Politics

The question is unfair to people who have never been found guilty or have been accused of minor offenses. It’s especially unfair to minority applicants.

A long-awaited report from the Federal Reserve is a historic step toward the possible development of a central bank digital currency. But the Fed emphasized it would not create one without a clear directive from Congress and the White House.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has opened an inquiry into whether the largest issuers are engaging in unfair or anti-competitive practices. JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and the rest of the top eight control 70% of the $1 trillion credit card market.

Probably, observers say, but the clock is ticking now that the legislation’s author, Rep. Ed Perlmutter, has decided to leave Congress at year-end. And political wrangling could lead to significant alterations.

The Irvine, California, bank has been beset by compliance woes since early 2021, when state regulators issued an order requiring it to bolster its capital and reduce the concentration of its commercial real estate footprint.

The decision to drop the London interbank offered rate as a benchmark interest rate means that contracts for hundreds of trillions of dollars in financial assets need to be rewritten. U.S. regulators should allow existing agreements to be amended without the threat of massive litigation.

The Federal Reserve Board would become far more diverse if Sarah Bloom Raskin, Philip Jefferson and Lisa Cook are confirmed by the Senate. Jefferson and Cook are respected economists seen as likely to get the nod, but Republicans will challenge Raskin's assertions that bank regulators can play a vital role in combating climate change.

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.