Stress tests

Swelling capital levels, tax cuts and changing attitudes about post-crisis regulation could encourage bigger banks to issue the one-time payouts to reward shareholders and better manage their returns.

Over the past year, the focus of several banking policymakers has been how much the regulatory pendulum might swing back toward the industry’s liking. That theme will likely continue in 2018.

The McLean, Va., company and several other banks have disclosed the charges they expect to record in the fourth quarter due to lower values on their deferred tax assets.

The holding company structure makes sense for large banks with complex business models and small banks looking to bulk up through acquisitions. But for a large swath of banks in the middle, the benefits are harder to spot.

The 2010 law does very little to constrain regulatory power, explaining why Republicans pushed for reforms during the Obama presidency and why, under President Trump, Democrats are so vigorously opposing agency management changes.

In contrast to initiatives at other agencies, where Trump appointees are poised to go in a significantly different direction than their Obama-appointed predecessors, the stress test work appears aligned with the vision set out by former Fed Gov. Daniel Tarullo.

The JPMorgan Chase CEO supports easing regulations on mortgage lending but says other major provisions of Dodd-Frank should remain intact.

The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday proposed to give banks more insight into portfolio performance under its stress testing models in an effort to help banks better understand the Fed’s methodology.

During a sit-down interview, Bruce Van Saun, the CEO at Citizens Financial, explained how Washington policy changes could boost lending, why cyber threats keep him up nights and how fintechs and AI are changing the industry for the better.

Describing cybersecurity as the biggest risk facing the financial sector, Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal Quarles said regulators should more actively facilitate conversations between banks and national security agencies to boost digital security.