FRB-Cleveland Study: Small-Business Finance Availability Shows Continuing Disparate Impact
The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland today published the results of the Small Business Credit Survey, finding that small businesses owned by people of color were far less likely to have recovered to pre-pandemic levels than their white counterparts, due in part to continuing gaps in financial access.
GOP Renews Demand for Reserve Bank Reform
Picking up on the GOP’s serious concern about Federal Reserve Bank governance expressed when Chairman Powell came before them last week (see Client Report FEDERALRESERVE70), Senate Banking Republicans today sharply criticized the head of the Kansas City Fed for what they call her unresponsiveness and even untruthfulness related to how Reserve Trust achieved payment-system access.
CFPB Report: Credit Line Reductions Harm Vulnerable Borrowers
Continuing the CFPB’s assessment of credit-card finance, Bureau staff today issued a report about the adverse impact that credit line reductions or withdrawals have on consumers, especially those under stress.
HFSC Homeownership Session Fans Partisan Flames
Today’s HFSC hearing on homeownership and inequality was a largely partisan session where each side repeated policy and macroeconomic arguments along party lines about the best ways to govern the nation’s housing market.
IMF Calls for Improvements to Capital Market Regulation
The IMF issued a report today on capital-markets regulation calling for new market liquidity backstops, strengthened CCP risk management, and greater attention to emerging risks to strengthen the regulatory perimeter focus.
Waters Renews Demands to Break Up Big Bad Banks
Following the hearing earlier today, HFSC Chairwoman Waters (D-CA) released a letter sent to federal agencies citing what she believes to be an array of continuing abuses at Wells Fargo and calling on them to sanction a “repeat offender.”