With the recent issuance of an Executive Order by President Biden on promoting competition in the American economy, questions about the credibility of the regulatory approval process governing bank mergers have come to the forefront.  Regarding banking, the Executive Order calls on the Department of Justice in consultation with the federal banking agencies to review …

Introduction Americans of color, particularly Black Americans, face significant, interconnected barriers that have led to persistent financial and economic inequality and unacceptable outcomes across quality of life indicators, particularly regarding health care, education and wealth accumulation. While economic exclusion is a persistent problem for all marginalized communities, this document focuses primarily on the Black community. …

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control published an updated advisory addressing ransomware payments and steps to mitigate sanctions risks. In response, Angelena Bradfield, BPI senior vice president, AML/BSA, sanctions and privacy, issued the following statement: Today’s announcement wisely manages the fine line between discouraging ransomware payments and penalizing the victims, …

BPI submits formal statement to House Task Force on Financial Technology in advance of hearing Washington, D.C. — Consumers should have the ability to access their personal financial data, according to a statement for the record submitted today by the Bank Policy Institute in advance of a U.S. House Committee on Financial Services Task Force …

Chair Waters, Ranking Member McHenry, Task Force Chair Lynch, Ranking Member Davidson and Members of the Fintech Task Force: We support the ability of bank customers to securely connect their bank accounts to the third-party apps of their choice, which, in some cases, may involve the interposition of a data aggregator to collect the customer’s …

Stories Driving the Week How to Expand Mortgage Lending to Low-, Moderate-Income Households  The current securitization capital rules overstate a bank’s risk of holding a pool of mortgages for which there has been a bona fide transfer of credit risk through a CSRTs transaction, a new BPI post says. The result is inconsistent with international capital standards …