Lending

While loans continued to increase, growth was slower than one year previously and membership was flat.

The central bank's sweeping actions suggest a cash shortage gripping sectors directly hit by the pandemic. Banks were supposed to be protected by Dodd-Frank but are still vulnerable to a funding domino effect.

Accommodations for borrowers affected by the coronavirus pandemic, such as payment delays and fee waivers, are "positive and proactive actions that can manage or mitigate adverse impacts," several banking agencies said.

The coronavirus is hitting small businesses hard, slamming one of Square’s core markets just as the payments company got a long-awaited industrial banking license.

Accommodations for borrowers affected by the coronavirus pandemic, such as payment delays and fee waivers, are "positive and proactive actions that can manage or mitigate adverse impacts," the regulators said.

The establishment of the Primary Dealer Credit Facility is among a flurry of recent actions by the central bank to limit the economic impact of the coronavirus.

The Federal Reserve's support for the commercial paper market made clear that it was willing to go beyond cutting interest rates, but the central bank may feel pressure to do even more as the crisis worsens.

The central bank said it was establishing the Commercial Paper Funding Facility to "support the flow of credit to households and businesses."

The chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee should call on regulators to take more aggressive steps with bad banking practices, starting with Wells.

There may only be so much institutions can do if the outbreak affects borrowers' ability to repay credit.