On Our Radar

The New York Times, March 14, 2022, Manchin won’t support Raskin for the Fed, imperiling her nomination Mr. Manchin, a West Virginian who has close ties to the fossil fuel industry and has rejected much of President Biden’s climate agenda, cited her statements on climate and energy policy, and pointedly noted that the board “is […]

American Banker, March 10, 2022, Subprime lender OppFi sues to continue making loans in California Consumer advocates and state policymakers have called the arrangement a “rent-a-bank” scheme in which OppFi is using FinWise Bank’s charter to evade California’s 36% rate cap. But in a lawsuit filed this week, Chicago-based OppFi argued that it is not

Bloomberg, March 10, 2022, Wells Fargo rejected half its Black applicants in mortgage refinancing boom Nationwide, only 47% of Black homeowners who completed a refinance application with Wells Fargo in 2020 were approved, compared with 72% of White homeowners, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of federal mortgage data. While Black applicants had lower approval rates

CNBC, March 10, 2022, Major League Soccer reaches a deal to support Black banks, aiming to help close the racial wealth gap Major League Soccer has taken out a $25 million loan from a syndicate of eight Black banks, which will these financial institutions increase lending power with the goal of helping reduce the racial

UW News, March 9, 2022, More air pollution present in areas with historical redlining Despite dramatic improvements in air quality over the past 50 years, people of color at every income level in the United States are exposed to higher-than-average levels of air pollution. While this disparity has been widely studied, the links between today’s

Politico, March 10, 2022, ‘People are going to get real nervous’: Oil shock upends Fed strategy Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens to further disrupt global supply chains just as shipping delays were poised to improve, scrambling the economic outlook and the Federal Reserve’s strategy for fighting inflation along with it.

Politico, March 10, 2022, Fed up: Inside the Senate’s banking brawl The confirmation standoff is drawing out as the Fed prepares to begin raising interest rates next week to try to slow decades-high inflation. And the bank faces a delicate balancing act as its nominees are caught up in Senate drama: Move too slowly, and

American Banker, March 8, 2022, Regulators could do more to bring underbanked into mainstream: GAO A study by the Government Accountability Office found that Black and Hispanic households were significantly less likely to use banks for all their financial needs than their white counterparts. Fewer than 60% of the Black and Hispanic groups were fully

American Banker, March 9, 2022, Are branch closures on pace for another record year? Banks are steadily shifting more resources toward their online platforms, where adoption has risen during COVID-19 lockdowns, experts say. As this happens, fewer branches are needed, enabling banks to prune physical footprints and reinvest the savings in digital services. But the

Fox San Antonio, March 9, 2022, Feds say Texas discriminated against communities of color when it denied Houston flood aid The Texas General Land Office — the agency charged with distributing approximately $2 billion in federal funds for future flood preparation — initially awarded Houston and Harris County nothing when deciding where to send the

Bloomberg, March 7, 2022, Biden to sign crypto order as firms face sanctions pressure President Joe Biden is set to sign an executive order this week that will outline the U.S. government’s strategy for cryptocurrencies, according to people familiar with the administration’s plans. The order will direct federal agencies to examine potential regulatory changes, as

The Wall Street Journal, March 6, 2022, How war in Ukraine drives up inflation at U.S. farms, supermarkets, retailers The conflict is stressing an already strained global supply chain, and its economic impact will likely be felt in households world-wide, at supermarkets, retailers and the gas pump. While higher costs will take time to work

American Banker, March 7, 2022, Regulators expect to release CRA revamp as soon as this month Federal banking regulators are expected to issue a long-awaited proposal for modernizing requirements under the Community Reinvestment Act as early as this month, officials said Monday. While the final details are still under debate, the key takeaway, according to

KCUR, March 2, 2022, Contract for deed: The promise of homeownership that often leaves Midwest buyers out in the cold The contract for deed option is marketed as a way for people who can’t get a conventional mortgage to realize the dream of owning a home. But more often than not, buyers do not end

The Washington Post, March 6, 2022, Opinion: ‘Stablecoins’ claim to be a safer cryptocurrency — but they’re far from risk-free Ironically, it is the expectation that stablecoins will maintain a constant value that could make them dangerous during periods of stress. If at some point holders of stablecoins worry they won’t be able to convert