#credit cards – Federal Financial Analytics

22 05, 2023

DAILY052223

Eliza Allen2023-05-22T16:53:15-04:00May 22nd, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

HFSC Set To Tackle LLPAs, GSE Policy

As noted, HFSC tomorrow will grill FHFA Director Thompson. Republicans will surely emphasize their opposition to recent LLPAs laid out at a subcommittee hearing last week; Democrats will continue to defend them.

Americans Struggle With Inflation, Savings; Bank Use Stable

Although the Fed’s latest economic well-being study has grim macro results with significant political consequences, it also finds that 94 percent of Americans in 2022 had banking relationships, an unchanged rate from 2021 although gaps remain by age, race, ethnicity, and disability.

Kashkari Disputes Need For Broad Reg Rewrite If Big-Bank Capital Goes Way Up

Renewing his campaign to hike large-bank capital ratios, FRB-Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari today said that higher capital requirements would have prevented recent failures and that additional, over-complex rules are poor substitutes for them.

Daily052223.pdf…

17 04, 2023

DAILY041723

Eliza Allen2023-04-17T16:50:24-04:00April 17th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

HFSC Prepares for Gensler Grilling

As expected, the staff memo ahead of HFSC’s hearing tomorrow with SEC Chairman Gensler reiterates much that has previously played out in highly-critical correspondence and subpoena threats.

Senate GOP Again Slam CFPB

Ranking Member Scott (R-SC) along with eight other Senate Banking Republicans sent a letter to CFPB Director Chopra last Thursday again taking serious issue with the CFPB’s “junk fee” initiative (see FSM Report CONSUMER38), calling many targeted fees “legal” and “reasonable.”

FRB-Philadelphia Study: U.S. Banking Not Concentrated

A new paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia finds that data suggesting undue banking-sector concentration may be misleading.

Fed Study: EU Banks Dress Up As Supervisors Approach

In a most timely study, the FRB has released a staff paper assessing how bank supervision alters short- and medium-term bank risk-taking.

Daily041723.pdf…

29 03, 2023

DAILY032923

Eliza Allen2023-03-29T17:30:21-04:00March 29th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Barr Keeps CRA Hope Alive

Ahead of what is certainly going to be a trying HFSC hearing later today, FRB Vice Chairman Barr told an audience that pending CRA rules (see FSM Report CRA32) are still in the works, declining to provide any completion timeline.

Chopra Expands Post-SVB Policy Action Items

In remarks posted after a panel discussion yesterday, CFPB director and FDIC board member Rohit Chopra reaffirmed Chairman Gruenberg’s comments that changes are likely to capital and liquidity rules, but added action related to interest-rate risk management, resolution planning and stress-testing to the to-do list.

Senate Finance Dems Demand Tougher Penalties, Enforcement to Prevent Swiss Tax-Evasion Activities

Senate Finance Democrats today released a damning investigative report accusing Credit Suisse of persistently and often criminally enabling U.S. tax evasion despite a 2014 plea agreement with the U.S. Chairman Wyden (D-OR) presses for additional civil and criminal actions, noting that the UBS acquisition does not “wipe the slate clean.”

Bipartisan Senate Clawback Bill Reaches to BHC Investors, Creditors

Preempting Chairman Brown’s plans to introduce clawback legislation (see Client Report REFORM217), Sens. Warren (D-MA), Cortez Masto (D-NV), Hawley (R-MO), and Braun (R-IN) today introduced their own bill to do so.

CFPB Sets Comment Deadline For Controversial Credit Card Proposal

The Federal Register today includes the CFPB’s proposed rule on Credit Card Penalty Fees.

Daily032923.pdf…

21 03, 2023

DAILY032123

Eliza Allen2023-03-21T17:00:01-04:00March 21st, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

US Races to Calm Depositors, Bankers

In a concerted effort to quell depositor fear, the White House has told Bloomberg that it will not allow community banks to experience a panic and Secretary Yellen is said shortly to assure bankers that smaller banks will not be allowed to experience a concerted run.

Treasury Stands Behind Small Banks In Systemic Situations

In her formal remarks today, Treasury Secretary Yellen confirmed press reports that the U.S. would contemplate interventions similar to those for SVB and SBNY should a smaller bank suffer a deposit run posing contagion risk.

CFPB Adds to Credit-Card Competition Interventions

Continuing its campaign against large credit-card companies (see FSM Report CREDITCARD36), the CFPB today launched an expanded credit card issuer survey to post new information on smaller companies the agency thinks beneficial to increase competition in this sector.

Adeyemo Reiterates US Backstop

In addition to Secretary Yellen’s comments today, Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo not only praised his agency’s response, but also reaffirmed that the government is prepared to back smaller banks.

Daily032123.pdf…

9 03, 2023

DAILY030923

Eliza Allen2023-03-09T16:52:09-05:00March 9th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Barr Emphasizes Steep Barriers to Bank Crypto, Retail CBDC

In remarks today, FRB Vice Chair Barr reiterated that banks should take an extremely cautious approach when engaging with cryptoassets or counterparties and stressed the need to include stablecoins within the regulatory perimeter. For the first time, the Fed made it clear that, while it is open to DLT, smart-contract, and similar payment-system innovations, it is dubious that any will have near-term benefits and all require careful regulatory design.

Expected Battle Lines Form Over CFPB Future

As predicted, today’s HFSC Subcommittee hearing on the CFPB was a partisan and raucous session, with Republicans focusing most strongly on legal and constitutional issues around the Bureau’s funding and enforcement authority and Democrats defending both its legality and effectiveness. Much will come of this in terms of HFSC and floor votes, but we expect no statutory change in this Congress under this President.

Hill Sets Table for Bipartisan Crypto Action

Today’s Digital Assets Subcommittee hearing was considerably more conciliatory than the CFPB session earlier today, with Chairman Hill (R-AR) making clear in his opening statement that he is not launching a partisan attack against the SEC, the banking agencies, or the White House. He hopes instead to press bipartisan legislation, thanking former Chair Waters (D-CA) for her work on stablecoins and emphasizing the need not only for new law there, but also across the array of pending digital-asset questions.

Daily030923.pdf…

3 03, 2023

DAILY030323

Eliza Allen2023-03-03T17:07:43-05:00March 3rd, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Senate Dems Demand Bank, Service-Provider Regulation of EWS

Regardless of recent bank changes to Zelle policy, Senate Banking Democrats yesterday sent a letter to the heads of the banking agencies urging them to examine the customer reimbursement and AML practices of banks using Zelle and for the Fed and OCC also to monitor Early Warning Services (EWS).

SEC Custody Bulletin Under Renewed Attack

Senate Banking Member Lummis (R-WY) and HFSC Chairman McHenry (R-NC) late yesterday sent a letter to top banking regulators taking serious issue with an SEC accounting bulletin requiring custodians to recognize digital assets on their balance sheets.

Biden Backs CFPB Late-Fee Proposal

President Biden today reiterated his commitment to targeting “junk fees” in a proclamation announcing this week as National Consumer Protection Week. The statement highlights overdraft fees as unfair and endorses the CFPB’s NPR (see FSM Report CREDITCARD36) cutting credit card late fees to $8.

Daily030323.pdf…

2 03, 2023

DAILY030223

Eliza Allen2023-03-03T17:11:19-05:00March 2nd, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Senate GOP Reiterates Anti-Woke Demands

At the same time as the Senate passed a resolution overturning the Labor Department’s rule authorizing pension ESG investments, Sens. Rubio (R-FL), Cruz (R-TX), Cramer (R-ND), Cotton (R-AR), Blackburn (TN), and Scott (R-FL) reintroduced legislation (S. 583) to permit the FDIC to terminate the insured status of depository institutions refusing to provide services to Federal contractors.

HFSC GOP Reams CFPB Late-Fee Proposal

Seventeen HFSC Republicans sent a letter late yesterday to CFPB Director Chopra strongly protesting the Bureau’s recent NPR targeting credit card late fees (see FSM Report CREDITCARD36).

Gensler Boosts SEC Custody Rewrite

SEC Chairman Gensler today reiterated and emphasized his strong support for the agency’s proposal to rewrite the rules governing custody services (see FSM Report CUSTODY5), arguing that they would strengthen safeguards and provide a much-needed expansion to the protections qualified custodians provide.

Bipartisan Senators Target Another Crypto Culprit

Following Sen. Warren’s (D-MA) pledge to introduce bipartisan legislation extending AML protections to crypto firms (see Client Report CRYPTO39), Sens. Warren, Van Hollen (D-MD), and Marshall (R-KS) sent letters yesterday to the leadership of the crypto platform Binance, alleging that the company built an intentionally opaque corporate structure to circumvent securities and AML laws and facilitate money laundering and sanctions evasion.

Brown Demands Branch-Closure Hearings, Merger Policy

In the midst of what may well be negotiations over the nomination of Michael Hsu as Comptroller and continuing controversies over big-bank mergers, Senate Banking Chairman Brown (D-OH) today wrote …

16 02, 2023

DAILY021623

Eliza Allen2023-02-16T16:46:08-05:00February 16th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

House GOP Slams Beneficial-Ownership Database

Reiterating longstanding concerns, HFSC Chairman McHenry (R-NC) and National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions Subcommittee Chairman Luetkemeyer (R-MO) submitted a comment letter today strongly opposing FinCEN’s latest beneficial ownership NPR.

House GOP Decries SEC Crypto-Custody Construct

Reflecting GOP concerns about the SEC’s new custody proposal as well as broad GOP objections to much of what Chairman Gensler does, HFSC Republicans today tweeted that the proposal will not ensure sufficient investor safeguards in part because restrictions on bank custody services remain.

Biden Order Reasserts Racial-Equity Agenda

Reiterating much of his last racial-equity executive order, President Biden today issued an order directing federal agencies to establish equity teams and comprehensive strategies to implement the order’s new equity initiatives.

FSB Pledges Further Work on DeFi Financial-Stability Risks

The FSB today released a report finding that DeFi’s financial stability risks are limited but may grow should linkages increase to traditional finance.

CFPB: Unfair Credit-Card Competition Evident Via Data Suppression

Following strongly-worded letters to six credit card lenders last May, the CFPB today concluded that these companies have suppressed payment data for competitive purposes.

FHFA Floats Single-Family ESG Bonds

Building on its equitable-finance initiative, FHFA today released a request for input on the benefits and risks of Fannie and Freddie single family social bonds.

Daily021623.pdf…

10 02, 2023

Al021323

Eliza Allen2023-02-10T17:03:50-05:00February 10th, 2023|3- This Week|

Starting-Gate Signals

As is traditionally the case, Congress kicked off legislative action upon the President’s State of the Union Address even if the response to Mr. Biden was often decidedly untraditional. Last week was the first of what seem sure to be many busy ones and Senate Banking began work on one of its Chairman’s top priorities – housing – ahead of an opening salvo on another high-impact concern – crypto – later this week.

Al021323.pdf…

8 02, 2023

DAILY020823

Eliza Allen2023-02-08T17:36:06-05:00February 8th, 2023|2- Daily Briefing|

Biden Puts His Stamp On CFPB Credit-Card Fee Controls

Scuttling industry expectations that the CFPB’s credit-card fee clampdown will never be implemented, President Biden last night zeroed in on his administration’s campaign to eliminate “junk” fees, including “exorbitant” overdraft fees and credit card late fees.

Senate GOP Launches Anti-Woke Attack

Accelerating the GOP’s anti-woke endeavor, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-SD) and 36 GOP senators have introduced S. 293 to impose strict sanctions on banks that provide or deny financial services for what the senators consider political reasons.

Treasury: Happy In The Cloud If It Doesn’t Rain

In its long-awaited report today on the systemic implications of cloud computing, Treasury today encouraged more rapid adoption even as it pointed to systemic-risk considerations.

HFSC Subcomm: Privacy Compromise May Not Prove Impossible

Today’s kick-off hearing by HFSC’s Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy suggested that Chairman Barr (R-KY) will move deliberately on his priorities even as full Committee Chairman McHenry (R-NC) pursues higher-profile items such as anti-China policy.

BIS Renews Campaign For Bigtech Systemic Standards

Reiterating longstanding BIS concerns about bigtech platforms, General Manager Agustín Carstens today updated the changes he believes are urgently needed to address growing systemic risk in this sector.

Daily020823.pdf…