Politics

The 118th Congress began today by failing to select a speaker of the House on the first ballot. That doesn't bode well for anything, but especially the federal debt ceiling.

Kentucky State Treasurer Allison Ball published a list of 11 financial companies, including several major Wall Street banks, that she deems to be hostile to the fossil fuel industry.

The sleepy Federal Home Loan Bank System is under intense scrutiny as critics push for more oversight and increased affordable housing while supporters say the system works well for member banks.

At the start of 2022, Biden administration officials were cautious about how to regulate the commingling of cryptocurrencies and traditional finance. By the end of the year, agencies had taken a tougher stance, and the downfall of FTX portended more of the same in 2023.

The conflict caused inflationary price swings and an exodus of Western businesses from Russia, while also making a recession more likely in 2023.

JPMorgan Chase's Warsaw office is planning to extend a work and training program for Ukrainian refugees for another year after hiring around 50 this summer.

The White House now has just one key bank regulatory post unfilled, but it didn't get to this point easily.

The Wyoming-chartered digital asset bank is mounting a court challenge over how the Federal Reserve issues master accounts to applicants. Whatever happens, the suit will have broad consequences for the central bank and the banking industry.

After a slow start, the Federal Reserve got its efforts to combat runaway inflation up to speed quickly, implementing tightening monetary policy at the fastest rate seen in decades. Here's a hike by hike breakdown.

SNAP recipients need easy and reliable access to their account balances and transaction histories. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ought to clear the way and let that happen.

After years of deliberation and controversy, 2022 will be remembered as the year the global financial system replaced the Libor interest rate benchmark, the last vestiges of which sunset in 2023.

The confirmation of Martin Gruenberg to chair the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is the final chapter of the political fracas surrounding former chair Jelena McWilliams' departure. But it also means he could be outvoted if a Republican takes the presidency in 2024.

On issues from guns and abortion to climate change to corporate diversity, banks that have been trying to satisfy progressive groups felt blowback this year from right-leaning organizations and Republican officials.

The legislation, co-sponsored by six other Republicans, would apply federal lobbying and vacancy rules to regional Federal Reserve banks and close seven of the 12 existing banks.

The measure would reduce access to credit among junior service members, opening the door to payday lenders.

Rohit Chopra, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said the bank is "not making rapid progress" and hinted at the possibility of additional restrictions. But analysts saw positives for Wells in the $3.7 billion consent order.

The bill will require the agency to codify the use of desktop appraisals.

Legislation to open banking services to marijuana businesses was left out of a must-pass government funding package, ending a year-end effort to move it to President Biden's desk, a person familiar with the decision said.

Changes that began at individual banks in 2021 gained steam this year, as many large and midsize banks reduced their reliance on overdraft-related charges. Federal and state policymakers were key catalysts of the sea change.

The Senate voted to confirm Martin Gruenberg as chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Travis Hill as its vice chairman and Jonathan McKernan to join the agency's board.