The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been opposed by the financial services industry to a greater or lesser degree since its inception, and its constitutional legitimacy has now been deeply litigated. The bureau could still be dismantled — just not by the courts.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., an influential progressive member of the Senate Banking Committee, decried reported meetings between Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and large bank CEOs who want the Basel III endgame proposal weakened.

Senate Banking Committee chair Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is the latest progressive to express some skepticism on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's merger review, especially when compared to the relatively stricter Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. version.

Christy Goldsmith Romero — the White House's pick to succeed Martin Gruenberg as chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. — has generated little pushback from Senate Republicans, though her lack of bank supervisory experience and her record on cryptocurrency are the most likely lines of attack during her confirmation process.

Heightened regulatory scrutiny following Synapse Financial's bankruptcy will likely lead to stricter regulatory oversight of fintech-bank partnerships, potentially putting a damper on those collaborations in general, and Banking-as-a-Service offerings in particular.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says crushing inflation is the most important thing the Fed can do to reduce costs in the housing market. Some economists and policy specialists say higher rates are not the only tool at its disposal.

Bankers still mostly back Republicans, according to Federal Elections Commission data, but the Biden administration is centering its pitch for support on the economy, regulatory stability and promising higher taxes for the wealthy and corporations.