Regulation

In a letter to credit unions, NCUA urged federally chartered shops to expand their fields of membership to underserved areas, regardless of geography, in order to boost financial inclusion in the wake of the pandemic.

The agency that supervises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has pushed for revising an agreement with the Treasury Department allowing the mortgage giants to retain their profits. A deal could be out of reach once Joe Biden takes office.

The agency will once again tackle one of its most controversial subjects when it meets on Jan. 14 for an ambitious agenda on what could be Rodney Hood's final meeting as chairman.

New guidance from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shows how companies that offer workers early access to their wages can avoid being regulated as lenders. But the incoming Biden administration could add new complications.

While some legislatures have extended provisions temporarily allowing online notaries, other lawmakers are pushing for those rules to be made permanent.

Now that Democrats have won control of the Senate following the Georgia runoffs, experts say tax increases, progressive regulators and stricter congressional oversight await. Still, there could be some positives for banks, too.

Congress acted first when it freed financial firms from having to disclose the beneficial owners of commercial clients. Now it's time for regulators to further ease anti-money-laundering reporting requirements by freeing them from filing duplicative or unnecessary suspicious activity reports.

A panel appointed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Congress should consider authorizing the bureau — and not the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — to issue federal charters to fintech companies.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency terminated a 2015 consent order that required the bank to improve its controls for combating money laundering.

The panel unanimously approved the measure by a notation vote, its second such move in weeks, and the proposal will now be subject to a comment period.