Sky Blog
Bank stocks surged the day after Donald J. Trump won election to a second presidential term, recording double-digit gains on a widespread view that financial regulation under the new administration will be more industry friendly than in the current one. …
I teach a course on “Financial Crises/Regulatory Responses” with the economist Patrick Bolton. This course addresses the struggle to establish and maintain financial stability, an apex goal of the financial system. Last week, I told the students that by the …
The announcement by Denver-based FirstSun Capital Bancorp and Seattle-based HomeStreet, Inc. on October 29 that the Federal Reserve and the Texas Department of Banking had asked them to withdraw their applications for approval of their pending merger illustrates the potential …
Given banks’ importance to global economic stability, how they manage liquidity – their capacity to transform short-term liabilities into long-term assets – plays a pivotal role in supporting growth while maintaining financial resilience. It also entails considerable risk. Creating more …
On October 9, 2024, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued new guidance for financial institutions on best practices for compliance with export control laws and regulations (the Guidance).[1] The Guidance caps a series of notes …
The DOJ, FDIC and OCC have revised their bank merger review standards. The new standards are a major shift for bank M&A and will require a careful, detailed analysis to evaluate the viability of any proposed transaction.
The Federal Deposit …
We have argued that bank regulators should disclose more bank information than is now required.[1] This is because supervisory practices generally do little to promote transparency, which leads to opacity that interferes with the pricing of risk and undermines …
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) recently proposed and published a Federal Register notice for a proposed rule that would revise the agency’s Change in Bank Control Act (CIBCA) regulations. Specifically, the proposed rule would add a second layer …
On July 25, 2024, the U.S. prudential bank regulators released a Joint Statement on Banks’ Arrangements With Third Parties To Deliver Bank Deposit Products and Services (Joint Statement),1 along with a request for information on bank-fintech arrangements (RFI) issued …
On July 30, 2024, on a party line 3-2 vote of its Board of Directors, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”) approved a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking[1] (the “Proposal” or the “Proposed Rule”) to substantially broaden the scope …
On July 25, 2024, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (together, the “Agencies”) issued a request for information (the “RFI”)[1] regarding arrangements …
On June 19, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado preliminarily enjoined the enforcement of a Colorado law that would have applied Colorado interest-rates caps to loans made by state-chartered banks—including banks located outside of Colorado—to Colorado …
Money is a complex construct consisting of public and private elements. It is not all coined or printed by a government; a significant portion originates with private-sector entities like banks, against which other private parties have contractual claims. In a …
We argue that bank regulation and supervision interfere with pricing risk by creating opacity. Given that market disclosures enhance the efforts of supervisors, and vice versa, more disclosure could enhance financial stability (see Spatt, 2010)[1]. In addition, we …
An increasing number of states have enacted or are considering enacting legislation requiring financial institutions to provide customers “fair access” to financial services. These fair access requirements, first appearing in Florida’s House Bill 3 (2023) (“FL HB 3”), generally prohibit …
Two federal district courts recently upheld decisions by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (FRBKC) and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (FRBSF) to deny master account applications from Custodia Bank (Custodia) and PayServices Bank (PayServices). Custodia has …
The rapid escalation in uninsured deposit runs in March 2023 led to chaotic intervention with potentially severe fiscal implications. The runs spotlighted once again the limit on prudential norms. Since the collapse of SVB, Credit Suisse, and other smaller banks …
In a recent opinion piece in the Washington Post, former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair and leading British bank historian Charles Goodhart argued in favor of the executive compensation clawback provision in the proposed RECOUP Act, which we analyzed …
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) released a Proposed Statement of Policy on Bank Merger Transactions (the Proposal) that outlines the FDIC’s views on its jurisdiction and expectations with respect to each statutory factor under the Bank Merger Act (BMA).…
From 2011 to 2019, the number of bank charters fell by nearly one-third, from 7,357 to 5,177, with community banks accounting for three-quarters of this decline (FDIC Community Bank Report, 2020) In a new paper, we presents compelling …