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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In an exclusive survey of bankers nationwide, American Banker found that regulatory relief and ensuring fintech companies faced banklike rules were the two top priorities for the industry this year while taxing credit unions and restructuring the CFPB took a back seat.
January 29 -
Ben Carson, a former neurosurgeon, soared to near the top of the pack of Republican presidential candidates in polling, only to find his star falling rapidly after several questionable comments that sowed doubts about his foreign policy expertise. With the GOP nomination fight still in flux, it's unclear if Carson can recover.
January 25 -
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has had a rough campaign. He started out in the summer of 2015 as the heavy favorite, swelled with contribution cash from financial institutions and many others, but he's quickly been overtaken by anti-establishment candidates.
January 25 -
Carly Fiorina, former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, was broadly critical of the Dodd-Frank Act and regulation in general, two positions that heartened bankers. But she failed to gain traction in the Iowa or New Hampshire primaries, and subsequently dropped out of the race. Here's where she stood on key issues.
January 25 -
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has garnered a reputation as a straight-talking, moderate Republican. Though he performed well in the primary debates, he finished poorly in the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries. As a result, Christie has dropped out of the race. Here's where he stood on key issues.
January 25 -
Former New York senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is well known to most players in the political world. Though she has billed herself as a progressive Democrat, many banks and other businesses see her as an acceptable alternative to GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, who many on Wall Street view as unpredictable. Following are her views on a range of subjects.
January 25 -
John Kasich, the governor of Ohio and former chairman of the House Budget Committee, is the only presidential candidate with banking experience. He served as a managing director at the now-defunct Lehman Brothers from 2001 until its collapse in 2008. Perhaps as a result, his positions on financial issues are more nuanced than many of his competitors'.
January 25
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As governors prepare to designate new "opportunity zones," lenders and investors should take advantage of the chance to target capital to communities where it will both do good and generate strong returns.
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Banks can price in risk and manage their way around both left-wing and right-wing administrations. But the kind of uncertainty that arises from today's brand of politics is impossible to model.
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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.
