NewsWatch Today

Washington continued to escalate its response to instability in the crypto sector as the Senate Finance Committee’s chairman questioned leading crypto exchanges on their consumer protections.

ICBA responded to a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau request for information on encouraging residential mortgage loan refinances by calling on the bureau to reduce unnecessary compliance burdens for community banks.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a final rule with its annual adjustment to the maximum amount consumer reporting agencies may charge consumers for making a file disclosure to a consumer under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

With Congress returning to Washington this week for the final leg of the lame-duck session, ICBA is pushing several key legislative priorities and calling on community bankers to weigh in with lawmakers via ICBA’s Be Heard grassroots action center.

ICBA next week is hosting a complimentary post-election briefing on the midterm election results and pending regulatory actions affecting community banks.

The FDIC and Federal Reserve released results of their review of the resolution plans of the eight largest and most complex U.S. banks, finding shortcomings only in Citigroup’s living will.

ICBA released the latest episode of its newly revamped podcast: “Independent Banker: A Community Banking Podcast from ICBA.”

The Justice Department announced the arrest of two Estonian citizens for their alleged involvement in a $575 million cryptocurrency fraud and money-laundering conspiracy.

The collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange is a predictable example of the serious risks that digital assets pose, and policymakers should ensure new policies directed at the sector fully reflect its risks, ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey wrote in a new op-ed.

The Federal Housing Administration said it will accept private flood insurance policies in which the borrower chooses to obtain a private policy instead of flood insurance available through the National Flood Insurance Program, effective Dec. 21.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a new Supervisory Highlights report spotlighting legal violations identified during its supervisory examinations in the first half of 2022.

Federal regulators are reportedly investigating cryptocurrency exchange FTX amid concerns of a liquidity crisis at the company and fallout on the rest of the crypto sector.