions offer services at post offices.
August 28
-
The House Financial Services Committee chair vowed to stay focused on the HEROES Act after the panel's top Republican said lawmakers should instead debate bills with bipartisan support.
July 23
-
Chairman Jerome Powell said the Federal Reserve's actions during the coronavirus outbreak have been aimed squarely at helping U.S. workers, not Wall Street or wealthier Americans. He also said Friday that a new lending program geared toward middle-market firms is "days away" from getting up and running.
May 29
-
The head of the U.S. central bank said its emergency credit programs were not designed to prop businesses up over the long term.
May 13
-
The OCC is plowing ahead on plans to modernize the Community Reinvestment Act, but a growing consensus of industry and community voices says now is not the time for a major overhaul.
May 7!["Further delay [of CRA reform] will prevent these additional resources from reaching those who need them most in this time of national emergency," said Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting in April.](https://arizent.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/1fc87bd/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5760x3240+0+300/resize/1280x720!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsource-media-brightspot.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2F40%2F14%2Fee6cd5d544bd848ecc544e7f3fed%2Fotting-joseph-bl-050720.jpg)
-
Financial institutions could testify before the bipartisan commission overseeing the unprecedented economic aid for industries hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. But without subpoena authority, the panel’s impact may be limited.
April 22
!["Further delay [of CRA reform] will prevent these additional resources from reaching those who need them most in this time of national emergency," said Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting in April.](https://arizent.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9926943/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5760x3240+0+300/resize/1440x810!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsource-media-brightspot.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2F40%2F14%2Fee6cd5d544bd848ecc544e7f3fed%2Fotting-joseph-bl-050720.jpg)
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
