Politics

The central bank said it had a new proposal for its so-called skinny accounts, right after the White House ordered essentially the same thing. Coincidence?

The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday published a proposed limited master account framework, marking the next step toward creating another option for firms to access the Fed's payment systems.

The House passed housing legislation that includes a slightly pared-down institutional investor housing ban, as well as a raft of community bank measures.

A Senate Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday underscored the debate over whether the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has the capacity to regulate the rapidly growing prediction markets industry.

Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould reiterated his pro-preemption stance Wednesday in response to a question on whether he would move to preempt other state laws — like one passed by the state legislature earlier this month in Colorado — if they come to fruition.

The co-author of the landmark Dodd-Frank Act and progressive congressional trailblazer Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., has died.

The White House issued an executive order Tuesday directing the Treasury department, bank regulators and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to advise banks on "red flags" of informal work arrangements. How agencies implement the order will determine how onerous compliance will ultimately be for banks.

Bank trade groups should be content with the compromise hammered out in the Senate Banking Committee over the stablecoin yield ban in the CLARITY Act. Their push to defeat the bill could leave them worse off in the long run.

The newest version of the House housing bill would make a ban on institutional investors owning some homes less harsh than the Senate version by removing a seven year mandate on selling build-to-rent homes.

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council — whose members include federal bank regulators — issued a proposal Tuesday to overhaul the bank supervisory ratings process, the first such revision in 30 years. The proposal would reduce the weight management grades have on supervisory ratings and would require rating downgrades to be tied to explicit financial risks.

JPMorganChase's shareholders have occasionally floated proposals to make sure the bank's lobbying dollars match its public statements. At the company's annual meeting on Monday, support for one such measure was down significantly from a similar proposal in 2023.

The Treasury Department's General Counsel Brian Morrissey resigned his post as controversy grew over a Department of Justice settlement creating a fund to compensate for alleged victims of prosecution by the Biden administration.

New bank capital rules have changed the calculus for many banks in the U.S., eliminating many of the barriers that prevented midsize institutions from growing. The result will likely be a rapid spike in mergers.

A White House official said that the president will swear in Kevin Warsh, who was confirmed as the next chair of the Federal Reserve last week, in a ceremony Friday. Fed Chair Jerome Powell will serve as chair pro tempore until that time.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a final rule saying that federal law trumps state mandates on interest in escrow accounts for national banks, wading into an ongoing court battle. 

Recent news reports about the struggles of Blue Owl Capital raise real concerns about opaque private credit firms and the risks they may pose to the broader financial markets. The government needs the tools to gather more information.

Sens. Ed Markey and Ron Wyden argue that the Small Business Administration neglected to warn small firms of the risks of merchant cash advances and closed off a key "escape route" from the resulting debts.

In a move seen to bolster his 2028 presidential run, California Governor Gavin Newsom named Rohit Chopra, the former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to lead a new oversight agency; a Pine Bluff, Arkansas, bank employee was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison for bank theft; a Fairfax, Virginia, security administrator has been charged with allegedly stealing more than $6.6 million from his employer; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

Federal Reserve Gov. Michael Barr Thursday warned against efforts to shrink the central bank's balance sheet, saying that effort could undermine financial stability and disrupt money markets.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. waived through the Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler manufacturer's application to conduct banking activities. While banks have opposed ILCs in the past, other charters pose more pressing competitive threats at the moment.