Brendan Pedersen

Biden administration appointees moved quickly to highlight climate change risks and unwind Trump-era regulatory relief and housing finance measures. These regulators and lawmakers will have a seat at the table as the progressive shift in banking policy continues.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra has helped assert the authority of the three Democrats — including himself — who serve on the governing body of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. GOP lawmakers responded with a bill to strip the consumer agency's head of voting powers on the FDIC board.

The White House is considering nominating Richard Cordray, who led the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from 2013 to 2017, as the Federal Reserve's next vice chairman of supervision, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

In a letter to the agency’s new director, top Senate Democrats recommended policy steps intended to limit mistakes in consumers’ credit files that they said “can ruin lives.”

A report by the agency found that consumers in majority Black neighborhoods were more than twice as likely as those in white neighborhoods to lodge complaints with the credit bureaus over information in their files. Meanwhile, disputes were less common among older borrowers.

The agency said the risk management program for Cenlar FSB, which performs servicing functions for financial institution clients, was inadequate for the bank's size.

Criticism from banking and other business groups of Saule Omarova’s candidacy could make it difficult for moderate Democrats to support President Biden's pick to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Saule Omarova supports allowing the Federal Reserve to hold customer deposits and is skeptical of big-bank M&A. While those views are unpopular in the industry, banking critics hailed the choice to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency made good on a promise to rescind Community Reinvestment Act reforms finalized by ex-Comptroller Joseph Otting as part of talks with other regulators on an interagency overhaul of the law.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency confirmed it will rescind an unpopular rule overhauling the Community Reinvestment Act and joined other agencies in calling for a renewed interagency effort.

For the first time, the FDIC, Federal Reserve and OCC have combined efforts to advise banks on risk management procedures when working with nonbank partners.

The White House is calling on the Department of Justice and federal regulators to give bank deals more scrutiny as part of a broader executive order meant to encourage competition across the U.S. economy.

The funding requests break sharply with the Trump administration's calls to eliminate key housing funds and backing for community development financial institutions. The White House also wants to substantially increase the budgets of the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration.

The agency said it will reconsider the controversial regulation to reform the Community Reinvestment Act, and allow banks to halt efforts to comply with key provisions of the framework.

The Biden administration may finally be close to naming an acting comptroller of the currency. Whoever gets the interim job or is confirmed to run the agency over the longer term will have a lengthy to-do list, from Community Reinvestment Act reform to deciding the fate of divisive Trump-era rules.

Three months into President Biden’s term, the White House has yet to select a nominee to run the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency or pick an acting chief. That inaction will make it more difficult for Democrats to unwind Trump-era policies, critics say.

A federal judge denied the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's motion to have the case thrown out, saying concerns about the agency's rulemaking process to reform the Community Reinvestment Act have merit.

President Biden and Democrats in Congress have backed plans to subject a broader array of companies to Community Reinvestment Act requirements. But there’s no guarantee such reforms will happen.

The administration faces a slew of immediate financial policy tasks, such as passing a new round of small-business aid, charting a course for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and filling vacant agency leadership posts.

In memos to their staffs, acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger denounced the violence perpetrated by President Trump's supporters and said both agencies remain in operation.