Politics

Nellie Liang, the Treasury Department's under secretary for domestic finance, said there’s consensus on the risks posed by digital assets. But she was vague about how much progress has been made in discussions between the administration and lawmakers about toughening the regulatory system.

Visa Chief Executive Al Kelly, who’s been helping employees and their families who have fled the war in Ukraine, said he expects a “prolonged battle” because Russian President Vladimir Putin has underestimated the strength of the resistance. 

Federal financial agencies’ role in combating climate change has become a politically polarized topic, as the withdrawal of Fed nominee Sarah Bloom Raskin shows. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other regulators could make changes to exam procedures and take other steps that don’t require congressional cooperation.

Credit Agricole has suspended its activities in Russia, joining a growing list of lenders scaling back their business in the country after the invasion of Ukraine.

Russian banks are reportedly courting the Chinese payment network to overcome the loss of Visa and Mastercard. The strategy would test China's willingness to provoke a response from the international community.

The City Council recently voted 15-1 to establish a financial authority that would provide credit enhancements on loans to underserved borrowers. Public banking advocates say the effort is both an interim step for Philadelphia and a test case for other cities.

Sanctions imposed over the Ukraine war prompted the French bank to tell commercial clients it won't process their Russian transactions after March.

Banking executives and analysts worry that the Federal Reserve's aggressive plan to raise interest rates will be insufficient to tame inflation and overcome economic fallout from the war in Ukraine.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank will take the “necessary steps” to get inflation down even if that means increasing interest rates more rapidly than currently anticipated and eventually to levels that slow the broader economy.

A growing chorus of voices seems to share the view of former New York banking regulator Maria Vullo, who once said, “Toddlers play in sandboxes. Adults play by the rules.” But any movement away from the collaborative development of regulations for new financial services products would be a setback for consumer choice.

In an update to an exam manual, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says racial or other bias associated with a wide range of financial products — not just credit — is illegal and subject to CFPB enforcement actions.

European banks trying to decide whether and how to leave Russia in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine are finding that extracting themselves will be slow, costly, and may come with a reputational price no matter what they do.

The board’s original three-member structure was superior to the five-person model in use today. Here's why it should be reinstated.

Four of five bills aimed at countering Russian aggression in Europe won significant bipartisan support from the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday. But the panel adopted a bill intended to expand the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's ability to hunt down Russian assets over fierce Republican opposition.

All five of the Biden administration's nominees received enough votes to secure passage to the Senate floor. Chair Sherrod Brown of Ohio called the moment "historic."

The megabank will cover costs incurred by employees and family members who travel out of state to receive an abortion. The policy drew immediate fire from Republicans in Texas, which has banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, and where Citi has been tangling with the GOP over gun policies.

The bill, designed to enhance branch safety, was passed as part of the $1.5 trillion omnibus spending package signed by President Biden.

Texas is seeking information from more than a dozen major finance firms on whether their operations discriminate against the fossil-fuel industry. 

Sarah Bloom Raskin, whose views on the role of climate risk in bank supervision angered Republicans, said she has taken herself out of the running so the gridlocked Senate Banking Committee could move forward with the Biden administration’s other nominees to the Federal Reserve Board.

The omnibus legislation includes two measures that affect the banking industry: a cyber incident reporting requirement and Libor transition fix.