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JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and U.S. Bancorp, along with 200 state-chartered banks and credit unions, have agreed to let borrowers skip payments for 90 days if their finances have been upended by the pandemic.

Details of the $2 trillion deal were still fluid Wednesday, but lawmakers were closing in on a plan that would aim to put lenders and consumers alike on stronger financial footing as they weather the coronavirus pandemic.

Mastercard is part of an expanding trend toward easing restrictions to entice consumers to choose contactless payments over cash and plastic during the coronavirus.

While loans continued to increase, growth was slower than one year previously and membership was flat.

Alliance Data Systems, which has substantial exposure to the mall-based retail sector, sought Tuesday to assuage investors' fears about the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Bankers will be pressed on upcoming earnings calls to forecast how the coronavirus pandemic — and the government's response — will shape credit quality, margins and fee income.

Policymakers should abolish the new accounting standard because it could distract banks at exactly the moment they need to be focused on pulling their communities from the brink of recession.

Many banks are offering low-interest loans to help consumers and small businesses withstand the economic shocks of the pandemic. Some are also doing away with ATM, overdraft and late fees because, as one CEO put it, that revenue “is not the most important thing right now.”

Former Walmart payments executive Reed Luhtanen has been named the new executive director of the U.S. Faster Payments Council, an organization created a year ago to guide American faster payments initiatives.

The $2 trillion deal passed by the Senate late Wednesday would aim to put banks and consumers alike on stronger financial footing as they weather the coronavirus pandemic.