The central bank also signed off on Webster Financial’s acquisition of Sterling Bancorp and WSFS Financial’s purchase of Bryn Mawr Bank Corp. The moves come amid a political fight over the bank merger approval process.

Just three months ago, U.S. banks were still using the expiring benchmark rate for the vast majority of their new loans. But regulators said Friday the transition to alternative rates has accelerated ahead of a year-end cutoff.

Join industry experts to explore how financial institutions can better prepare for future compliance issues associated with the evolving landscape.

Sandra Thompson has won praise from homeownership advocates for suspending a fee imposed on borrowers that was meant to recoup Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's pandemic-related losses, among other actions she reversed. On Tuesday, President Biden said he will nominate her to be the permanent director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The banking industry, which often questions aggressive moves by the agency, urged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to level the regulatory playing field between the financial and technology sectors.

Besides making the deduction permanent, the bill doubles the income threshold for those eligible to claim it.

Alliant Credit Union in Chicago is building a database of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau enforcement actions to analyze patterns over time and help it formulate a compliance program that will withstand political swings in Washington.

Some states are increasing their requirements for home valuation professionals as housing officials warn that they consider mortgage lenders responsible for equitable practices too.

Monday’s release of FHA’s annual financial report has renewed calls to end its Life of Loan policy and cut annual premiums back down to pre-crisis levels, the executive director of the Community Home Lenders Association writes.

The consumer bureau is asking for comment on whether the rule implementing the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act is meeting its stated goals of detecting discrimination in mortgage lending.

The Federal Housing Administration’s capital fund is at a 14-year high, which industry groups say is proof borrowers are paying to much for mortgage insurance. But with elevated delinquencies resulting from the pandemic, officials said they remain cautious about pricing.

The federal bank regulators had relaxed certain requirements in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis. But they said in a new joint statement that servicers “have had sufficient time to adjust their operations” since that time.

Acting FHFA Director Sandra Thompson's decision to act immediately rather than taking the time to examine the impact likely harmed private-label securitizations in the short term, but issuance is still on course for a record year.

Companies using only a person’s name and not other identifiers to screen job and tenant applications can produce inaccurate information, according to the bureau. The agency's advisory opinion said such practices violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Lawmakers from both parties are pushing for legislation to automatically substitute a new interest rate benchmark for the expiring London interbank offered rate in certain hard-to-amend legacy contracts.

Last week, the world of mortgage servicing got an unpleasant surprise. Cenlar FSB, the nation’s largest subservicer of residential mortgages, was hit with a consent order by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency alleging “unsafe and unsound” banking practices.

The state joins Illinois and Massachusetts in subjecting nondepository companies to state-level Community Reinvestment Act requirements.

The bureau’s new director named former Obama administration officials Lorelei Salas and Eric Halperin, respectively, as the heads of supervision policy and enforcement.

A crackdown is coming at a particularly awkward time for the financial industry: bankers are pressing government authorities to approve mergers and acquisitions at one of the fastest clips since the 2008 financial crisis and to get their paydays linked to those deals, more executives may feel pressure to resolve government claims.

Amazon, Google and other technology giants entering financial services should be subject to the same supervision banks are, Rohit Chopra said in his first congressional testimony as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He also said he wants to focus enforcement on large firms that harm many people rather than chasing small companies.