A report from the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, released Thursday found that most sudden account closures were spurred by supervisory pressure rather than political or religious bias on the part of the banks, a finding that is at odds with the White House's framing of the issue.

Following President Trump's aggressive bank deregulation agenda, the FDIC and OCC, and occasionally the increasingly politicized Fed, are in a race to slash compliance requirements. Bankers should remember that the pendulum can always swing back.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank has been served grand jury subpoenas and been threatened with criminal indictment, moves he called "pretexts" to influence interest rates through "political pressure or intimidation."

As the Federal Reserve's quantitative tightening efforts fade into history, the major engine of economic growth in the U.S. will be bank lending. Regulators should keep a close eye on where those dollars are going.

President Trump's concept, which is framed as a potential bipartisan effort, could mean a new route to a goal Dems targeted via foreclosure sale restrictions.

The proposed rule codifies the ability for trust companies to conduct non-fiduciary activities, something banks say Congress never intended, but that OCC says has long been the case.

Banking experts say World Liberty Trust's application for a trust charter with a regulatory body directed by the White House creates inherent conflicts of interest, while the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said the application will be considered on its merits.