Claire Williams

The Supreme Court decided to rule narrowly in Cantero v. Bank of America, N.A., sending the case back to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit with instructions to perform a more nuanced analysis on whether a New York escrow law unfairly discriminates against national banks.

House Financial Services Committee Chair Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., told Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg to make himself available for a June 12 hearing on the agency's workplace culture.

The House Financial Services Committee passed eleven bills, including a Democratic-sponsored bill on homeless veteran housing and a Republican-led package on bank regulation.

Rep. French Hill, the No. 2 Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, promised bankers Tuesday that he will continue to push back against Biden administration regulators, especially on bank-fintech partnerships and digital assets.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., detailed how New York Community Bancorp grew to exceed the $100 billion threshold that triggers tougher regulatory requirements and set the bank on a path to market turmoil via a series of deals that were approved, in part, by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that pursuing a rulemaking on forced arbitration, as laid out by consumer advocates' rulemaking petition, would be an "affront to Congress."

A federal judge in Texas sided with bank trade groups, agreeing that bank regulators might have overstepped their authority in reforming parts of the Community Reinvestment Act.

The letter, which was sent to bank regulators, represents a further escalation of lawmaker criticism of the Basel III endgame proposal, and comes just as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is set to testify in the House Financial Services Committee.

The blockbuster merger proposal will be reviewed at a time when the Biden administration is expressing skepticism about consolidation. Its analysis will have to account for markets dominated by both big banks and the likes of Visa and Mastercard.

Heartland Tri-State Bank, which failed after its CEO allegedly embezzled money to fund cryptocurrency investments, had received $21 million in advances from the Federal Home Loan Bank System.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen didn't directly address the turmoil at New York Community Bank, and said that while some smaller institutions could be hit by a changing commercial real estate market, she doesn't anticipate these mortgages will become a systemic risk.

Lawmakers criticized the Biden administration's Risk Rating 2.0 effort — which was meant to reduce insurance premiums by developing more refined models — as ineffective, arguing that the program has increased rate premiums in vulnerable areas.

By overturning so-called "Chevron deference," the Supreme Court could compel lawmakers to be less ambiguous in their legislative language, limiting agencies' interpretative power.

Navy Federal, the nation's largest credit union, is facing a lawsuit about its allegedly discriminatory mortgage lending practices.

With the retirement of Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., the number of Congressional representatives with direct banking experience is becoming increasingly rare.

The American Bankers Association requested that President Joe Biden tell Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to study the impact of more robust bank regulation.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and other Senate Democrats urged the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to rescind regulations or guidance that contradict the way Dodd-Frank says the OCC should deal with state consumer protection rules.

Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and John Kennedy, R-La., have reintroduced their ILC bill that would subject companies that hold an ILC charter to similar oversight as traditional banks, while measures to cap interest rates and ban 'trigger leads' have also been introduced.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., also brought up concerns with synthetic risk transfers and so-called shadow banks, which he said are shifting risk from outside the banking system into private credit markets.

The fireworks that traditionally accompany big bank CEOs' appearances in Congress were absent Wednesday, but instead executives pushed their opposition to the Basel III capital rules and its impact on the economy.