Politics

Financial markets took a tumble Monday morning after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell announced that he was the subject of a Justice Department inquiry concerning the central bank's headquarters renovation. Lawmakers and former Fed officials decried the move as political intimidation.

Continuing to retreat from Biden-era rules, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Department of Justice withdrew a 2023 advisory opinion that had cautioned about denying credit to immigrants.

A report from the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, released Thursday found that most sudden account closures were spurred by supervisory pressure rather than political or religious bias on the part of the banks, a finding that is at odds with the White House's framing of the issue.

Following President Trump's aggressive bank deregulation agenda, the FDIC and OCC, and occasionally the increasingly politicized Fed, are in a race to slash compliance requirements. Bankers should remember that the pendulum can always swing back.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank has been served grand jury subpoenas and been threatened with criminal indictment, moves he called "pretexts" to influence interest rates through "political pressure or intimidation."

As the Federal Reserve's quantitative tightening efforts fade into history, the major engine of economic growth in the U.S. will be bank lending. Regulators should keep a close eye on where those dollars are going.

President Trump's concept, which is framed as a potential bipartisan effort, could mean a new route to a goal Dems targeted via foreclosure sale restrictions.

The proposed rule codifies the ability for trust companies to conduct non-fiduciary activities, something banks say Congress never intended, but that OCC says has long been the case.

Banking experts say World Liberty Trust's application for a trust charter with a regulatory body directed by the White House creates inherent conflicts of interest, while the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said the application will be considered on its merits.

Noelle Acheson questions the optimistic forecasts of global dollar stablecoin adoption, pointing out that they overlook the friction of local politics.

World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture co-founded by President Trump, applied for a national trust charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The move comes as several prominent crypto companies have applied for and received conditional approval for trust charters since the beginning of the Trump administration.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman outlined several priorities affecting community banks, including potential changes to asset thresholds for smaller institutions.

President Trump said he would prohibit large institutional investors from buying single-family homes. While the executive couldn't bar such investments on its own, a legislative ban could gain bipartisan support.

Industrial loan companies play a vital role in local economies across the country, providing liquidity in areas that other banks overlook. Restricting the availability of ILC charters would be bad for business.

A housing official renewed his call for credit bureaus to address lenders' concerns. Low pull-through magnifies a cost that's small relative to others.

As the Senate Banking Committee stands poised to mark up crypto market legislation within days, banks are focused on blocking crypto exchanges from offering rewards on stablecoins, which they fear could siphon deposits away from community banks.

American Banker research highlights growing concerns about an economic downturn, regulatory volatility and open-banking risks.

The FDIC inspector general said internal and external reviews found little evidence to support a whistleblower's allegations of fraud, retaliation and abuse within the FDIC's watchdog office.

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Tom Barkin said economic uncertainty should ease in the coming year as businesses gain confidence in sustained demand and adapt to the new policy environment.

The effort by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, meant to benefit borrowers, has instead led to higher delinquency rates, increased defaults and more loans being sent to collections.