Senate Banking GOP Demand CFPB Recant, Retreat, Redo

All Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee today sent CFPB Director Chopra a scathing letter challenging his legal authority to undertake many recent actions.  The letter specifically cites what it calls the Bureau’s “smear campaign” against banks offering optional overdraft services, calling its February list of the top 20 banks by revenue from overdraft fees an abusive “name-and-shame” tactic.

OFAC Eases Implementation of Oil Price-Cap Sanctions

As anticipated, OFAC late Friday issued initial guidance to banks and insurers on Russian oil price-cap compliance.  Although OFAC plans to follow this guidance with a more comprehensive statement and a “red-flag” advisory, it now makes clear that banks and insurers will not be liable for price-cap violations related to their financing or coverage if the financial company has no independent knowledge of the actual price and reasonably relied on a customer’s attestation.

Fed Study: Credit Profitability Depends on NIM

At a time when credit-card rates reached a quarter-century high, the Fed has released a staff study using new data to conclude that card interest rates are by far the most important source of issuer profitability.  The study decomposes credit-card income into component parts (interchange fees, interest charges, and consumer fees) with interest-rate revenue accounting for eighty percent of card profitability at the largest bank issuers.

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