Biden Administration

President Joe Biden plans to meet with regulators on Monday to discuss the health of the system they oversee and how his administration’s priorities, including on climate change and inclusion, can best be addressed.

The Biden administration wants financial institutions to tell the government more about their customers to help the IRS thwart wealthy tax evaders. But critics say the plan could threaten account data security and the privacy of even low-income consumers.

The Biden administration will award $1.25 billion to hundreds of community lenders in an effort to speed the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, Vice President Kamala Harris will announce on Tuesday.

The president had campaigned on a 28% corporate tax rate — threatening to undo much of the Trump-era cuts — and banks were seen as more vulnerable than other industries. But the administration appears open to a lower rate as part of broader legislative talks.

The acting comptroller of the currency, appointed by the Biden administration, signaled that the regulation meant to provide legal clarity about the secondary market is safe for the time being.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu faces a host of “pressing issues” from fintech charter decisions to reforming the Community Reinvestment Act. But in contrast to predecessors, he suggests some decisions should be left to a Senate-confirmed head of the agency.

The funding requests break sharply with the Trump administration's calls to eliminate key housing funds and backing for community development financial institutions. The White House also wants to substantially increase the budgets of the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration.

With Rohit Chopra’s nomination now in its fourth month, some of the consumer bureau's rulemaking efforts remain on hold. Experts say Democrats first want the Senate to confirm a new member of the Federal Trade Commission to replace Chopra so that Republicans don't gain control.

The White House directive may lead regulators to develop new mortgage underwriting standards, stress-test requirements and flood insurance policy, observers said.

In an executive order signed Thursday, the president is asking the Financial Stability Oversight Council to create a strategy for quantify the risks global warming pose to financial stability.

A Biden administration initiative to crack down on wealthy taxpayers hiding pass-through income would require financial institutions to send account flow data to the IRS.

After much anticipation, the Federal Reserve last year finally joined the Network for Greening the Financial System, which develops regulatory best practices for combating climate risks. But all U.S. banking regulators must participate for the effort to succeed, some observers argue.

A proposal still in the early stages to have banks report on customers’ account activity to help the government nab tax evaders is being panned by the industry as overly burdensome and a privacy threat.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu said he plans to prioritize "solving urgent problems and addressing pressing issues" until the Biden administration selects a permanent head of the agency.

The Treasury Department announced that Michael Hsu, a senior official at the Federal Reserve, would lead the national bank regulator until a Senate-confirmed comptroller is in place.

COVID-19 has shown us that technology can rapidly evolve to meet customer needs, in areas from contactless payments to digital banking to mobile wallets. However, we still see great disparities when it comes to the use of contactless and digital banking by low- to moderate-income (LMI) workers. The question is, will emerging tech in the post-COVID economy provide an opportunity to include new people in the financial system-- or leave them even further behind?

The banks disclosed this week that they are under scrutiny for conduct that may have harmed consumers. The timing raises questions about whether the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under President Biden is poised to bring more enforcement actions against large banks than it did under Trump-appointed Director Kathy Kraninger.

Organizations representing banks and other financial services firms said implementing the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's overhaul of the Community Reinvestment Act could be wasteful as regulators discuss a new interagency plan to modernize the law.

The Biden administration may finally be close to naming an acting comptroller of the currency. Whoever gets the interim job or is confirmed to run the agency over the longer term will have a lengthy to-do list, from Community Reinvestment Act reform to deciding the fate of divisive Trump-era rules.

Cordray, named this week to lead the Education Department's office of federal student aid, cracked down on banks, student loan servicers and for-profit colleges when he was director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.