Trump administration

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.

Analysts say credit card companies could face a major hit to earnings, while banks would also be under pressure.

The American Bankers Association and other groups contend the president's plan to cap credit card interest rates at 10% would drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives.

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."

Acting CFPB Director Russell Vought agreed to request $145 million in funding from the Federal Reserve, yielding to a court order to avoid a contempt citation.

The Senate allowed the nomination of a permanent director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to lapse, giving acting Director Russell Vought more time to lead the agency on a temporary basis.

The Federal Reserve will resume accepting pennies from banks and credit unions at all commercial coin distribution locations beginning Jan. 14. The central bank had ceased accepting pennies at some distribution centers late last year, but bankers praised Thursday's reversal.

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.

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.

Even as oil stocks jump and lawmakers clash over Trump's decision to intervene in Venezuela, experts say U.S. banks face little short-term risk, and any energy payoff is years away.

When Congress returns from its recess in 2026, a number of financial legislative issues will be teed up, including crypto market structure, deposit insurance and supervisory disputes.

Banks typically prefer to steer clear of politics. But in 2025, politics would not steer clear of banks

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will face an existential crisis in 2026 between the Trump administration's efforts to shut down the agency and the employee union and consumer advocates who want to stop them.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has made big changes in 2025, including cutting headcount, walking back Biden-era rules and guidance and resetting the agency's approach to  emerging technologies and crypto.

Democratic senators are attributing a recent decline in lending activity to a Trump administration regulation that puts new restrictions on borrowers with foreign ownership.

A group of 22 Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Russell Vought, the bureau and the Federal Reserve, arguing that the administration's position that the CFPB cannot be funded is wrong.

The Senate confirmed Travis Hill as the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as part of a slate of nominations that were approved late Thursday. Hill has been serving as acting FDIC chair since January.

A federal appeals court agreed to have the full bench rehear arguments by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's union about whether the Trump administration planned to gut the agency through mass firings.

The Department of Justice wants Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to state if the central bank is profitable again and can, therefore, fund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The Financial Services Forum, which represents the largest U.S. banks, formed a new 501(c)(4) advocacy group to amplify big banks' policy preferences, a move that could counter the crypto industry's growing political influence.