The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued a proposal this month laying out how banks should treat cryptocurrencies held on their balance sheets. It could give stablecoins, which are tied to traditional assets, an edge over more volatile digital assets like Bitcoin.

A state regulator group has agreed to pause its lawsuit challenging Figure Technologies’ application as the federal agency reviews chartering policies. But analysts caution that the underlying conflict over nontraditional firms seeking banking powers is far from resolved.

A European Union regulation that promotes data sharing among banks and third parties is making it easier for neobanks like Tide and Monese and other companies to help small merchants track their cash flow and access credit.

The Biden administration wants financial institutions to tell the government more about their customers to help the IRS thwart wealthy tax evaders. But critics say the plan could threaten account data security and the privacy of even low-income consumers.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the market dislocations of the past year resulting from the pandemic had changed the impact that the supplementary leverage ratio was having on the largest banks. After temporarily easing the requirement, the central bank is considering longer-term reforms.

Randal Quarles, the Federal Reserve's vice chair for supervision, says the central bank was wise not to require banks to build capital cushions in the lead-up to the pandemic. But that decision rested on a misleading a narrative and could wind up threatening the economic recovery.

The company is making many employees sift through years of text messages on personal devices and set aside any related to work to ensure U.S. rules on keeping copies of business communications are met even after many months of remote work, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

Any bank that engages in auto, mortgage or other retail lending should develop a comprehensive program to identify potential risks of noncompliance with consumer protection rules and take corrective actions before the Biden-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau comes calling.

The appointments of former senior leaders from a rival regulator could force the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to embrace interagency cooperation after taking a go-it-alone approach during the Trump administration, some observers say. Others worry about another extreme: the Federal Reserve having outsize influence over financial policy.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development reinstituted the “affirmatively furthering fair housing" measure, which the Trump administration had argued was overly prescriptive, and promised a later rulemaking to bolster the policy.

According to the latest Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)’s “How America Banks” report, there is an estimated 7.1 million unbanked households in 2019. Given the record levels of unemployment, the pandemic has brought on the FDIC expects this number to rise. Join Joe Adler, American Banker’s Washington Bureau Chief and Leonard Chanin, Deputy to the Chairman of the FDIC as they discuss the FDIC’s stance on financial inclusion and how banks can get millions of unbanked Americans into the traditional banking system.

A new public-private network is pursuing a more comprehensive approach than other states to cultivate a strong financial technology industry by uniting banks, insurance companies, startups, government agencies, investors, universities and students.

Financial institutions spent nearly $214 billion last year — an 18% jump from 2019 — to meet regulatory requirements for fighting financial crimes, a new study says. The spending included more staffing to manage risks posed by customer growth.

The retiring head of the National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors spent years working to rein in a contentious funding mechanism used by the National Credit Union Administration that drew money from the Share Insurance Fund.

Just as small and midsize businesses had to adapt to survive the coronavirus emergency, lenders need to adopt new underwriting practices and technologies that modernize how they evaluate borrowers' creditworthiness.

Nineteen of the nation's largest banks plus four smaller firms will be tested against baseline and severely adverse economic scenarios. The central bank will release details on their performance on June 24.

The National Credit Union Administration issued no prohibition orders in May, making it the first month in nearly four years that the regulator has barred no one from working in the financial services sector.

The U.K.'s central bank says stablecoins should follow the same rules as traditional bank deposits.

For two decades, Alfred Pollard served as the general counsel for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s regulator. He had a front-row seat for the establishment of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the government’s subsequent seizure of the mortgage giants amid mounting losses in 2008 and the more recent legal dispute over the FHFA’s authority.

Manny Alvarez, the head of California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, told staff that he plans to leave on June 18. Chief Deputy Commissioner Chris Shultz will be appointed to lead the agency on an interim basis.