Regulatory relief

Lawmakers are poised to advance a bill requiring that commercial customers identify their beneficial owners — taking that burden away from their financial institution — but the anti-money-laundering reform arguably most favored by banks has fallen off the radar.

As the central bank board proceeds with reforms easing the post-crisis regulatory regime, the Obama-appointed governor has not shied from opposing the agency’s course.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed steps to ease Home Mortgage Disclosure Act requirements, just days after announcing it was retiring a platform to let users analyze raw mortgage data.

The head of the central bank declined to provide more specifics on efforts to simplify the ban on banks’ proprietary trading.

Director Kathy Kraninger said the agency will emphasize a confidential supervisory process instead of just doling out public enforcement actions. But skeptics worry this will let companies escape punishment.

With the candidates still introducing themselves to voters and honing their message, little has been said about the financial industry.

With the candidates still introducing themselves to voters and honing their message, little has been said about the financial industry.

Ex-Sens. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., and Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., played key roles in negotiating the 2018 regulatory relief bill, but then went on to lose their re-election bids in the midterm elections.

The Fed wants to make it easier for investors to own big stakes in banks without triggering oversight; Shelley O’Connor has been named head of the firm's two regulated bank entities.

In separate letters to President Trump and the head of the FDIC, the Senate Democrat said the merger cannot be approved until all five seats of the agency's board of directors are filled.