Politics

In its annual report, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. explored the various credit, market and operational risks facing the banking sector. It also explored crypto and climate issues.

The largest U.S. banks will fork over billions to cover their share of a special assessment from the Federal Deposit Insurance Fund to cover replenishment of the Deposit Insurance Fund after this spring's bank failures.

Banking and housing experts say that if additional capital burdens spur large banks to pull back on mortgage origination, servicing and funding, the ripple effects could be felt more intensely in the housing market than on banks' bottom lines.

The special assessment to refill the Deposit Insurance Fund should be based on uninsured deposits after the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank, House Republicans said.

Profit in the first half of the year at the 11 Home Loan banks already exceeds 2022's total.

The court ruled that the Federal Reserve did not have to provide information about other banks that had applied for master accounts.

The Federal Reserve issued fresh policy guidance around stablecoin issuance, distributed ledger technology and fintech partnerships. Legal and policy analysts anticipate a further chilling effect on bank engagement with so-called novel activities.

The Seafarers International Union sued Bank of America's senior managers and board alleging breach of their fiduciary duty in managing a prepaid debit card program that distributed unemployment benefits during the pandemic.

Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and other committee Democrats told the Federal Reserve that the agency isn't considering financial stability enough in its review of bank merger applications.

Goldman Sachs told Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., that it made $60 million on the purchase and sale of part of Silicon Valley Bank's loan portfolio.

Moody's decision to downgrade some banks' bond ratings isn't great news, but life will go on. The bigger and more difficult problem is shoring up U.S. sovereign debt ratings in the long-term.

A federal judge's decision to bar the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from enforcing a small business data collection rule pending the outcome of a Supreme Court case could give banks an opening to block a pending $8 late fee rule as well.

The board of the Home Loan Bank of San Francisco chose not to renew Teresa Bryce Bazemore's contract that ends in 2024, and has initiated a search for a new CEO.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., said that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. could do more to penalize banks that have downwardly revised their uninsured deposits as the agency looks to collect its special assessment.

Critics complain a bill sponsored by the leaders of the Senate Small Business Committee would reinstate a moratorium on participation in the SBA's flagship 7(a) program by nondepository lenders. Supporters of the bill argue that widening the program could invite more fraud.

A group of House Republicans led by Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., said that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau doesn't have the authority to hold information discussions with the bureau's European Union counterparts.

Despite big talk months ago, experts don't see a lot of political appetite to change bank oversight rules — or the deposit insurance system — in the wake of three large regional bank failures that happened earlier this year.

While financial markets wobbled after Fitch Ratings reduced the U.S. government's credit rating, analysts said the action should have little long-term impact, similar to a downgrade by Standard & Poor's in 2011. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon argued that Fitch's action "doesn't really matter that much."

Regulators remain skeptical toward digital assets in the wake of major crypto-industry partner-bank failures, but in the absence of legislative direction, oversight of crypto is largely left to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC's approach has been aggressive, but its authority has been muddied by recent court decisions.

In 18 states, consumers are not allowed to use trained debt resolution professionals to seek relief from their creditors. That needs to change.