Biden Administration

Rohit Chopra, President Biden's pick to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told a Senate panel he would do more to protect veterans from foreclosure, empower consumers to dispute data on their credit records and crack down on student loan servicers that aren't helping troubled borrowers.

In an analysis of the pandemic's impact on the housing market, the agency said nearly 10% of households could be at risk of eviction or foreclosure despite government programs to enable homeowners to delay their payments.

Rohit Chopra, President Biden’s nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has not minced words in calling out private companies for wrongdoing. He could get a grilling from Banking Committee Republicans and some opposition on the Senate floor.

The Banking Committee will hold a confirmation hearing on March 2 for Rohit Chopra and Gary Gensler. They are the administration's picks, respectively, to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The agency is recruiting more attorneys and shuffling personnel under new Democratic leadership as it prepares to toughen oversight of the financial services industry.

The operating environment is dramatically different than it was pre-pandemic and presents all-new challenges for financial institutions. Tried-and-true strategies that led to high performance for many years are no longer going to be successful. Join Bonnie McGeer, Executive Editor of American Banker, and Claude Hanley, Partner at Capital Performance Group, as they highlight important trends and comb through data from top-performing banks across the country for insights that will help regional and community financial institutions thrive in 2021. Executives will learn what metrics will be most critical to focus on to maintain high performance going forward.

While the Mortgage Bankers Association hailed the move, some experts say it could negatively impact housing inventory.

Homeowners still deferring payments on federally backed loans as of Feb. 28 will be permitted to request an additional three months of relief.

Acting Director Dave Uejio wrote in a blog post that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau needs more time to consider rules that were finalized under the Trump administration but have not yet gone into effect.

A growing number of states have chosen to decriminalize or legalize cannabis in recent years. As a result, the legal cannabis industry has experienced exponential growth. Yet banks and other financial institutions are still largely reluctant to partner with cannabis firms due to the lingering conflict between state and federal law. In this episode we will explore: (1) how financial institutions can navigate the regulatory, compliance, and operational challenges facing this sector; and (2) the steps the Biden Administration may take to improve the environment for banking this industry.