Regulation

In a reversal of a Trump-era decision, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says it has the legal authority to test lenders for potential violations of a law protecting military borrowers.

Bank lobbyists are once again calling on Congress to reexamine credit unions’ tax-exempt status, this time citing the proliferation of bank acquisitions by credit unions. So far, their pleas have gone largely ignored.

Six Clovers, a digital payments company founded by two former PayPal developers, designed its Rapid platform to enable fast cross-border transactions using cryptocurrencies backed by government-issued money.

The data analytics provider has deployed cloud hosting to scour international payments for signs of fraud and money laundering.

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 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.

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.

In "Antitrust," former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar offers little nuance in weighing the costs and benefits of concentrated economic power.

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.