Politics

Bankers are not pleased with a new bill introduced by Maxine Waters, D-Calif. — aiming to help underserved markets — that would expand credit unions' membership and remove restrictions on their business lending.

The National Flood Insurance Program has been without a long-term reauthorization for five years, and it seems poised to stay that way after its first congressional hearing since 2019. 

Researchers may now have more leeway in helping banks uncover vulnerabilities to their systems, but legal gray areas remain.

Heartland BancCorp recently added Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to its board of directors. One government watchdog group said the move raises questions about potential and perceived conflicts of interest.

The bureau’s new office of competition and innovation will promote competition, host events and seek to make it easier for consumers to switch financial providers.

Former FHFA director Mark Calabria said the mortgage market was a “ticking time bomb” on track for a 2008-like crisis. Other experts foresee a tamer end to the bull housing market.

In a 5-4 Supreme Court decision two years ago, the bureau’s rulemakings survived intact. But a pair of pending cases that challenge the agency's funding through the Federal Reserve are again seeking to invalidate every action the CFPB has taken since 2010.

The Congressional Black Caucus is requesting a meeting with President Biden to press the case that canceling student-loan debt is a racial equality issue.

The Biden administration’s pick for Federal Reserve vice chair for supervision faced questions about climate change, digital assets and the central bank’s independence. But he did not meet the same resistance from Republicans as the White House’s first choice, Sarah Bloom Raskin, observers said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and fellow Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Raphael Warnock support $50,000 in student debt relief, which is five times what the president has indicated he would support. 

While red states like Florida have embraced the cryptocurrency industry, officials in New York and Illinois are taking action on Democratic Party priorities such as diversity and climate change. Here's a look at some hotbeds of innovative policymaking.

Mastercard said it would help pay for workers to travel to access abortions if pregnancy terminations aren’t available in their home state.

Some lawmakers and experts say that the administration's preference for stablecoin issuers to hold bank charters could have the unintended consequence of putting more risk into the banking system.

A hearing on the pending BMO-Bank of the West merger will be held in July, and another on TD's proposed acquisition of First Horizon is set for August. The announcements indicate that regulators have decided to hold such hearings more often.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., says she and Sen. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., plan to release draft legislation next week that would establish a supervisory entity for emerging financial technologies and new rules for stablecoin issuers.

Ryan, the chief executive of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors since 2011, died unexpectedly Monday night at his home in Washington. He played a critical role in representing states’ interests in some of the most important banking policy debates of recent decades.

Mark Calabria, who oversaw the two government giants under Trump and was fired by the Biden administration, said in a recent interview that the government-sponsored enterprises are once again at risk of insolvency.

A 2019 state law limits annual interest rates on many loans to 36%, but some high-cost lenders have found a way to continue operating in California by partnering with banks. Now Democratic legislators want the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to take action.

The Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act would take the uncertainty out of banking and payments transactions involving legal cannabis businesses. The bill has languished in the Senate for years, but there's optimism it could finally reach the president's desk. Here are four ways that could happen.