Banking and credit union regulators encouraged compassionate treatment of customers in Hawaii communities hit by wildfires. They also vowed to grant expedited approvals of temporary banking facilities, be flexible in compliance matters and provide other support to financial institutions.

The credit-reporting agency was fined $650,000 for sending customers marketing emails without an option to unsubscribe. Financial institutions are subject to the same law, called the CAN-SPAM Act.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to propose rules to require that data brokers comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act to limit data from being sold for any reason other than what Congress has specified as having a "permissible purpose," such as credit underwriting.

In its annual report, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. explored the various credit, market and operational risks facing the banking sector. It also explored crypto and climate issues.

Banking and housing experts say that if additional capital burdens spur large banks to pull back on mortgage origination, servicing and funding, the ripple effects could be felt more intensely in the housing market than on banks' bottom lines.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can likely withstand potential credit losses twice as high as last year's in the latest scenario, but they are at more risk of slipping into the red.

Under settlements with the SEC, Wells Fargo and BNP Paribas will pay millions of dollars in penalties for employees using unofficial communications like WhatsApp. In all 11 firms agreed to pay penalties, while the CFTC took separate actions.

Firms that had ratings cut included M&T Bank, Webster Financial, BOK Financial, Old National Bancorp, Pinnacle Financial Partners and Fulton Financial.

The board of the Home Loan Bank of San Francisco chose not to renew Teresa Bryce Bazemore's contract that ends in 2024, and has initiated a search for a new CEO.

A Texas judge dealt the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau a setback that has changed the bureau's calculus for furthering its near-term agenda. But an ambitious Supreme Court could also call all of the bureau's final rules into question.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is reviewing HSBC's lending practices in certain majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, the bank disclosed. The regions under scrutiny include New York, Seattle and several parts of California, according to the nonprofit organization whose complaint prompted the investigation.

The Federal Reserve is leading the push for broader, more standardized risk-capital rules, yet some of its board members, other regulators and industry groups are uncomfortable with the proposal.

The racially targeted mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store in 2022 has renewed conversations about whether banks have a duty to help segregated, impoverished communities that were shaped in part by discriminatory lending practices. What do banks owe the Black community, and what influence could they have?

The Department of Housing and Urban Development would permanently allow servicers to use online and remote communications to establish borrower contact, as they did during the pandemic.

Citing issues that arose during this spring's bank failures, the central bank and other agencies urge depositories to ensure they are ready to borrow at a moment's notice.

Federal Reserve Board Gov. Phillip Jefferson joined three other board members in supporting a notice of proposed rulemaking, but expressed concerns about the economic impact of the changes.

The two Trump-appointed governors expressed skepticism that the increased capital requirements for regional banks were necessary to keep the banking sector resilient.

Following the difficulties of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank this spring, banks are approaching the emergency lending facility more proactively, the Federal Reserve chair said.

Major firms cite costly devastating hurricanes and widespread litigation against the industry as reasons to sunset policies for an unspecified number of property owners.

Lenders must ensure that compliance and risk management teams are fully staffed and supported at the highest levels of the organization, writes the director of technology product management at Wolters Kluwer.