Regulation

By purchasing additional assets and securities, the Federal Reserve provided the financial markets with enough liquidity to weather the pandemic recession. But with the economy starting to recover, it needs to reduce such funding before it creates dangerous bubbles over the long term, say two former bankers.

For banks that pass this year’s stress tests, the Federal Reserve said it will eliminate the restrictions on dividends and share buybacks while subjecting those institutions instead to the stress capital buffer.

Free investment education and testing for risk tolerance are among the ways financial firms can better reach underserved consumers, former SEC chief Jay Clayton and Operation HOPE’s John Hope Bryant say.

Two banking bills signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker carry implications for payday lenders, auto title lenders, credit unions and nonbank mortgage lenders. Pritzker, a Democrat, said the bills will address racial-equity gaps in the state.

Changes to CDFI Fund regulations could make it significantly easier to raise the capital required to get a new institution off the ground.

NCUA Chairman Todd Harper has reiterated his call for CUs not to garnish members' econimic impact payments, while the industry's largest PAC has resumed campaign contributions after a brief pause.

A former Federal Reserve employee admitted to illegally taking documents, including bank stress test data, after deciding to leave the board, U.S. prosecutors said Friday.

The decision is seen as a setback for the banking industry, which had been pushing for an extension, and a win for Democrats, who have argued that a pandemic is no time for banks to be shedding capital.

The Federal Reserve will determine within days whether to extend the easing of the supplementary leverage ratio for big banks past March 31, Chairman Jerome Powell says. And it's a couple of weeks away from announcing whether there will be limits on second-quarter dividends and buybacks, he says.

The proposed legislation is similar to a package put forward in 2020 and another introduced in the House in 2019.