Politics

President Biden will nominate Sarah Bloom Raskin to be the Federal Reserve’s vice chair for Supervision and Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson to be governors. The selections keep a Biden promise to improve diversity at the Fed.

Fed Gov. Lael Brainard, President Biden's nominee for Federal Reserve vice chair, sought to assure GOP members of the Senate Banking Committee she favors a more limited supervisory approach that would help larger banks identify pockets of risk in their loan portfolios.

The standard charge for customers who overdraw their accounts is $30 or more. Analysts say one megabank’s decision to slash the price will pressure competitors to take similar steps.

Jerome Powell sought to strike a political balance at his reconfirmation hearing. He assured Republicans the Federal Reserve wouldn't overstep its authority on bank mergers and other matters, while telling Democrats the central bank has a responsibility to monitor financial stability and the risks of climate change.

The nation’s second-largest bank by assets is the latest to roll out changes that will reduce its overdraft revenues. But in cutting its fee from $35, BofA is taking a different tack than many competitors.

Hundreds of bankers and credit union executives are seeking exemptions and changes to a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposal to collect race, ethnicity and gender information about small-business borrowers that they describe as burdensome and unworkable.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida intends to resign from the board of governors on Jan. 14, two weeks before his term is due to expire.

Last reelected by a more than 21-point margin, Ed Perlmutter is now 26th House Democrat to leave Congress rather than endure the 2022 midterms.

The National Credit Union Administration has invited feedback from executives after exams, given them a freer hand to partner with cryptocurrency firms and made it easier to start new credit unions, Kyle Hauptman says in touting the agency’s efforts to modernize itself.

Central bankers need to speak up about economic barriers prompted by racism and the need for inclusion and diversity, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said, a response to critics who see the work as a distraction from the Fed’s main goals. 

John D. "Jerry" Hawke had already established himself as a preeminent banking lawyer when he took the helm of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in 1998. Hawke, who died Monday, ran the agency for six years and issued a controversial regulation shielding national banks from state regulatory oversight.

A Capital One Financial banker was charged with acting as a foreign agent seeking nonpublic U.S. law enforcement information on critics of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

While some in the industry support the change, mortgage broker trade group AIME called on the agency to reconsider it.

Some policymakers have been calling for a temporary halt to large bank deals while the criteria for approvals are reevaluated. Yet Congress was clear about its intention to stop regulators from holding up bank mergers, argues the head of a trade group for large financial services companies.

After Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chair Jelena McWilliams’ resignation, a Democrat on the board will temporarily run the agency. But it's still unclear who will call the shots over the long run and how policymaking will be affected by the FDIC's leftward shift.

Democrats largely left the financial sector alone last year. But they are attempting to resurrect a bank tax-reporting plan to help pay for President Biden’s social policy package while keeping a close eye on cryptocurrency and how regulators review mergers.

The Trump-appointed head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Jelena McWilliams, said she plans to leave the agency in early February. The announcement comes weeks after Democratic appointees making up a majority of the board had threatened her leadership by acting on policy related to bank mergers without her consent.

Biden administration appointees moved quickly to highlight climate change risks and unwind Trump-era regulatory relief and housing finance measures. These regulators and lawmakers will have a seat at the table as the progressive shift in banking policy continues.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren accused the financial services industry of being a major contributor to climate change and urged U.S. regulators to hold it to account.

Industry fears that regulators were souring on bank mergers have eased somewhat after the Federal Reserve finally signed off on WSFS Financial’s acquisition of Bryn Mawr Bank and several other deals that had been awaiting the green light.