Politics

Wyoming Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis, one of the crypto industry’s staunchest supporters in Congress, is planning to introduce a comprehensive bill next year that would cover everything from how digital assets are taxed and categorized to consumer protections. 

Maxine Waters, the House Financial Services Committee chair, is questioning Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chief Jelena McWilliams's claim that board Democrats' request for comment on merger policy was invalid without her support.

With the Biden administration suffering setbacks in trying to appoint a Senate-confirmed leader at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, acting Comptroller Michael Hsu could emerge as the consensus choice, observers said.

The state Department of Financial Protection and Innovation issued a cease-and-desist order against Nano Banc, saying the troubled bank violated an earlier consent agreement when it replaced five board members and appointed a new CEO without the regulator’s permission.

The year's biggest storylines included an M&A revival, a reexamination of overdraft fees, a changing of the guard in Washington and the rise of new technologies. Here's a look back.

Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter praised Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra “for his leadership" on bank merger issues. Chopra and two other Democratic board members at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. are locked in a battle with Chair Jelena McWilliams over the agency’s own merger policy.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which has responded effectively to many external crises, has no playbook for addressing this internal battle on its own.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released draft “supervisory principles” for banks with more than $100 billion of assets, saying they should account for weather-related risks. Officials said public feedback on the guidelines will help inform more detailed interagency policy next year.

In attempting to advance a measure dealing with bank merger policy, the three Democratic board members at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. were really trying to "wrest control" of the agency, Chair Jelena McWilliams said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

Caroline Pham, a managing director at Citigroup, would fill one of two seats on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission reserved for Republican appointees.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra has helped assert the authority of the three Democrats — including himself — who serve on the governing body of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. GOP lawmakers responded with a bill to strip the consumer agency's head of voting powers on the FDIC board.

The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in financial services, while promising, is not without risk. It's on federal regulators to ensure that algorithms relied on by banks and credit unions aren't harming businesses and consumers.

Neither Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chair Jelena McWilliams nor the board’s three Democratic directors gave ground in their dispute over control of the agency and the direction of bank merger policy during a meeting Tuesday.

Sandra Thompson has won praise from homeownership advocates for suspending a fee imposed on borrowers that was meant to recoup Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's pandemic-related losses, among other actions she reversed. On Tuesday, President Biden said he will nominate her to be the permanent director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

A clash among FDIC board members has intensified a debate about whether regulators should take a tougher look at large M&A deals. House Financial Services Chair Maxine Waters added to the frenzy by calling for a moratorium on approving big acquisitions.

The American Bankers Association urged the agency to maintain “an orderly, transparent policymaking process” after three Democratic directors had approved a board action without including Trump-appointed Chair Jelena McWilliams. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce went a step further, accusing them of trying to “circumnavigate” McWilliams’ authority.

The National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions' new campaign highlights $243 billion in fines slapped on Wall Street banks. The group says it's responding to political attacks, but the banking industry says NAFCU is trying to distract from criticism of its tax exemption.

If the Democratic majority on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s board succeeds in advancing a review of bank merger policy — over the disapproval of Chair Jelena McWilliams — progressive regulators could be emboldened to push for more substantive reforms.

The United States is threatening to curtail transactions into and out of Russia to discourage it from invading Ukraine. The standoff heightens existing friction between U.S. payments companies and Moscow, which could impose new restrictions on them in response to sanctions.

The so-called reserves held by the issuers of stablecoins like Tether and USD Coin aren’t the risk-free assets that the term connotes. For all the public knows, they could largely consist of low-grade corporate debt.